amethyst/.claude/skills/nostr-expert/SKILL.md

---

name: nostr-expert description: Quartz Nostr code: event classes, kinds, tags, TagArrayBuilder, EventFactory, NIP-19 bech32, NIP-44, hex/time/hash utils, resolving npub/nprofile/NIP-05 to a pubkey, looking up a NIP spec. Use before writing protocol code in quartz/.

Nostr in Quartz

Quartz (the Quartz repository) has one package per NIP — about 95 nipXX<Name>/ directories (hex ids too: nip5aStaticWebsites, nipB7Blossom, nipXX… for unnumbered drafts) — plus experimental/ and the non-NIP protocol families (marmot/, concord/, cordn/, contextvm/, buzz/, mls/, …) listed in AGENTS.md › Project Overview. references/nip-catalog.md maps every package to its event classes and kinds.

Look up a NIP

1. The spec is the source of truth: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/NN.md (zero-pad: 01.md; hex ids as named: B7.md).
2. .claude/skills/nostr-expert/scripts/nip-lookup.sh NN lists the package's files (NN decimal or two-char hex; a word does a text search across nip* packages).
3. grep -rln "NIP-NN\|nipNN" quartz/src/ for code outside the package.
4. Keep what the NIP requires apart from what Quartz already does and from your advice.

Building events

Every event class has const val KIND and a companion build(...) returning an unsigned EventTemplate<T>; a NostrSigner signs it (see auth-signers). Copy the shape of a sibling class in the same NIP; references/event-hierarchy.md covers the base classes.

// nip01Core/signers/EventTemplate.kt
inline fun <T : Event> eventTemplate(kind: Int, description: String, createdAt: Long = TimeUtils.now(),
    initializer: TagArrayBuilder<T>.() -> Unit = {}) = EventTemplate<T>(createdAt, kind, tagArray(initializer), description)

// usage — nip10Notes/TextNoteEvent.kt
val template = TextNoteEvent.build("gm", replyingTo = parentHintBundle) { hashtag("nostr") }
val signed: TextNoteEvent = signer.sign(template)

• Edit an existing event's tags with eventUpdate(base) { … } / event.update { … }.
• Tags: each tag is a XxxTag codec + TagArrayBuilderExt.kt writer + TagArrayExt.kt reader in its NIP package. Grep for the builder before writing add(arrayOf(...)). See references/tag-patterns.md.
• Kind ranges (nip01Core/core/Kind.kt): isRegular() is > 0 && < 10_000 && != 3 (kind 0 and 3 are replaceable), isReplaceable() is 0, 3 and 10000–19999, isEphemeral() 20000–29999, isAddressable() 30000–39999.
• A new kind needs a class, a registration in its Quartz module's EventKindProvider and a LocalCache dispatch branch, or it is silently dropped: references/event-factory.md.

Hex (nip01Core/core/HexKey.kt, utils/Hex.kt)

Pubkeys, ids and signatures are lower-case hex HexKey (= String). Never hand-roll a byte loop or pull in a hex library.

bytes.toHexKey()               // ByteArray -> hex
hex.hexToByteArray()           // throws on bad input
input.hexToByteArrayOrNull()   // null on invalid hex
Hex.isHex(input); Hex.isHex64(input)   // isHex64: fast path for a 32-byte key/id
hex.isValid()                  // 64 chars + valid hex
Hex.isEqual(hex, bytes)        // compare without decoding

PUBKEY_LENGTH / EVENT_ID_LENGTH (both 64) live in nip01Core.core.

Time, randomness, hashing

TimeUtils.now()             // utils/TimeUtils.kt — Unix SECONDS for created_at
TimeUtils.oneHourAgo()      // relative bounds (…Ago / …FromNow), also seconds
RandomInstance.bytes(32)    // utils/RandomInstance.kt — secure random, not kotlin.random
RandomInstance.randomChars()     // 16-char subscription id
sha256(bytes)               // utils/sha256/Sha256.kt
EventHasher.hashId(pubKey, createdAt, kind, tags, content)          // nip01Core/crypto/
EventHasher.hashIdCheck(id, pubKey, createdAt, kind, tags, content) // verify untrusted ids

Use EventHasher, not sha256 over your own JSON — the NIP-01 serialization is exact. Verification: event.verify() / checkSignature() in nip01Core/crypto/EventExt.kt.

Encryption

App code encrypts through the signer — signer.nip44Encrypt(plaintext, toPublicKey), signer.nip44Decrypt(ciphertext, fromPublicKey), or signer.decrypt(...) (picks NIP-04 vs NIP-44) — so remote and external signers work. Nip44.encrypt/decrypt (nip44Encryption/Nip44.kt) is for code that holds the raw key. NIP-04 is legacy. See references/crypto-and-encryption.md.

NIP-19 bech32

pubkeyBytes.toNpub(); privKeyBytes.toNsec(); idBytes.toNote()     // nip19Bech32/ByteArrayExt.kt
NEvent.create(idHex, authorHex, kind, relays); NProfile.create(pubkeyHex, relays)
event.toNIP19(relayHint)                                          // naddr or nevent
when (val e = Nip19Parser.uriToRoute(input)?.entity) { is NPub -> e.hex; is NAddress -> e.aTag(); … }

There is no Nip19.npubEncode and entities have no toBech32(). See references/nip19-bech32.md.

Resolving user input to a pubkey

Before writing if (isHex) … else if (npub) … else if ("@" in s) fetchWellKnown(), stop — it exists.

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip05DnsIdentifiers.resolveUserHexOrNull

// hex | npub1… | nprofile1… | nsec1… | name@domain.tld  ->  HexKey? (null if unrecognized or lookup fails)
val pubkey = resolveUserHexOrNull(userInput, nip05Client)

• Tries the synchronous hex/bech32 path first (decodePublicKeyAsHexOrNull); only NIP-05-shaped input hits the network. suspend; re-throws only CancellationException. Pass nip05Client = null offline.
• Client: Nip05Client(fetcher = OkHttpNip05Fetcher { _ -> okHttp }) (as in cli/.../commands/LoginCommand.kt). The fetcher runs on IO and refuses redirects per NIP-05 — don't re-implement .well-known/nostr.json.
• Verify a claimed identifier: nip05Client.verify(Nip05Id.parse(id)!!, pubkey).

Full API (Nip05Id, Nip05Parser, KeyInfoSet, Namecoin .bit) and the anti-pattern: references/nip05-identifiers.md.

Relays

Relay operations (fetch, page, publish-and-confirm, count, negentropy) are INostrClient extensions — see AGENTS.md › Feature Workflow. Compose-scoped subscriptions are the relay-client skill.

References

• references/nip-catalog.md — every package → event classes and kinds (generated by scripts/nip-catalog.py; regenerate, don't hand-edit)
• references/event-hierarchy.md — Event / BaseReplaceableEvent / BaseAddressableEvent, kind ranges, hint interfaces
• references/tag-patterns.md — tag codec layout, TagArrayBuilder, core tags, readers
• references/event-factory.md — EventFactory and the three registrations a new kind needs
• references/nip19-bech32.md — Nip19Parser, entities, encoders
• references/nip05-identifiers.md — resolveUserHexOrNull, Nip05Client, Namecoin
• references/crypto-and-encryption.md — EventHasher, Nip01Crypto, NIP-44
• references/large-cache.md — LargeCache, the store under LocalCache
• scripts/nip-lookup.sh — files of one NIP package, or a text search

Related skills: auth-signers (signing), event-store-semantics (stores, NIP-50 search), nip85-trusted-assertions, relay-client, kotlin-multiplatform (expect/actual in Quartz).