ndxstr - Nostr indexing node

September 4, 2022 ยท View on GitHub

Bootstrapping Nostr's layer2 with an indexing node.

ndxstr nodes are servers that pull events from multiple known relays, storing them forever-ish and making available to clients via API.

Why

Modern applications may want:

  • More advanced querying than currently supported by Nostr relays
  • Receiving messages in a batch via API, not one at a time over a websocket
  • Fewer expensive cryptographic operations done client-side (e.g. trusting an indexer to validate events)
  • To retrieve large amounts of messages quickly+reliably via one API without caring about uptime/featuresets of multiple relays

Stack

  • NodeJS
  • TypeScript
  • Postgres
  • REST API

Risks

  • Centralization - Need to avoid Infura-ization