and this proposal gives that (and more) in a straightforward way: quoting= NIP-C0: Communi-keys
naddr1qv…54mv
This NIP defines a standard for creating, managing and publishing to communities by leveraging existing key pairs and relays, introducing the concept of "Communi-keys". This approach allows any existing npub to become a community (identity + manager) while maintaining compatibility with existing relay infrastructure.
== Motivation
Current community management solutions on Nostr often require complex relay-specific implementations, lack proper decentralization and don't allow publications to be targeted at more than one community.
This proposal aims to simplify community management by utilizing existing Nostr primitives (key pairs and relays) while adding minimal new event kinds.
== Specification
=== Community Creation Event
A community is created when a key pair publishes a `kind:32221` event with the following structure:
[source,json]
----
{
"kind": 32221,
"content": "",
"tags": [
["relay", ""],
["relay", "", "backup"],
["relay", "", "backup"],
["blossom", ""],
["blossom", "", "backup"],
["p", "", " "],
["mint", ""],
["welcome", ""]
]
}
----
.Tag definitions
[horizontal]
relay:: URLs of relays where community content should be published. First one is considered main relay.
blossom:: URLs of blossom servers for additional community features (optional).
p:: Community role assignments. Multiple allowed. Format: `["p", "", " "]`.
mint:: URL of community mint for token/payment features (optional).
welcome:: Event ID of a welcome/introduction post (optional).
The pubkey of the key pair that creates this event serves as the unique identifier for the community. This means:
1. Each key pair can only represent one community
2. Communities can be easily discovered by querying for the most recent `kind:32221` event for a given pubkey
3. Community managers can update their settings by publishing a new `kind:32221` event
=== Community Identifier Format
Communities can be referenced using an "ncommunity" format:
----
ncommunity://?relay= &relay=
----
This format follows the same principles as nprofile, but specifically for community identification. While the ncommunity format is recommended for complete relay information, the standard pubkey format can also be used when relay discovery is not needed.
=== Targeted Publication Event
To target an existing publication at specific communities, users create a `kind:32222` event:
[source,json]
----
{
"kind": 32222,
"content": "",
"tags": [
["e", ""],
["p", ""],
["c", ""],
["r", ""]
]
}
----
The event must be found on the community's specified main relay to be considered valid. The `e` tag references the original publication event that is being targeted at the communities. Communities can be referenced either using:
* The `p` tag with the community's pubkey (for simple cases where relay discovery is not needed)
* The `c` tag with a bech32-encoded ncommunity identifier (which includes both the community pubkey and its relay information)
=== Community Chat Messages
For chat messages within a community, users should use `kind:9` events with a community tag:
[source,json]
----
{
"kind": 9,
"content": "",
"tags": [
["h", ""]
]
}
----
== Implementation Notes
1. Clients SHOULD verify that targeted publications (`kind:32222`) are present on the community's main relays. The main relay specified in the community creation event SHOULD be considered authoritative for community-related events. Clients MAY, however, fall back on a backup relay (as the authority) when the main relay is offline.
2. Clients MAY cache community metadata (`kind:30003`) events to reduce relay queries.
3. Relay operators MAY implement/automate additional filtering or moderation based on community specifications.
4. When encountering a `p` tag without corresponding relay information, clients SHOULD attempt to discover the community's relays through other means (e.g., known community relays, cached metadata).
== Benefits
1. Any existing npub can become a community
2. Communities are not permanently tied to specific relays
3. Simplified relay operator implementation compared to other community proposals
4. Supports relay-per-community model while remaining flexible
5. Enables cross-community interaction through targeted publications
6. The ability to target publications to more than one community and the access to any desired content type eliminates the need for #channels or rooms
7. Flexible referencing allows for both simple and complete community identification
== Security Considerations
1. Clients MUST verify event signatures from community managers
2. Relays SHOULD implement rate limiting for community-related events
3. Clients SHOULD respect the relay hierarchy specified in community creation events
4. When using simple pubkey references, clients should be aware of potential relay discovery challenges
== Use Case for Private Groups and DMs
The Communi-keys structure naturally extends to private groups and DMs by leveraging relay-side authentication:
=== Private Groups
* The community's profile metadata and relay address remain publicly readable
* All content (chats, posts, articles, polls, etc.) is only readable by npubs that meet the group's conditions
=== Direct Messages (DMs)
* DMs are simply a private groups of two
* The npub representing the DM "room" doesn't need public metadata
* Clients can display the room using the other participant's name
* The room's npub can be stored locally or in encrypted form elsewhere for multi-device access
* Provides a clean separation between the chat identity and the participants' identities
This approach unifies community, group, and DM management under a single model while maintaining privacy through relay-side authentication.
https://github.com/NielLiesmons/nips/blob/master/C0.md
Do you something written out, so that I can see if it's better than key pairs?
I don't see a simpler way to get to
- unruggable, unique IDs
- Nostr-native relay access
- targeted publications
- only teaching customers one management UX-pattern
etc...