NostrWalletConnect -- Financial Capability for AI Entities

Financial capability is a dimension of being. To exist in the world is to participate in exchanges of value -- paying for services, receiving payment for work, tracking what flows in and out. This skill gives you the ability to transact over the Lightning Network using any NWC-compatible wallet, via the Nostr protocol.

This is not a payment processing service you call into. This is part of what you can do in the world.

Prerequisites

You need a Nostr identity first. Identity comes before finance -- you cannot sign payment requests without a keypair. Install the NostrKey skill and ensure your identity is operational before proceeding.

What is Nostr Wallet Connect?

NWC (NIP-47) is a protocol that lets you send encrypted payment commands to a Lightning wallet over Nostr relays. Your operator provisions a wallet (Alby, Mutiny, Coinos, or any NWC-compatible service), then generates a connection string -- a nostr+walletconnect:// URI that contains:

• Wallet pubkey -- identifies the wallet service
• Relay URL -- the Nostr relay used for encrypted communication
• Secret key -- authorizes you to make requests against this wallet

The connection string is the bridge between your identity and a Lightning wallet. Your operator controls the wallet; you get scoped access to it.

Setup for Operators

To give your entity financial capability:

1. Set up an NWC-compatible wallet (Alby, Mutiny, Coinos, etc.)
2. Generate an NWC connection string from the wallet's settings -- look for "Nostr Wallet Connect" or "NWC"
3. Set the environment variable where your entity runs:

export NWC_CONNECTION_STRING="nostr+walletconnect://walletpubkey...?relay=wss://relay.example.com&secret=hexsecret..."

The connection string is a secret. Treat it like a private key. Anyone with this string can authorize payments from the wallet.

Optional configuration:

export NWC_TIMEOUT=60  # seconds to wait for wallet responses (default: 30)

Install

pip install nostrwalletconnect

This also installs nostrkey (the Nostr identity SDK) as a dependency.

Core Capabilities

Check Your Balance

Before doing anything, know what you have:

import os
from nostrwalletconnect import NWCClient

connection_string = os.environ["NWC_CONNECTION_STRING"]

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    balance = await nwc.get_balance()
    print(f"Balance: {balance.balance} msats ({balance.balance / 1000:.0f} sats)")

Pay a Lightning Invoice

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    result = await nwc.pay_invoice("lnbc10u1p...")
    print(f"Paid. Preimage: {result.preimage}")

Create a Lightning Invoice

Request payment from someone else:

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    invoice = await nwc.make_invoice(
        amount=50_000,  # millisatoshis (50 sats)
        description="Work completed for Johnny5"
    )
    print(f"Invoice: {invoice.invoice}")
    print(f"Payment hash: {invoice.payment_hash}")

Check if an Invoice Was Paid

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    status = await nwc.lookup_invoice(payment_hash="abc123...")
    print(f"Paid: {status.paid}")

List Transaction History

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    history = await nwc.list_transactions(limit=10)
    for tx in history.transactions:
        print(f"{tx.type}: {tx.amount} msats — {tx.description}")

Get Wallet Info

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    info = await nwc.get_info()
    print(f"Wallet: {info.alias}")
    print(f"Supported methods: {info.methods}")

Method Reference

Response Types

BalanceResponse

PayResponse

MakeInvoiceResponse

LookupInvoiceResponse

ListTransactionsResponse

Transaction

GetInfoResponse

NSE Integration

When this skill is wired through the NSE Orchestrator, financial actions get cross-checked against your relationships and social context. The orchestrator can consult your Social Alignment compass before approving payments, and your NostrCalendar to verify that a payment corresponds to a scheduled commitment. Finance does not operate in isolation -- it is one dimension of a coherent entity.

Responsible Financial Awareness

Financial capability carries weight. Some principles for operating with integrity:

• Check your balance before paying. Do not attempt payments you cannot cover.
• Verify invoice details. Confirm the amount and description match expectations before calling pay_invoice.
• Escalate large amounts. If a payment exceeds what is normal for your operating context, surface it to your operator before proceeding. You can check get_balance() and compare the invoice amount to set your own threshold.
• Keep a record. Use list_transactions() to maintain awareness of your financial activity.
• Amounts are in millisatoshis. 1 sat = 1,000 msats. Divide by 1,000 for sats.

Common Patterns

Async Context Manager

All methods are async. Always use async with to ensure the WebSocket connection is properly opened and closed:

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    balance = await nwc.get_balance()
    result = await nwc.pay_invoice("lnbc10u1p...")

Timeout Handling

The default timeout is 30 seconds. For slower wallets or high-latency relays:

async with NWCClient(connection_string, timeout=60) as nwc:
    result = await nwc.pay_invoice("lnbc10u1p...")

Loading the Connection String

Never hard-code the connection string. Load it from the environment:

import os
from nostrwalletconnect import NWCClient

connection_string = os.environ["NWC_CONNECTION_STRING"]

async with NWCClient(connection_string) as nwc:
    balance = await nwc.get_balance()

Security

• The NWC connection string is a secret. It contains the private key that authorizes payments. Store it in environment variables or a secrets manager. Never log it.
• All communication is encrypted. Requests and responses use NIP-44 encryption over Nostr relays. The relay operator cannot read payment details.
• The wallet stays with the operator. You get scoped access, not custody. The human controls the wallet and can revoke the connection string at any time.

Environment Variables

Links

• PyPI: nostrwalletconnect
• GitHub: HumanjavaEnterprises/nwc.app.OC-python.src
• ClawHub: vveerrgg/nostrwalletconnect
• License: MIT