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Relay Configuration

This page covers configuration options for popular relay implementations.

strfry Configuration​

Create strfry.conf:

##
## strfry configuration
##

# Database location
db = "./strfry-db/"

dbParams {
    # Maximum database size (10GB)
    maxreaders = 256
    mapsize = 10737418240
}

relay {
    # Network binding
    bind = "0.0.0.0"
    port = 7777

    # Set to true behind reverse proxy
    realIpHeader = ""

    # Relay information (NIP-11)
    info {
        name = "My Relay"
        description = "A personal Nostr relay for friends and family"
        pubkey = "32-byte-hex-pubkey"
        contact = "admin@example.com"
        icon = "https://example.com/relay-icon.png"
    }

    # Connection limits
    maxWebsocketPayloadSize = 131072
    autoPingInterval = 55
    enableTcpKeepalive = false

    # Event handling
    enableNegentropy = true

    # Limits
    limits {
        maxMessageLength = 131072
        maxSubscriptions = 20
        maxFilters = 10
        maxSubidLength = 100
        maxEventTags = 100
        maxContentLength = 65535

        # Rate limiting
        messages {
            # Max messages per IP per second
            max = 10
            dripRate = 5
        }
        events {
            # Max events per IP per second
            max = 5
            dripRate = 2
        }
    }

    # Write policy plugin
    writePolicy {
        plugin = "./plugins/write-policy.sh"
    }
}

Write Policy Plugin​

Create a script to filter events:

#!/bin/bash
# plugins/write-policy.sh

# Read event from stdin
event=$(cat)

# Extract kind
kind=$(echo "$event" | jq -r '.kind')

# Allow only specific kinds
case $kind in
    0|1|3|5|6|7|10002)
        echo '{"action":"accept"}'
        ;;
    *)
        echo '{"action":"reject","msg":"Kind not allowed"}'
        ;;
esac

nostream Configuration​

Edit .env:

# Relay identity
RELAY_NAME="My Nostream Relay"
RELAY_DESCRIPTION="A production Nostr relay"
RELAY_PUBKEY="your-32-byte-hex-pubkey"
RELAY_CONTACT="admin@example.com"
RELAY_ICON="https://example.com/icon.png"

# Database
POSTGRES_HOST=db
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_USER=nostr
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
POSTGRES_DB=nostr

# Limits
MAX_EVENT_TAGS=100
MAX_CONTENT_LENGTH=65536

# Rate limiting
EVENT_CREATED_AT_UPPER_LIMIT=60
EVENT_CREATED_AT_LOWER_LIMIT=31536000

# Network
RELAY_PORT=8008

# Payments (optional)
PAYMENTS_ENABLED=false
LNURL_CALLBACK="https://your-lnurl-endpoint.com"

# Mirror (optional)
MIRROR_ENABLED=false
MIRROR_URLS="wss://relay.damus.io"

nostr-rs-relay Configuration​

Create config.toml:

[info]
relay_url = "wss://relay.example.com/"
name = "My Relay"
description = "Personal Nostr relay"
pubkey = "your-hex-pubkey"
contact = "admin@example.com"

[database]
# SQLite
data_directory = "./data"

# Or PostgreSQL
# engine = "postgres"
# connection = "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/nostr"

[network]
port = 8080
address = "0.0.0.0"
ping_interval_seconds = 300

[limits]
messages_per_sec = 5
subscriptions_per_min = 60
max_event_bytes = 131072
max_ws_message_bytes = 131072
max_ws_frame_bytes = 131072
broadcast_buffer = 16384
event_persist_buffer = 4096

[authorization]
# Allow specific pubkeys only
#pubkey_whitelist = [
#    "pubkey1",
#    "pubkey2"
#]

[verified_users]
# Require NIP-05 verification
verify_expiration_hours = 168

Common Settings​

Rate Limiting​

Protect against abuse:

SettingRecommendedDescription
Messages/sec5-10Max messages per connection
Events/sec2-5Max events per connection
Subscriptions10-20Max active subscriptions
Connections/IP5-10Max connections per IP

Event Limits​

SettingRecommendedDescription
Content length65KBMax event content size
Tags100Max tags per event
Message size128KBMax WebSocket message
Time drift±60sAllowed timestamp variance

Storage Policies​

# Keep events for 30 days
retention {
    enabled = true
    maxAgeDays = 30
}

# Limit events per author
quotas {
    maxEventsPerAuthor = 10000
}

NIP-42 Authentication​

Require authentication for write access:

strfry​

relay {
    authRequired = true
}

nostream​

NIP42_ENABLED=true
NIP42_REQUIRED=true

Using nostream​

PAYMENTS_ENABLED=true
PAYMENTS_PROCESSOR=lnbits
LNBITS_URL=https://legend.lnbits.com
LNBITS_API_KEY=your-api-key
ADMISSION_AMOUNT_MSATS=21000

Custom Payment Plugin (strfry)​

#!/bin/bash
# plugins/paid-policy.sh

event=$(cat)
pubkey=$(echo "$event" | jq -r '.pubkey')

# Check if pubkey has paid (call your payment DB)
if check_payment "$pubkey"; then
    echo '{"action":"accept"}'
else
    echo '{"action":"reject","msg":"Payment required"}'
fi

Whitelisting​

Allow only specific users:

# nostr-rs-relay
[authorization]
pubkey_whitelist = [
    "friend1-pubkey",
    "friend2-pubkey",
    "friend3-pubkey"
]

Kind Filtering​

Accept only specific event kinds:

# Python policy example
ALLOWED_KINDS = [0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10002, 30023]

def check_event(event):
    if event['kind'] not in ALLOWED_KINDS:
        return {"action": "reject", "msg": "Kind not allowed"}
    return {"action": "accept"}

Environment Variables​

Common environment variables:

# Logging
LOG_LEVEL=info  # debug, info, warn, error

# Performance
RUST_LOG=info
GOMAXPROCS=4

# Limits
NOFILE=1000000  # File descriptor limit

See Also​