Connect Nostr
Nostr has no accounts to authorize an app against. A post is a message signed with your private key, so NioConnect has to hold a key that can sign. Read the warning before you paste anything.
The NioConnect team3 min readOn this page
- Time
- A few minutes
- You need
- A Nostr private key
- Where
- Your Nostr client, then Channels
Before you start
A Nostr private key is not a scoped credential. It is not an app password and it cannot be narrowed. Whoever holds it is that identity: they can post, delete and change the profile.
There is also no revoke button, because there is no server to revoke it at. The only remedy for a leaked key is to abandon the identity.
Nostr identities are free and take seconds to generate. A key made only for publishing has nothing to lose if you ever walk away from it, so you do not have to hand over your main identity.
Get the key and paste it
- Find the secret key in your client. In Damus use Settings, then Keys. In Amethyst use the profile menu, then Backup keys. Web clients such as snort.social usually offer Settings, then Keys or Export. A signer such as nsec.app can export it too.
- Check that it starts with
nsec1, or is 64 hexadecimal characters. Both forms are accepted. - In NioConnect open Channels, choose Connect, then Nostr.
- Paste the key into the Private key field and connect.
If your value starts with npub1, that is the public half. It sits next to the secret key in most clients and looks similar, but it cannot publish anything.
What you should see
Connecting does not touch the network. NioConnect derives the public key from what you pasted, which proves the key is real and gives the channel its identity. There is nothing to wait for and no relay has to be online for this step.
The key is encrypted with a key specific to your workspace, never returned through the API, never written to a log and never shown again. That is the strongest handling we can offer, and it does not change the warning above. The credentials post explains the vault in plain terms.
Which relays your posts go to is an operator setting for the deployment, not something you choose per account. The Nostr page lists the rules for posts: up to 100,000 characters, and images shared as links in the note.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "That is a public key" | You pasted the npub | Export the secret key instead |
| The key is refused as malformed | A truncated paste or a stray character | Copy the whole value again; errors never echo what you pasted |
| Nostr is not offered at all | The deployment has no relays configured | Ask whoever runs your deployment; it is not a setting in your account |
Good to know
Nothing expires. A key needs no refreshing, so a Nostr channel does not break on its own.
To cut access, replace the identity: publish from a new key and tell your audience. Removing the channel from NioConnect stops NioConnect from posting, but it cannot undo what a key could do elsewhere.
Next steps
Write a short note in the composer and schedule it a few minutes ahead to confirm the channel works end to end. Because a Nostr post is signed and broadcast, treat the first one as public the moment it goes out: it cannot be recalled from relays that have already seen it.
If you later stop using the channel, disconnect it in Channels so NioConnect stops posting for it. Remember that the key itself still exists wherever you created it, so stop using that identity there too if it should no longer publish.
Check your result
- Confirm you pasted a key that starts with nsec1, or 64 hex characters.
- Use a dedicated publishing key if you can.
- Check that the channel shows as connected in Channels.
- Schedule a test note and watch it on the calendar.
Written by The NioConnect team.
Posts that say why they failed, on one calendar.
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