How to use Nostr: a step-by-step guide for beginners

You downloaded a Nostr app because Jack Dorsey posted about it, or your favorite podcast brought it up, or a friend on Telegram said "come over here, this one is different." You opened the app, tapped through the onboarding, and now you are staring at a long string that starts with nsec1 and a feed that is almost empty.

This guide picks up from exactly that moment. Five steps, in order, and a short list of the mistakes that send new users back to Twitter on day one.

TL;DR. Sign up at nostr.blog and you land on one page with an identity, a wallet, and a working client. Back up the private key (nsec1...) the moment the signup screen shows it. Follow at least twenty accounts before you decide whether the network is alive. Post whatever you want.

When you are ready, grab your @nostr.blog address →

Before you start

Nothing. Or almost nothing. Here is what you need:

• A phone or a computer with a modern browser
• About five minutes
• Zero money

Here is what you explicitly do not need:

• An email address
• A phone number
• A credit card
• ID or KYC
• Permission from anyone

If a Nostr client asks you for any of the second list, you are on the wrong site. The protocol has no onboarding requirement beyond "have a keyboard."

Step 1: Pick an app

A Nostr client is just software that can talk to relays on your behalf. Your choice affects how the network feels, but it does not affect your account. If you hate the first client you pick, you can switch to another and keep the same identity, the same followers, and the same history. The keys are portable.

The shortest path from zero to "I'm posting" is nostr.blog itself. Signup bundles the three things new users usually juggle across separate apps: a readable identity, a Lightning wallet for zaps, and a full web client. It works on phone and desktop from the same URL, so you do not install anything.

If you want a native mobile app instead (or after), a handful exist on each platform. You can sign up here first and log in there later with the same keys, or go native-first and add the readable name afterwards. The order does not matter.

Step 2: Your keys, explained once

Every client you pick will generate two strings on first launch:

• npub1... This is your public key. It is what people see, follow, and mention. Paste it anywhere you would paste a username. It is safe to share.
• nsec1... This is your private key. It signs your posts. Anyone with this string can pretend to be you, read your direct messages, and post under your name. Treat it the same way you treat a password manager master password or a Bitcoin seed phrase.

Your key is 63 characters of Bech32 encoding (starts with either npub1 or nsec1, 59 characters of data after the prefix). Read more about the difference in the npub and nsec glossary entries.

Where to back up the nsec:

• Yes: 1Password, Bitwarden, KeepassXC, iCloud Keychain, a printed piece of paper in a safe
• No: an iCloud note, a Google Keep note, a screenshot in your camera roll, a Telegram "Saved Messages" chat

The "yes" list is end-to-end encrypted locally with your master password (or your device passcode in the iCloud Keychain case), or offline entirely in the paper case. The "no" list is where Apple, Google, or a chat app holds the plaintext and a breach of that service is a breach of your Nostr identity. iCloud Keychain is specifically safe because Apple cannot read it; iCloud Notes are unsafe because Apple can.

Do this backup before step 3. Most clients prompt you. If yours does not, look for a settings menu item labeled "Show private key" or "Backup account."

Step 3: Find people to follow

This is the step where most people quit. Not step 1, not step 2. Step 3.

A fresh Nostr account has an empty timeline. Nothing shows up because you follow nobody. The instinctive reaction is to assume the network is dead, close the app, and wonder why anyone made a fuss. Do not do that. The network is not dead, you just have not plugged into it yet.

The bar to cross is about twenty follows. Below that, the timeline feels sparse. Above it, the same timeline feels like a small busy city.

Ways to find people fast:

1. Use the "suggested accounts" or "starter pack" your client shows you. Every mainstream client ships one. Follow ten or fifteen from there.
2. Search for names you already know. Try jack (Jack Dorsey), fiatjaf (the protocol's author), hodlonaut, gigi, jb55. Every Nostr search bar accepts both display names and partial npubs.
3. Scroll the "Global" or "Explore" feed for ten minutes. This is the fire-hose of every post hitting the default relays. It is chaotic but you will spot accounts you like.
4. Follow whoever your follows follow. Nostr makes this transparent. Open any profile, tap "Follows," and raid their list.

Do not fall into the "I'll follow once I know who matters" trap. You cannot see who matters until you follow enough people for the pattern to show up.

Step 4: Post something

Open the compose box. Write anything. Tap publish.

What happens: your client takes the text, wraps it in a signed JSON event, and sends it over WebSocket to every relay you are connected to. Each relay accepts it, stores it, and pushes it to any follower whose client is currently connected. Within seconds your post is visible to anyone following you, and within a few more seconds it is searchable on relays that index by text.

Reactions you will see on your post:

• A heart or thumbs-up is a reaction (kind:7 event in the spec, if you want to get technical).
• A circular-arrow is a repost, the Nostr equivalent of a retweet.
• A speech bubble is a reply.
• A lightning bolt is a zap, a small Bitcoin tip sent over Lightning. If this is your first post you will not get any for a while. That is normal. Zaps are reserved for people whose writing consistently earns them.

Hashtags with # work (clickable in most clients). @name mentions work. Image and video attachments work. Long-form articles (the NIP-23 kind) have their own compose interface in some clients.

Step 5: Get a readable name

Your npub1pf8hkx3ang2jngcgpsawtmj48c90pgqasmgpva7qhvnsty5j87yqwk3vy5 is correct, unambiguous, and completely useless to say out loud.

The fix is NIP-05, a standard that maps a human-readable identifier (alice@nostr.blog) back to your public key. Every client that supports NIP-05 shows the readable version next to your name instead of the npub. It is email-shaped on purpose so it looks familiar.

The two ways to get one:

1. Register on nostr.blog. Pick a username and the identifier is yours in under a minute. Pricing starts at $2.99 per year for names of eight characters or more, with shorter premium names priced higher up to $999 per year for single-letter ones. Registration bundles a Lightning wallet, so your zap reception works from the moment the identity is live.
2. On your own domain. If you own, for example, alice.xyz, you can host a small JSON file at https://alice.xyz/.well-known/nostr.json that maps alice@alice.xyz to your public key. This is the DIY path. It works, but it is more moving parts.

If you want to skip the rest of this guide and handle everything in one place, the first option is the fastest path from here. The button below creates your readable name, your wallet, and a web client, all on the same page.

Common first-day mistakes

Things new users trip over in support threads, in rough order of frequency.

• Adding thirty relays. Your client will let you. Do not. Start with the four or five defaults, add more only when you hit a specific reason to. Every relay adds latency to every read and a round-trip to every write.
• Pasting your nsec into a web form. If any website asks for your private key, the answer is no. NIP-07 browser extensions exist precisely so you never have to. We wrote a whole glossary entry on NIP-07 if you want the technical version.
• Saving the nsec to iCloud Notes or Google Keep. Both sync your notes plaintext-equivalent across devices and into your account at a provider that can be compromised. Use a password manager with end-to-end encryption.
• Judging the network by your first ten minutes. If your feed feels empty, you have not followed enough people. Go back to step 3.
• Expecting Twitter-style algorithms. Nostr clients show you posts from people you follow, in the order they were posted, minus any filtering your chosen client applies. No ranking by engagement, no suggested-for-you. If you want a curated feed, the curation is the client's job, not the protocol's, and different clients do it with different intensity.
• Turning off push notifications day one, then forgetting. You will miss all replies and DMs. Turn them on at a reasonable volume and tune them later.

What next, when you are ready

Once steps one through five are automatic, a handful of features are worth learning.

• Zaps. Set up a Lightning address on your profile and anyone can tip you in sats. Our zap glossary entry has the full flow.
• Long-form articles (kind:30023). Publish essays, not just short posts. They render as proper articles with headings, images, and permanent URLs.
• Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC). Lets your client send zaps directly from a wallet you control, without copy-pasting invoices. One-time pairing.
• Direct messages. Encrypted, but the sender and recipient are visible to relays. If you need full metadata privacy (who is talking to whom), the current answer is "not yet" but NIP-44 is closing the gap.
• Your identity is portable. The same keys work across every Nostr client simultaneously. Nothing stops you from reading on one, posting from another, and answering DMs from a third. This is the single biggest structural difference from any centralized platform, and it only sinks in once you try it.