A cross-platform desktop Nostr client built with Tauri 2.0 + React + TypeScript. Polished UI, deep Lightning integration, and first-class support for long-form writing.
Named as a nod to Nostr with a wry twist.
Grab the latest release from the Releases page.
| Platform | File | Command |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu / Debian / Mint | .deb |
sudo dpkg -i wrystr_*.deb |
| Fedora | .rpm |
sudo rpm -i wrystr-*.rpm |
| openSUSE | .rpm |
sudo zypper install wrystr-*.rpm |
| Arch / Manjaro | AUR | yay -S wrystr-git |
| Windows | .exe installer |
run the installer |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | aarch64.dmg |
open and drag to Applications |
Windows note: The installer is not yet code-signed. Windows SmartScreen will show an "Unknown publisher" warning — click "More info → Run anyway" to install.
Linux note: Video and audio playback requires GStreamer codec packages. The AUR package installs these automatically. For .deb/.rpm installs, you may need:
# Arch / Manjaro
sudo pacman -S gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-libav
# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-libav
# Fedora
sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-libavIdentity & accounts
- In-app key generation with plain-language nsec backup — no browser extension required
- Create new account from the account switcher — no need to restart or go through onboarding again
- Login with nsec (full access) or npub (read-only)
- NIP-46 remote signer — connect via
bunker://URI (nsecBunker, Amber, etc.) with session persistence across restarts - Multi-account switcher — save multiple identities, switch instantly from the sidebar
- OS keychain integration — nsec stored in macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager / Linux Secret Service; sessions survive restarts
Feed & content
- Live streaming feed — persistent relay subscriptions deliver new notes in real-time; no manual refresh needed
- Global and following feeds with live relay connection
- Language/script feed filter — filter by writing system (Latin, CJK, Cyrillic, Arabic, Korean, etc.) via dropdown in feed header; uses Unicode detection + NIP-32 language tags
- Compose notes, inline replies, nested thread trees with reply-to-any-note and multi-level back navigation
- Image upload with NIP-98 auth — paste from clipboard, drag-drop, or use the file picker; uploads authenticated via NIP-98 HTTP Auth with fallback services
- Image lightbox — click any image to view full-screen; Escape to close, arrow keys to navigate multi-image posts
- Feed reply context — replies show "↩ replying to @name"; click to jump to the parent thread or scroll to it in the current thread
- Reactions (NIP-25) with live network counts
- Follow / unfollow (NIP-02) with contact list publishing
- Quote & Repost (NIP-18) — one-click repost or quote with compose modal
- Bookmarks (NIP-51 kind 10003) — save/unsave notes and articles; Notes/Articles tabs in bookmark view; article bookmarks use
atags for parameterized replaceable events; synced to relays - Mute users (NIP-51) — muted list synced to relays, filtered from feed
- Long-form article experience (NIP-23) — markdown toolbar (bold, italic, heading, link, image, quote, code, list) with keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+B/I/K); multi-draft management with draft list, resume, delete; cover image file picker; dedicated article feed with Latest/Following tabs; article search by keyword or hashtag; article reader with reading time, bookmark, like, and zap; profile Articles tab
- Quoted note inline preview —
nostr:note1…/nostr:nevent1…renders as an inline card - Syntax highlighting — code blocks in notes and articles render with syntax highlighting
- Note rendering: images, video, mentions, hashtags, njump.me link interception
- External links — all http(s) links open in your system browser via Tauri opener
- Emoji reactions — reaction picker with common emojis on note cards; emoji insertion in compose and reply boxes via categorized emoji picker
- Keyword muting — word/phrase mute list with client-side filtering across all views
- Direct Messages (NIP-04 + NIP-17 gift wrap) — conversation list, thread view, per-message decryption; unread badge in sidebar
- Notifications — background poller (60s) for mentions, zaps, new followers; each type independently toggleable; OS push notifications; 🔔 in sidebar with unread badge
Relay & network
- Relay status badge — compact "8/12 relays" indicator in feed header with color coding (green/yellow/red by connection ratio); hover shows per-relay connection status
- Toast notifications — transient status messages for relay events: "Connection lost — reconnecting", "Back online", "Relays reconnected"
- Relay health checker — NIP-11 info fetch, WebSocket latency probing, online/slow/offline classification; expandable cards show all supported NIPs, software, description; per-relay remove button; "Remove dead" strips offline relays; "Publish list" publishes NIP-65 relay list; auto-checks on mount
- Relay recommendations — discover relays based on your follows' NIP-65 relay lists; shows follow count, one-click "Add"
- Relay management: add/remove relays, all in one consolidated Relays view
- NIP-65 outbox model — reads user relay lists (kind 10002) so you see notes from people who publish to their own relays; publish your own relay list to Nostr
Lightning & zaps
- Per-account NWC wallet — each account remembers its own Lightning wallet; switching accounts loads the correct one automatically
- NWC guided wizard — wallet picker (Alby Hub, Alby Extension, Mutiny, Phoenix) with per-wallet setup steps and inline URI validation
- Send zaps via NWC (NIP-47 + NIP-57) with amount presets, custom amounts, comment
- Zap counts on notes (⚡ N sats inline)
- Zap history — Received and Sent tabs with amounts, counterparts, comments
- Support / About page — zap the developer, Lightning + Bitcoin QR codes, Ko-fi and GitHub links
Discovery
- Trending feed — trending notes and articles from the last 24h, ranked by engagement with time decay scoring
- Media feed — dedicated "Media" view in sidebar with All/Videos/Images/Audio tab filtering
- Dedicated hashtag pages — clicking any #tag opens a live feed for that hashtag
- Trending hashtags — popular hashtags shown as clickable pills on the search idle screen
- Discover people — "follows of follows" suggestions on the Search page with mutual follow counts and one-click follow; persistent "don't suggest again" per person
- Advanced search —
by:author,mentions:npub,kind:number,is:article,has:image,since:2026-01-01,until:2026-12-31,#hashtag,"exact phrase", booleanOR; NIP-05 resolution for author lookups; client-side content filters for media types; search help panel with modifier reference - Search: NIP-50 full-text,
#hashtag, people search with inline follow, article search (kind 30023) - NIP-05 verification badges — cached verification with green checkmark on note cards
Personalization
- Color themes — 7 built-in themes: Midnight (default dark), Light, Catppuccin Mocha, Tokyo Night, Gruvbox, Ethereal, Hackerman; instant switching from Settings
- Font size — Small / Normal / Large / Extra Large presets; scales the entire UI uniformly
Performance & UX
- Resilient relay connectivity — all relay queries have timeouts (no more infinite loading); automatic reconnection with NDK instance reset as last resort; toast notifications for connection events; feed diagnostics for debugging
- Per-tab "last updated" timestamp — relative time indicator in feed header shows how fresh each tab's data is
- Subscription debug panel —
Ctrl+Shift+Dtoggles a hidden panel showing NDK uptime, live subscription status, per-relay state, feed timestamps, and recent diagnostics - Auto-updater — "Update & restart" banner when a new version is available
- SQLite note cache — feed loads instantly from local cache on startup; profiles cached for immediate avatar display
- Data export — export bookmarks, follows, and relay list as JSON via native save dialog
- Profile media gallery — "Media" tab on profiles shows a grid of the user's images, videos, and audio; images open in lightbox
- Reading list tracking — read/unread state on bookmarked articles with unread dot indicators and sidebar badge
- Profile banner polish — hero-height banner with click-to-lightbox, avatar overlaps banner edge with ring
- System tray — close button hides to tray; "Quit" in tray menu to fully exit
- Collapsible sidebar (icon-only mode)
- Keyboard shortcuts —
ncompose,/search,j/knavigate feed,Escback,?help overlay - Skeleton loading placeholders, view fade transitions
| NIP | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|
| NIP-01 | Basic protocol flow | Full |
| NIP-02 | Follow list | Full |
| NIP-04 | Encrypted direct messages (legacy) | Full |
| NIP-05 | DNS-based verification | Full (display + live verify in editor) |
| NIP-10 | Reply threading | Full (nested trees, root+reply markers) |
| NIP-11 | Relay information | Full (health checker) |
| NIP-17 | Private direct messages (gift wrap) | Full |
| NIP-18 | Reposts | Full |
| NIP-19 | bech32-encoded entities | Full (npub, nsec, note, nevent, nprofile, naddr) |
| NIP-21 | nostr: URI scheme |
Full |
| NIP-23 | Long-form content (articles) | Full (editor, reader, feed, search) |
| NIP-25 | Reactions | Full (emoji reactions) |
| NIP-27 | Text note references | Full |
| NIP-46 | Nostr Connect (remote signer) | Full (bunker:// login) |
| NIP-47 | Wallet Connect (NWC) | Full |
| NIP-50 | Search | Full (notes, articles, people) |
| NIP-51 | Lists | Partial (bookmarks, mute list) |
| NIP-57 | Zaps | Full |
| NIP-65 | Relay list metadata | Full (outbox model) |
| NIP-98 | HTTP Auth | Full (image uploads) |
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Desktop shell | Tauri 2.0 (Rust) |
| Frontend | React 19 + TypeScript + Vite |
| Nostr protocol | NDK 3.x (Nostr Dev Kit) |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS 4 |
| State | Zustand |
| Local storage | SQLite (rusqlite, bundled) |
| Keychain | keyring crate (OS-native) |
# Prerequisites: Node.js 20+, Rust stable, @tauri-apps/cli
npm install
npm run tauri dev # full app with hot reload
npm run dev # browser only (no Tauri window)
npm run tauri build # production binarySee ROADMAP.md for the full prioritised next steps.
Up next:
- UI polish and visual makeover
- Nostr NIP research sprint — expanding protocol support
- Web of Trust scoring
- Custom feeds / lists
Wrystr is free and open-source. If it's useful to you:
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| ⚡ Zap (in-app) | Open the support view in Wrystr's sidebar and zap directly |
| ⚡ Lightning | harpos@getalby.com |
| ₿ Bitcoin | bc1qcgaupf80j28ca537xjlcs9dm9s03khezjs7crp |
| ☕ Ko-fi | ko-fi.com/jure |
| ♥ GitHub Sponsors | github.com/sponsors/hoornet |
| ★ GitHub star | Helps with visibility and grant applications |
Wrystr is built on the shoulders of excellent open-source projects:
- Tauri — the desktop shell that makes cross-platform Rust+Web apps possible
- NDK (Nostr Dev Kit) by Pablo Fernandez — the Nostr protocol library that powers all relay communication
- Nostr protocol by fiatjaf — the protocol itself
- React, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Zustand — the frontend stack
- ants by Gigi — inspiration and Nostr ecosystem advocacy
- The Nostr community — for building an open, censorship-resistant communication layer
MIT License — Copyright (c) 2026 Jure Sršen — hoornet
