TLDR: simple but convenient CLI-based Nostr client app for publishing, sending DMs, as well as following users and channels
nostr-commander is a simple terminal-based CLI client of Nostr https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr written in Rust. It lets you create a Nostr user, subscribe and follow posts of other users, send private (encrypted) DMs to your Nostr friends, and much more.
Please help improve the code and add features :pray: :clap: Any contribution is welcome.
Please give it a star :star: right away on Github so that other people can find the project more easily :heart:.
nostr-command(lin)er. A word play.
Nostr networknostr-sdk used to build nostr-commanderrustup.rs. See https://rustup.rs/.cd ~/nostr-commander-rscargo build --release./target/release/nostr-commander-rs --version # run it and get versionYou don't need to know any of this. This is just for the curious ones.
The config file looks something like this. If you want to do some quick testing, you can copy and paste this config file to get going real fast.
{
"secret_key_bech32": "nsec1yljk9us0e3whjnzysu6pqjhnw5wglkr6hvx4vj376fs0sfaxze6qvx5f5x",
"public_key_bech32": "npub1af7ep6s5esrgtc2c7tlvd3v4jpna44qf6nhan8tek6h505nwrvgq38nwz6",
"relays": [
{
"url": "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net/",
"proxy": null
}
],
"metadata": {
"name": "James Jones",
"display_name": "Jim",
"about": "tech nerd and nostr lover"
},
"contacts": [
{
"pk": "25e5c82273a271cb1a840d0060391a0bf4965cafeb029d5ab55350b418953fbb",
"relay_url": "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net/",
"alias": "Nostr Public Channel"
},
{
"pk": "887645fef0ce0c3c1218d2f5d8e6132a19304cdc57cd20281d082f38cfea0072",
"relay_url": "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net/",
"alias": "HackerNews Public Channel"
},
{
"pk": "6b0d4c8d9dc59e110d380b0429a02891f1341a0fa2ba1b1cf83a3db4d47e3964",
"relay_url": "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net/",
"alias": "dergigi"
},
{
"pk": "3235036bd0957dfb27ccda02d452d7c763be40c91a1ac082ba6983b25238388c",
"relay_url": "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net/",
"alias": "vishalxl"
},
{
"pk": "32e1827635450ebb3c5a7d12c1f8e7b2b514439ac10a67eef3d9fd9c5c68e245",
"relay_url": "wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net/",
"alias": "jb55.com"
}
],
"subscribed_pubkeys": [
"3235036bd0957dfb27ccda02d452d7c763be40c91a1ac082ba6983b25238388c"
],
"subscribed_authors": [
"6b0d4c8d9dc59e110d380b0429a02891f1341a0fa2ba1b1cf83a3db4d47e3964",
"32e1827635450ebb3c5a7d12c1f8e7b2b514439ac10a67eef3d9fd9c5c68e245"
],
"subscribed_channels": [
"25e5c82273a271cb1a840d0060391a0bf4965cafeb029d5ab55350b418953fbb",
"887645fef0ce0c3c1218d2f5d8e6132a19304cdc57cd20281d082f38cfea0072"
]
}
$ nostr-commander-rs --create-user --name "James Jones" \
--display-name Jimmy --about "tech and pizza lover" \
--picture "https://i.imgur.com/mIcObyL.jpeg" \
--nip05 jim@nostr.example.org \
--add-relay "wss://nostr.openchain.fr" "wss://relay.damus.io" # first time only
$ nostr-commander-rs --add-contact --key "887645fef0ce0c3c1218d2f5d8e6132a19304cdc57cd20281d082f38cfea0072" --alias HackerNews --relay "wss://nostr.openchain.fr/"
$ nostr-commander-rs --publish "Love this protocol"
$ nostr-commander-rs --dm joe "How about pizza tonight?"
$ nostr-commander-rs --subscribe-author npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s
$ nostr-commander-rs --subscribe-channel 25e5c82273a271cb1a840d0060391a0bf4965cafeb029d5ab55350b418953fbb
``` Welcome to "nostr-commander-rs", a Nostr CLI client. ─── On the first run use --create-user to create a user. On further runs you can publish notes, send private DM messages, etc. ─── Have a look at the repo "https://github.com/8go/nostr-commander-rs/" and see if you can contribute code to improve this tool. Safe!
Usage: nostr-commander-rs [OPTIONS]
Options: --contribute Please contribute
-v, --version [
Possible values:
- check: Check if there is a newer version available
--usage
Prints a very short help summary. Details:: See also --help, --manual
and --readme
-h, --help Prints short help displaying about one line per argument. Details:: See also --usage, --manual and --readme
--manual
Prints long help. Details:: This is like a man page. See also
--usage, --help and --readme
--readme
Prints README.md file, the documenation in Markdown. Details:: The
README.md file will be downloaded from Github. It is a Markdown file
and it is best viewed with a Markdown viewer. See also --usage,
--help and --manual
-d, --debug... Overwrite the default log level. Details:: If not used, then the default log level set with environment variable 'RUST_LOG' will be used. If used, log level will be set to 'DEBUG' and debugging information will be printed. '-d' is a shortcut for '--log-level DEBUG'. See also '--log-level'. '-d' takes precedence over '--log-level'. Additionally, have a look also at the option '--verbose'
--log-level <LOG_LEVEL>
Set the log level by overwriting the default log level. Details:: If
not used, then the default log level set with environment variable
'RUST_LOG' will be used. See also '--debug' and '--verbose'
[default: none]
Possible values:
- none: None: not set, default
- error: Error: Indicates to print only errors
- warn: Warn: Indicates to print warnings and errors
- info: Info: Indicates to to print info, warn and errors
- debug: Debug: Indicates to to print debug and the rest
- trace: Trace: Indicates to to print everything
--verbose...
Set the verbosity level. Details:: If not used, then verbosity will
be set to low. If used once, verbosity will be high. If used more
than once, verbosity will be very high. Verbosity only affects the
debug information. So, if '--debug' is not used then '--verbose' will
be ignored
-c, --credentials
[default:
/home/user/.local/share/nostr-commander-rs/credentials.json]
--create-user
Create a new user, i.e. a new key pair. Details:: This is usually
done only once at the beginning. If you ever want to wipe this user,
use '--delete-user' which deletes the key pair. Use this option in
combination with --name, --display_name, --about, --picture, and
--nip05. Also highly recommended that you use this option together
with --add-relay
--delete-user
Delete the current user, i.e. delete the current key pair. Details::
This will erase the key pair and other associated information like
user name, display name, etc. Afterwards one can create a new user
with '--create-user'
--name <USER_NAME>
Specify an optional user name. Details:: Used together with
'--create-user'. If this option is not set during '--create-user',
the information will be queried via the keyboard. If you want to set
it to empty and not be queried, provide an empty string ''
--display-name <DISPLAY_NAME>
Specify an optional display name. Details:: Used together with
'--create-user'. If this option is not set during '--create-user',
the information will be queried via the keyboard. If you want to set
it to empty and not be queried, provide an empty string ''
--about <DESCRIPTION>
Specify an optional description. Details:: Used together with
'--create-user'. If this option is not set during '--create-user',
the information will be queried via the keyboard. If you want to set
it to empty and not be queried, provide an empty string ''
--picture <URL>
Specify an optional picture or avatar. Details:: Used together with
'--create-user'. Provide a URL like 'https://example.com/avatar.png'.
If this option is not set during '--create-user', the information
will be queried via the keyboard. If you want to set it to empty and
not be queried, provide this URL 'none:'
--nip05 <NIP05_ID>
Specify an optional nip05 name. Details:: Used together with
'--create-user'. Provide a nip05 name like 'john@example.org'. If
this option is not set during '--create-user', the information will
be queried via the keyboard. If you want to set it to empty and not
be queried, provide an empty string ''
-p, --publish [
--publish-pow [<NOTE>...]
Publish one or multiple notes with proof-of-work (POW). Details:: Use
also '--pow-difficulty' to specify difficulty. See also '--publish'
to see how shortcut characters '-' (pipe) and '_' (streamed pipe) are
handled. Disabled since version nostr-commander-rs 0.2.0 (nostr-sdk
0.21)
--dm [<KEY+MSGS>...]
Send one or multiple DMs to one given user. Details:: DM messages
will be encrypted and preserve privacy. The single recipient is
specified via its public key, a string in the form of 'npub1...', a
Hex key, or an alias from one of your contacts. The first argument is
the recipient, all further arguments are texts to be sent. E.g. '-dm
"npub1SomeStrangeNumbers" "First msg" "Second msg"' or '--dm joe "How
about pizza tonight?"'. See also '--publish' to see how shortcut
characters '-' (pipe) and '_' (streamed pipe) are handled
--send-channel-message [<HASH+MSGS>...]
Send one or multiple messages to one given channel. Details:: The
single destination channel is specified via its hash. See here for a
channel list: https://damus.io/channels/. The first argument is the
channel hash, all further arguments are texts to be sent. E.g.
'-send_channel_message "SomeChannelHash" "First msg" "Second msg"'.
See also '--publish' to see how shortcut characters '-' (pipe) and
'_' (streamed pipe) are handled. Optionally you can provide a relay
to be used for the channel send by using --relay. See --relay. If
--relay has values the first value from --relay will be used as
relay. If --relay is not used, then the first relay in the relay list
in the credentials configuration file will be used
--add-relay [<RELAY_URI>...]
Add one or multiple relays. Details:: A relay is specified via a URI
that looks like 'wss://some.relay.org'. You can find relays by
looking at https://github.com/aljazceru/awesome-nostr#instances.
Sampler relay registries are: https://nostr-registry.netlify.app/,
https://nostr.info/, or https://nostr.watch/. Examples:
"wss://relay.damus.io", "wss://nostr.openchain.fr". See also
'--proxy'
--proxy <PROXY>
Specify a proxy for relays. Details:: Used by --add-relay. Note that
this proxy will be applied to all of the relays specified with
--add-relay. If you have 3 relays with 3 different proxies, then run
the --add-relay command 3 times with 1 relay and 1 proxy each time.
An example proxy for the Tor network looks something like
"127.0.0.1:9050". If you want to use Tor via a proxy, to assure that
no information leaks you must use only one relay, i.e. the Tor relay.
If more then one relays are configured, data will be communicated to
and from all relays. A possible relay that you can use together with
a Tor proxy is
"ws://jgqaglhautb4k6e6i2g34jakxiemqp6z4wynlirltuukgkft2xuglmqd.onion"
--remove-relay [<RELAY_URI>...]
Remove one or multiple relays from local config file. Details:: See
--add-relay
--tag <TAG>
Specify one or multiple tags to attach to notes or DMs. Details:: Not
yet implemented
--show-metadata
Display current metadata. Details:: shows data in your config file
--change-metadata
Modify existing metadata of the user. Details:: Use this option in
combination with --name, --display_name, --about, --picture, and
--nip05
--pow-difficulty <DIFFICULTY>
Specify optional proof-of-work (POW) difficulty. Details:: Use with
'--publish_pow' to specify difficulty. If not specified the default
will be used
[default: 20]
--show-public-key
Show public key. Details:: Displays your own public key. You can
share this with your friends or the general public
--show-secret-key
Show private, secret key. Details:: Protect this key. Do not share
this with anyone
--whoami
Print the user name used by "nostr-commander-rs". Details:: One can
get this information also by looking at the credentials file or by
using --show-metadata
-o, --output
[default: text]
Possible values:
- text:
Text: Indicates to print human readable text, default
- json:
Json: Indicates to print output in Json format
- json-max:
Json Max: Indicates to to print the maximum anount of output in
Json format
- json-spec:
Json Spec: Indicates to to print output in Json format, but only
data that is according to Nostr Specifications
-l, --listen Listen to events, notifications and messages. Details:: This option listens to events and messages forever. To stop, type Control-C on your keyboard. You want to listen if you want to get the event ids for published notices. Subscriptions do not automatically turn listening on. If you want to listen to your subscriptions, you must use --listen
--add-contact
Add one or more contacts. Details:: Must be used in combination with
--alias, --key, --relay. If you want to add N new contacts, use
--add-contact and provide exactly N entries in each of the 3 extra
arguments. E.g. --add-contact --alias jane joe --key
npub1JanesPublicKey npub1JoesPublicKey --relay
"wss://janes.relay.org" "wss://joes.relay.org". Aliases must be
unique. Alias can be seen as a nickname
--remove-contact
Remove one or more contacts. Details:: Must be used in combination
with --alias. For each entry in --alias the corresponding contact
will be removed. E.g. --remove-contact --alias jane joe
--show-contacts
Display current contacts. Details:: Prints your contact list
--alias [<ALIAS>...]
Provide one or multiple aliases (nicknames). Details:: This is used
in combination with arguments --add-contact and --remove-contact
--key [<KEY>...]
Provide one or multiple public keys. Details:: This is used in
combination with argument --add-contact. They have the form
'npub1SomeStrangeString'. Alternatively you can use the Hex form of
the public key
--relay [<RELAY>...]
Provide one or multiple relays. Details:: This is used in combination
with arguments --add-contact and --send_channel_message. Relays have
the form 'wss://some.relay.org'
--npub-to-hex [<KEY>...]
Convert one or multiple public keys from Npub to Hex. Details::
Converts public keys in Bech32 format ('npub1...') into the
corresponding 'hex' format. See also --hex-to-npub
--hex-to-npub [<KEY>...]
Convert one or multiple public keys from Hex to Npub. Details::
Converts public keys in 'hex' format into the corresponding Bech32
('npub1...') format. See also --npub-to-hex
--get-pubkey-entity [<KEY>...]
Get the entity of one or multiple public keys. Details:: This will
show you for every public key given if the key represents a Nostr
account (usually an individual) or a public Nostr channel. It might
also return "Unknown" if the entity of the key cannot be determined.
E.g. this can be helpful to determine if you want to use
--subscribe-author or --subscribe-channel
--subscribe-pubkey [<KEY>...]
Subscribe to one or more public keys. Details:: Specify each public
key in form of 'npub1SomePublicKey'. Alternatively you can use the
Hex form of the public key. Use this option to subscribe to an
account, i.e. the key of an individual. See also --subscribe-channel
which are different
--subscribe-author [<KEY>...]
Subscribe to authors with to one or more public keys of accounts.
Details:: Specify each public key in form of 'npub1SomePublicKey'.
Alternatively you can use the Hex form of the public key. Use this
option to subscribe to a Nostr accounts (usually individuals).
Provide keys that represent accounts (see --get-pubkey-entity). See
also --subscribe-pubkey and --subscribe-channel which are different
--subscribe-channel [<HASH>...]
Subscribe to public channels with one or more hashes of channels.
Details:: Specify each hash in form of 'npub1SomePublicKey'.
Alternatively you can use the Hex form of the public key. Sometimes
the hash of a public channel is referred to as channel id, sometimes
also as public channel key. See here for a channel list:
https://damus.io/channels/. Provide hashes that represent public
channels (see --get-pubkey-entity). See also --subscribe-pubkey and
--subscribe-author which are different
--unsubscribe-pubkey [<KEY>...]
Unsubscribe from public key. Details:: Removes one or multiple public
keys from the public key subscription list. See --subscribe-pubkey
--unsubscribe-author [<KEY>...]
Unsubscribe from author. Details:: Removes one or multiple public
keys from the author subscription list. See --subscribe-author
--unsubscribe-channel [<KEY>...]
Unsubscribe from public channel. Details:: Removes one or multiple
public keys from the public channel subscription list. See
--subscribe-channel
--limit-number <NUMBER>
Limit the number of past messages to receive when subscribing.
Details:: By default there is no limit (0), i.e. all old messages
available to the relay will be received
[default: 0]
--limit-days <DAYS>
Limit the messages received to the last N days when subscribing.
Details:: By default there is no limit (0), i.e. all old messages
available to the relay will be received
[default: 0]
--limit-hours <HOURS>
Limit the messages received to the last N hours when subscribing.
Details:: By default there is no limit (0), i.e. all old messages
available to the relay will be received
[default: 0]
--limit-future-days <DAYS>
Limit the messages received to the next N days when subscribing.
Details:: Stop receiving N days in the future. By default there is no
limit (0), i.e. you will receive events forever
[default: 0]
--limit-future-hours <HOURS>
Limit the messages received to the last N hours when subscribing.
Details:: Stop receiving N hours in the future. By default there is
no limit (0), i.e. you will receive events forever
[default: 0]
PS: Also have a look at scripts/nostr-commander-tui.
```
nostr-commander isn't quite what you wanted?
Check out nostr_console.nostr but into Matrix?
Check out matrix-commander
and matrix-commander-rs.