nostr profile

About the meaning of our nostr profile fields

Each nostr profile can have multiple properties. Actually, different clients support the creation of different profile fields and different clients display several fields in more different ways. The fields are not restricted by the protocol, but there are some recommendations in nostr NIP-24.

About

This field contains a brief description or biography of the user. It's similar to the "bio" section on traditional social media profiles, where users can share information about themselves.

Last update

This field indicates the last time the profile was updated. It helps others know how recent the profile information is.

Name

This is the user's real name or chosen name. It's a way for others to identify the user in a more personal manner.

Display Name

This is the name that is shown prominently on the user's profile and in messages. It can be different from the actual name and is often used for nicknames or pseudonyms.

Hex32 public key

This is the user's public key in hexadecimal format. It is a unique identifier for the user in the Nostr network and is used for cryptographic operations, like verifying the authenticity of messages.

Bech32 public key

This is the user's public key encoded in Bech32 format, which is a human-readable encoding scheme. It’s often used to improve usability and prevent errors when copying and sharing the public key.

Website

This field contains a URL to the user's personal or professional website. It allows others to find more information about the user outside of the Nostr network.

NIP-05

This is a Nostr Identification Protocol (NIP) for verifying the user's identity. It associates the user's public key with a domain, making it easier to recognize and verify the user across different services.

LUD-16

This is likely a reference to a Lightning Address (LUD-16 is a specification for using Lightning Addresses with the Nostr protocol). It is an identifier that can be used for receiving payments on the Lightning Network (aka "zapping"), a second-layer solution for Bitcoin transactions.