Nostr MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides Nostr capabilities to LLMs like Claude.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1d2d47d0-c61b-44e2-85be-5985d2a81c64

Features

This server implements several tools for interacting with the Nostr network:

1. getProfile: Fetches a user's profile information by public key
2. getKind1Notes: Fetches text notes (kind 1) authored by a user
3. getLongFormNotes: Fetches long-form content (kind 30023) authored by a user
4. getReceivedZaps: Fetches zaps received by a user, including detailed payment information
5. getSentZaps: Fetches zaps sent by a user, including detailed payment information
6. getAllZaps: Fetches both sent and received zaps for a user, clearly labeled with direction and totals
7. searchNips: Search through Nostr Implementation Possibilities (NIPs) with relevance scoring
8. sendAnonymousZap: Prepare an anonymous zap to a profile or event, generating a lightning invoice for payment
9. postAnonymousNote: Post an anonymous note using a randomly generated one-time keypair

All tools fully support both hex public keys and npub format, with user-friendly display of Nostr identifiers.

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/austinkelsay/nostr-mcp-server.git
cd nostr-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

Connecting to Claude for Desktop

1. Make sure you have Claude for Desktop installed and updated to the latest version.

2. Configure Claude for Desktop by editing or creating the configuration file:

   For macOS:

   vim ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   

   For Windows:

   notepad %AppData%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
   

3. Add the Nostr server to your configuration:

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "nostr": {
               "command": "node",
               "args": [
                   "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/nostr-mcp-server/build/index.js"
               ]
           }
       }
   }
   

   Be sure to replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/ with the actual path to your project.

4. Restart Claude for Desktop.

Connecting to Cursor

1. Make sure you have Cursor installed and updated to the latest version.

2. Configure Cursor by creating or editing the configuration file:

   For macOS:

   vim ~/.cursor/config.json
   

   For Windows:

   notepad %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\config.json
   

3. Add the Nostr server to your configuration:

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "nostr": {
               "command": "node",
               "args": [
                   "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/nostr-mcp-server/build/index.js"
               ]
           }
       }
   }
   

   Be sure to replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/ with the actual path to your project.

4. Restart Cursor.

Usage in Claude

Once configured, you can ask Claude to use the Nostr tools by making requests like:

• "Show me the profile information for npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"
• "What are the recent posts from npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8?"
• "Show me the long-form articles from npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"
• "How many zaps has npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8 received?"
• "Show me the zaps sent by npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"
• "Show me all zaps (both sent and received) for npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"
• "Search for NIPs about zaps"
• "What NIPs are related to long-form content?"
• "Show me NIP-23 with full content"
• "Send an anonymous zap of 100 sats to npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"
• "Send 1000 sats to note1abcdef... with a comment saying 'Great post!'"
• "Post an anonymous note saying 'Hello Nostr world!'"
• "Create an anonymous post with tags #bitcoin and #nostr"

The server automatically handles conversion between npub and hex formats, so you can use either format in your queries. Results are displayed with user-friendly npub identifiers.

Anonymous Notes

The postAnonymousNote tool allows users to post notes to the Nostr network without revealing their identity. Key points about anonymous notes:

• The note will be published using a random one-time keypair generated just for this post
• The private key is never stored or saved anywhere - it's used only for signing the note
• You receive the public key and note ID in the response if you want to reference them
• You can optionally specify custom tags to include with your note
• By default, the note is published to several popular relays to ensure good propagation

Examples:

"Post an anonymous note saying 'Just trying out the anonymous posting feature!'"
"Create an anonymous note with the content 'Testing the Nostr anonymity features' and tags #test #anonymous"
"Post anonymously to Nostr: 'I can share thoughts without linking to my identity'"

For more control, you can specify custom relays:

"Post an anonymous note to relay wss://relay.damus.io saying 'Hello Nostr world!'"

This feature is useful for:

• Testing posts without affecting your main identity
• Sharing information anonymously
• Creating temporary or throwaway content

Advanced Usage

You can specify custom relays for any query:

• "Show me the profile for npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8 using relay wss://relay.damus.io"

You can also specify the number of notes or zaps to fetch:

• "Show me the latest 20 notes from npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"

For anonymous zaps, you can include optional comments and specify the target type:

• "Send an anonymous zap of 500 sats to note1abcdef... with the comment 'Great post!'"
• "Send 1000 sats anonymously to nevent1qys... using relay wss://relay.damus.io"

For zap queries, you can enable extra validation and debugging:

• "Show me all zaps for npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8 with validation and debug enabled"

For NIP searches, you can control the number of results and include full content:

• "Search for NIPs about zaps with full content"
• "Show me the top 5 NIPs about relays"
• "What NIPs are related to encryption? Show me 15 results"

Limitations

• The server has a default 8-second timeout for queries to prevent hanging
• Only public keys in hex format or npub format are supported
• Only a subset of relays is used by default

Implementation Details

• Built with snstr - a lightweight, modern TypeScript library for Nostr protocol implementation
• Native support for npub format using NIP-19 encoding/decoding
• NIP-57 compliant zap receipt detection with direction-awareness (sent/received/self)
• Advanced bolt11 invoice parsing with payment amount extraction
• Smart caching system for improved performance with large volumes of zaps
• Total sats calculations for sent/received/self zaps with net balance
• Optional NIP-57 validation for ensuring zap receipt integrity
• Anonymous zap support with lightning invoice generation
• Support for zapping profiles, events (note IDs), and replaceable events (naddr)
• Each tool call creates a fresh connection to the relays, ensuring reliable data retrieval
• Comprehensive test suite with clean execution and proper resource cleanup

Anonymous Zaps

The sendAnonymousZap tool lets users send zaps without revealing their Nostr identity. Key points about anonymous zaps:

• The zap will appear to come from an anonymous user in the recipient's wallet
• The zap follows the NIP-57 protocol but without a sender signature
• The recipient can still receive the payment and any included message
• You can zap profiles (using npub/hex pubkey), specific events (using note/nevent/hex ID), or replaceable events (using naddr)
• The server generates a lightning invoice for payment that you can copy into your Lightning wallet

Examples:

"Send an anonymous zap of 100 sats to npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8ne6dvrjehx9n9hr3lnj08qwuzwc8"
"Send 1000 sats anonymously to note1abcdef... with the comment 'Great post!'"

The server fully validates LNURL services according to LNURL-pay (LUD-06) and Lightning Address (LUD-16) specifications, ensuring compatibility with various wallet implementations.

Troubleshooting

• If queries time out, try increasing the QUERY_TIMEOUT value in the source code (currently 8 seconds)
• If no data is found, try specifying different relays that might have the data
• Check Claude's MCP logs for detailed error information

Default Relays

The server uses the following relays by default:

• wss://relay.damus.io
• wss://relay.nostr.band
• wss://relay.primal.net
• wss://nos.lol
• wss://purplerelay.com
• wss://nostr.land

Development

To modify or extend this server:

1. Edit the relevant file:

   • index.ts: Main server and tool registration
   • note/note-tools.ts: Profile and notes functionality (Documentation)
   • zap/zap-tools.ts: Zap-related functionality (Documentation)
   • nips/nips-tools.ts: Functions for searching NIPs (Documentation)
   • utils/: Shared utility functions
     • constants.ts: Global constants and relay configurations
     • conversion.ts: Pubkey format conversion utilities
     • formatting.ts: Output formatting helpers
     • pool.ts: Nostr connection pool management
     • ephemeral-relay.ts: In-memory Nostr relay for testing

2. Run npm run build to compile

3. Restart Claude for Desktop or Cursor to pick up your changes

Testing

We've implemented a comprehensive test suite using Jest to test both basic functionality and integration with the Nostr protocol:

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run a specific test file
npm test -- __tests__/basic.test.ts

# Run integration tests
npm test -- __tests__/integration.test.ts

The test suite includes:

Unit Tests

• basic.test.ts - Tests simple profile formatting and zap receipt processing
• profile-notes-simple.test.ts - Tests profile and note data structures
• zap-tools-simple.test.ts - Tests zap processing and anonymous zap preparation

Integration Tests

• integration.test.ts - Tests interaction with an ephemeral Nostr relay including:

  • Publishing profile events
  • Creating and retrieving text notes
  • Publishing zap receipts
  • Filtering events

• websocket-integration.test.ts - Tests WebSocket communication with a Nostr relay:

  • Publishing events over WebSocket
  • Subscribing to events with filters
  • Managing multiple subscriptions
  • Closing subscriptions
  • Verifying that events with invalid signatures are rejected

Test Infrastructure

• All integration tests use our ephemeral-relay.ts implementation—a fully functional in-memory Nostr relay
• Tests use snstr for cryptographic event signing and verification
• Clean test execution with proper resource cleanup and no console warnings
• Automated WebSocket connection management with timeout handling
• Isolated test environment requiring no external network connections

For more details about the test suite, see tests/README.md.

Codebase Organization

The codebase is organized into modules:

• Core server setup in index.ts
• Specialized functionality in dedicated directories:
  • nips/: NIPs search and caching functionality
  • note/: Profile and notes functionality
  • zap/: Zap handling and anonymous zapping
• Common utilities in the utils/ directory

This modular structure makes the codebase more maintainable, reduces duplication, and enables easier feature extensions. For detailed information about each module's features and implementation, see their respective documentation.