nostr101

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Two things, in this order: something to read so the rest makes sense, and something to install so you can see it working. Neither takes long and neither needs the other first.

Foundations track · 6 pages · about 51 min

Six pages, in order, from what a key is to why your relay set decides what you see. No client needed until page five.

  1. 01 What Nostr is not clears the four things people assume it is before anything else lands not written yet
  2. 02 Everything on Nostr is an event one data structure, and the rest of the protocol is a catalogue of uses for it 11 min
  3. 03 Keys are the account npub, nsec, and what recovery means when there is no recovery 8 min
  4. 04 Relays, and why your set decides what you see the reason two people disagree about what a thread contains not written yet
  5. 05 What a NIP actually is turns the numbered list into something you can navigate not written yet
  6. 06 Zaps, and the Lightning underneath them the one place Nostr and Lightning meet, and the receipt that proves it not written yet

Which client

There are dozens. Almost all of the comparisons you will find list every one of them, which is how a newcomer ends up choosing none. Three questions instead.

Question 1 · What do you want to do first?
  1. Just look Primal · Web, iOS, Android Works in a browser with no install, and the same account carries to its apps. The easiest way to look before committing.
  2. Read and post Damus · iOS The iOS client most people start on. Reads and posts like a familiar timeline and hides almost all of the protocol. Amethyst · Android The Android equivalent, and the one that exposes the most of the protocol when you want to see it.
  3. See how it works noStrudel · Web Shows the machinery — relays, raw events, kinds — while you use it. The one to open when you want to see what a client is actually doing.
Question 2 · Where will you use it?
  1. On a phone Damus · iOS The iOS client most people start on. Reads and posts like a familiar timeline and hides almost all of the protocol. Amethyst · Android The Android equivalent, and the one that exposes the most of the protocol when you want to see it.
  2. In a browser Primal · Web, iOS, Android Works in a browser with no install, and the same account carries to its apps. The easiest way to look before committing. Snort · Web A web client that pairs well with a signing extension, so the key never reaches the page.
Question 3 · Where should your key live?
  1. In the app, for now Damus · iOS The iOS client most people start on. Reads and posts like a familiar timeline and hides almost all of the protocol. Amethyst · Android The Android equivalent, and the one that exposes the most of the protocol when you want to see it.
  2. Somewhere the page cannot reach nos2x · Browser extension Holds the key and signs on request. This is the NIP-07 arrangement, and it is why a good web client has no nsec field.

What "checked" means here

This list was assembled by a person on 22 Aug 2026 and is reviewed on a 90-day cycle. Separately, a scheduled job confirms every link still answers — last on 16 Sep 2026.

Those are different claims and the weaker one is easy to over-read. A working homepage survives a project by years. Take the link check as evidence that a client has not vanished, not as evidence that anyone is still maintaining it, and glance at the repository before you trust anything with your key.

That is the whole list, on purpose. If yours is missing it is not a judgement — a short list a newcomer will actually use beats a complete one they will not.