Nostr Node Discovery

Implementation guidelines for node discovery and service announcement using Nostr events for decentralized client discovery.

Node Discovery Overview

Nodes announce their presence and capabilities via Nostr events for client discovery. This mechanism enables decentralized service discovery without relying on centralized registries or DNS-based systems.

Node Announcement Event

Kind: 40500

Service providers publish announcement events using Kind 40500 to make their services discoverable by clients through the Nostr network.

Event Structure:

{
  "kind": 40500,
  "created_at": <unix-timestamp>,
  "tags": [
    ["d", "<node-id>"],              // Unique node identifier
    ["p", "<operator-pubkey>"],      // Operator's public key
    ["url", "https://..."],          // Inference endpoint
    ["onion", "<tor-onion-address>"] // Tor hidden service endpoint
  ],
  "content": "Human-readable description"
}

Implementation Guidelines

For Service Providers:

Publish announcement events regularly to maintain visibility
Use consistent node-id across announcements for the same service
Include both clearnet and Tor endpoints when available
Provide meaningful descriptions in the content field
Sign events with the operator's private key for verification

For Clients:

Monitor multiple relays for node announcements
Verify operator signatures before trusting announcements
Cache discovered nodes and their capabilities
Implement fallback mechanisms for service discovery
Respect privacy preferences (clearnet vs Tor)