Issue confirming NOSTR relay

StartOS Support
1

I am successfully running the NOSTR relay service on my Start9 Pure. However, when I SSH to verify the number of posts per the instructions, I get nothing. I am on a linux machine and using the command line. Any ideas why??

2

If you are running…

sudo podman exec nostr.embassy sqlite3 /data/nostr.db "SELECT content FROM event;" | grep -o 'content":"[^"]*' | awk -F: '{print $1":"$2}'

…and you get nothing back, then that means no notes were stored to your relay.

Reasons might include:

  1. You didn’t add the relay correctly to your client
  2. You did, but you haven’t successfully set or Tor or have Tor running
  3. You didn’t add you npub to the whitelist in the service’s configuration
3

I am having issues with this as well. Tor is running, and I can connect to other services I have running eg. RoboSats, Vaultwarden etc.
Whitelisted all the npub however can’t seem to connect clients successfully.
I am in a bit of a loss now.

4

Did you try NoStrudel as a client, and did you follow these guides carefully?

https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/service-guides/nostr/index

https://docs.start9.com/0.3.5.x/service-guides/nostr/nostrudel

5

Hi Tradenet!

Which Nostr client are you using to add your relay, and what OS/browser are you working with? The command you’re running should work fine, but you need to ensure that your relay is properly added and online.

For Tor relays, make sure the Tor service is active on your device to route traffic through the Tor network. If you’re using a web client like noStrudel, you’ll also need to configure your browser to allow WebSockets without SSL.

In Firefox or Tor Browser, you can do this by following these steps:

  1. Open a new tab and type about:config in the address bar, then press Enter.
  2. Search for the setting network.websocket.allowInsecureFromHTTPS.
  3. Set the value to true to allow insecure WebSocket connections.

This should enable you to store your notes on your relay. Let me know if this resolves the issue!

6

So, I am a bit confused here. When adding my private relay to a Nostr cliend ie. ws://
I need Tor enabled browser?

7

Hi again!

That’s correct. If you want a remote connection to your relay, you’ll need a device with Tor enabled or Tor enabled browser. There is also .local URL but it only works on LAN and is not recomannded.

Please read the instructions on Nostr RS Relay service page to help you understand more how it works.

8

So, is this why iOS Nostr client apps don’t work with the Tor address?

9

Thank you for your advice re: installing noStrudel. That help. The relay is working.

10

Accessing a Tor interface depends on two things… having Orbot running and working, and the app itself (in this case a Nostr client) must support it. The latter, assuming your server is running correctly and you have Orbot installed, would be a question for the app developer.

1 Like
11

Thank you for the explanation. Appreciate it.