Anyone Can Operate a Nostr Relay
If you've followed along this far, you've read about what relays are and their importance, managing your various relay connections, browsing relay feeds as discovery mechanisms, and you have taken a closer look at some of the many unique ways that relays can expand and enhance your Nostr-verse. The next obvious step is to discuss taking your control of relaying to the next level, whatever that may be for you. There are a lot of options out there now, and no excuses...
Hosted & Rentals:
- Starting off, one of the most simple-to-use services for anyone looking to get more involved in the relay side of Nostr, is Relay Tools . This relay rental service offers highly functional, easy to understand controls, complete infrastructure, and great customer support. You can set up communities, host your personal data, or open up a public space. All rentals come with moderation tools, giving you control of the content that you host.
- Relays.land has a suite of unique and experimental relay implementations, including customizable, user-controlled relays. There is a relay with full reply moderation capabilities, a bookmark-to-relay service, and if you know a little code, relays that you ca ncustomize to your specifications. This is a bit of a laboratory, so pricing is set mainly for spam prevention at this time, but is subject to change as the platform develops.
- Nosflare boasts one click relay deployment to your own Cloudflare account. Plug in your API, set up the details. and go. The one-time fee covers software development and maintenance of management tools. Your only recurring cost is your Cloudflare fees.
Local options:
- Nostr-relay-tray is the fastest and simplest way to host a local relay on your home computer or laptop. Visit the Releases page, find the appropriate package, and download. Installation is automated. Open the file, grant the permissions, and relay tray is ready to store all of your data for you, online or off. You can create custom filters and manage your relay from a simple to understand interface. Start securing your data in less than 5 minutes.
CodyTseng
- Citrine, the original "The relay is in the phone!" application. Designed for Android devices, this app doesn't skimp on the features. Import events to your mobile device, store and delete as needed. With a little finesse you can also set this up as a DM-over-Tor relay for your mobile DMs.
greenart7c3
- One of the original local Nostr relays, available from Umbrel. This is a simple backup; all you need to do is hook to it over your wifi with any device, and you're instantly syncing your data. Setup is a breeze, and the app walks you through it. While this may not be the most comprehensive or up-to-date option, it works and works well.
Unfortunately, I am but a believer in the optimistic Nostr-ized future, and not a computer whiz. If you are and you're reading this, thanks! I don't know why you're here but I appreciate it. As a token of gratitude, I've gathered a small collection of resources that are beyond my capabilities, and you probably already know about. This collection works as a to-do list for myself, too, so maybe its not a completely selfless effort. A more comprehensive list is available at nostr.net. A quick Github search yields a plethora of results, as well.
For self-hosters and programmers:
0ceanSlim
mikedilger
hoytech
Other resources:
