Overview

This project combines three key technologies:

1. Nostr (decentralized messaging protocol)
2. Ethereum EIP-191 signatures (secure cryptographic signing)
3. VLC (Verifiable Logical Clock)

Together, these components enable:

• Decentralized authentication
• Secure message signing using Ethereum standards
• Distributed event ordering and causality tracking
• Message consistency in distributed systems

This integration creates a robust system for secure, decentralized communication with verifiable event ordering.

Features

🔗 Nostr Integration

• Decentralized communication protocol
• Publish and subscribe to events securely
• Relay-based message broadcasting
• Censorship-resistant communication

🔑 Ethereum EIP-191 Signature

• Secure message signing using Ethereum wallets
• Identity verification via cryptographic proofs
• EIP-191 ensures structured, tamper-proof signatures
• Compatible with Ethereum ecosystem tools

⏰ Verifiable Logical Clock

• Track causality between distributed events
• Maintain consistent ordering across nodes
• Detect concurrent operations
• Enable distributed consensus

How It Works

• Nostr Events: Messages are exchanged using Nostr's relay-based architecture
• Ethereum Signing: Messages are signed with Ethereum private keys following the EIP-191 standard
• Verifiable Clock: Each node maintains a vector timestamp to track event causality
• Verification: Signatures and timestamps are verified to ensure message authenticity and ordering

Security Considerations

• Private Key Safety: Never expose your Ethereum private key; always sign messages in a secure environment
• Relay Trust: Use trusted Nostr relays to prevent data interception
• Message Verification: Ensure EIP-191 signatures are correctly validated before processing messages
• Clock Synchronization: Maintain accurate vector clocks to prevent causality violations

Future Enhancements

• Multiple relay support for increased redundancy
• Advanced vector clock optimization for better scalability
• Integration with additional signing standards
• Enhanced privacy features
• Performance optimizations for large-scale deployments

Examples

Generating a key

package main

import (
    "fmt"

    "github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr"
    "github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr/nip19"
)

func main() {
    sk := nostr.GeneratePrivateKey()
    pk, _ := nostr.GetPublicKey(sk)
    nsec, _ := nip19.EncodePrivateKey(sk)
    npub, _ := nip19.EncodePublicKey(pk)

    fmt.Println("sk:", sk)
    fmt.Println("pk:", pk)
    fmt.Println(nsec)
    fmt.Println(npub)
}

Subscribing to a single relay

ctx := context.Background()
relay, err := nostr.RelayConnect(ctx, "wss://relay.stoner.com")
if err != nil {
	panic(err)
}

npub := "npub1422a7ws4yul24p0pf7cacn7cghqkutdnm35z075vy68ggqpqjcyswn8ekc"

var filters nostr.Filters
if _, v, err := nip19.Decode(npub); err == nil {
	pub := v.(string)
	filters = []nostr.Filter{{
		Kinds:   []int{nostr.KindTextNote},
		Authors: []string{pub},
		Limit:   1,
	}}
} else {
	panic(err)
}

ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 3*time.Second)
defer cancel()

sub, err := relay.Subscribe(ctx, filters)
if err != nil {
	panic(err)
}

for ev := range sub.Events {
	// handle returned event.
	// channel will stay open until the ctx is cancelled (in this case, context timeout)
	fmt.Println(ev.ID)
}

Publishing to two relays

sk := nostr.GeneratePrivateKey()
pub, _ := nostr.GetPublicKey(sk)

ev := nostr.Event{
	PubKey:    pub,
	CreatedAt: nostr.Now(),
	Kind:      nostr.KindTextNote,
	Tags:      nil,
	Content:   "Hello World!",
}

// calling Sign sets the event ID field and the event Sig field
ev.Sign(sk)

// publish the event to two relays
ctx := context.Background()
for _, url := range []string{"wss://relay.stoner.com", "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net"} {
	relay, err := nostr.RelayConnect(ctx, url)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		continue
	}
	if err := relay.Publish(ctx, ev); err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		continue
	}

	fmt.Printf("published to %s\n", url)
}

Logging

To get more logs from the interaction with relays printed to STDOUT you can compile or run your program with -tags debug.

To remove the info logs completely, replace nostr.InfoLogger with something that prints nothing, like

nostr.InfoLogger = log.New(io.Discard, "", 0)

Example script

go run example/example.go

Using libsecp256k1

libsecp256k1 is very fast:

goos: linux
goarch: amd64
cpu: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz
BenchmarkWithoutLibsecp256k1/sign-4          	    2794	    434114 ns/op
BenchmarkWithoutLibsecp256k1/check-4         	    4352	    297416 ns/op
BenchmarkWithLibsecp256k1/sign-4             	   12559	     94607 ns/op
BenchmarkWithLibsecp256k1/check-4            	   13761	     84595 ns/op
PASS

But to use it you need the host to have it installed as a shared library and CGO to be supported, so we don't compile against it by default.

To use it, use -tags=libsecp256k1 whenever you're compiling your program that uses this library.

Test for Wasm

Install wasmbrowsertest, then run tests:

GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm go test -short ./...

Warning: risk of goroutine bloat (if used incorrectly)

Remember to cancel subscriptions, either by calling .Unsub() on them or ensuring their context.Context will be canceled at some point. If you don't do that they will keep creating a new goroutine for every new event that arrives and if you have stopped listening on the sub.Events channel that will cause chaos and doom in your program.

Contributing to this repository

Use NIP-34 to send your patches to naddr1qqyxwmeddehhxarjqy28wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hsz9nhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7um5wghxyctwvsq3vamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwwpexjmtpdshxuet5qgsrhuxx8l9ex335q7he0f09aej04zpazpl0ne2cgukyawd24mayt8grqsqqqaueuwmljc.