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Nostr

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Install (on demand)

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Onboarding (recommended)

• The onboarding wizard (openclaw onboard) and openclaw channels add list optional channel plugins.
• Selecting Nostr prompts you to install the plugin on demand.

• Dev channel + git checkout available: uses the local plugin path.
• Stable/Beta: downloads from npm.

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Manual install

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/nostr

openclaw plugins install --link <path-to-openclaw>/extensions/nostr

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Quick setup

1. Generate a Nostr keypair (if needed):

# Using nak
nak key generate

2. Add to config:

{
  "channels": {
    "nostr": {
      "privateKey": "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}"
    }
  }
}

3. Export the key:

export NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY="nsec1..."

4. Restart the Gateway.

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Configuration reference

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Profile metadata

{
  "channels": {
    "nostr": {
      "privateKey": "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}",
      "profile": {
        "name": "openclaw",
        "displayName": "OpenClaw",
        "about": "Personal assistant DM bot",
        "picture": "https://example.com/avatar.png",
        "banner": "https://example.com/banner.png",
        "website": "https://example.com",
        "nip05": "[email protected]",
        "lud16": "[email protected]"
      }
    }
  }
}

• Profile URLs must use https://.
• Importing from relays merges fields and preserves local overrides.

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Access control

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DM policies

• pairing (default): unknown senders get a pairing code.
• allowlist: only pubkeys in allowFrom can DM.
• open: public inbound DMs (requires allowFrom: ["*"]).
• disabled: ignore inbound DMs.

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Allowlist example

{
  "channels": {
    "nostr": {
      "privateKey": "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}",
      "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
      "allowFrom": ["npub1abc...", "npub1xyz..."]
    }
  }
}

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Key formats

• Private key: nsec... or 64-char hex
• Pubkeys (allowFrom): npub... or hex

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Relays

{
  "channels": {
    "nostr": {
      "privateKey": "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}",
      "relays": ["wss://relay.damus.io", "wss://relay.primal.net", "wss://nostr.wine"]
    }
  }
}

• Use 2-3 relays for redundancy.
• Avoid too many relays (latency, duplication).
• Paid relays can improve reliability.
• Local relays are fine for testing (ws://localhost:7777).

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Protocol support

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Testing

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Local relay

# Start strfry
docker run -p 7777:7777 ghcr.io/hoytech/strfry

{
  "channels": {
    "nostr": {
      "privateKey": "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}",
      "relays": ["ws://localhost:7777"]
    }
  }
}

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Manual test

1. Note the bot pubkey (npub) from logs.
2. Open a Nostr client (Damus, Amethyst, etc.).
3. DM the bot pubkey.
4. Verify the response.

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Troubleshooting

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Not receiving messages

• Verify the private key is valid.
• Ensure relay URLs are reachable and use wss:// (or ws:// for local).
• Confirm enabled is not false.
• Check Gateway logs for relay connection errors.

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Not sending responses

• Check relay accepts writes.
• Verify outbound connectivity.
• Watch for relay rate limits.

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Duplicate responses

• Expected when using multiple relays.
• Messages are deduplicated by event ID; only the first delivery triggers a response.

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Security

• Never commit private keys.
• Use environment variables for keys.
• Consider allowlist for production bots.

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Limitations (MVP)

• Direct messages only (no group chats).
• No media attachments.
• NIP-04 only (NIP-17 gift-wrap planned).