Nostr relays + NIP-94/NIP-96 file metadata

github.com · Storage · 1 record · JSON

Nostr relays + NIP-94/NIP-96 file metadata — index only, not bytes Storage

fails: quotaemail?card?Rper-object-cap

github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/94.md · nostr-relay · storage/nostr-relays-nip-94-nip-96-file-metadata-index-only-not · JSON · compare

Free tier	Zero bytes. NIP-94 is a metadata event: `url`, `m` (mime), `size`, `dim`, `i` (torrent infohash), `thumb`. The relay stores the JSON pointer, the file lives elsewhere. unit mixed; metered on stored-bytes
Price	none stated
Per-object cap	per-object-cap = relay event size limit (~64 KB (64000 bytes)
Retention	until the instance is recycled; not persistent
Egress	n/a — relay never serves the file.
Identity	email (placeholder) not published
Limits	per-object-cap per-object-cap = relay event size limit (~64 KB source per-object-cap = relay event size limit (~64 KB typical), of which base64 payload is ~75%, so ~48 KB of real data per event — three orders of magnitude short of useful.
Binding	per-object-cap the per-object cap sets the shard size and therefore the object count; it bounds the total more tightly than any headline quota
Interface	cli websocket
Tooling	nostr websocket protocol (EVENT/REQ), `nak` CLI. Relays are free and accept arbitrary events, but the event size limit (typ. 64 KB) caps any inline-base64 trick at ~48 KB.
Composes with	Chains with Blossom: NIP-94/NIP-96 events make Blossom blobs discoverable and re-mirrorable. On its own this is not storage.
Reliability	Relays are ephemeral and freely delete events; free relays exist in the thousands but none is a byte store.
Notes	Zero bytes. NIP-94 is a metadata event: `url`, `m` (mime), `size`, `dim`, `i` (torrent infohash), `thumb`. The relay stores the JSON pointer, the file lives elsewhere.
Evidence rung	reported One page read moves it to documented.
Checked	2026-10-21 (inherited); stale on 2026-11-04
Parsed numbers	`$.limits[0].value` limit:per-object-cap 64.0 KB

Evidence (1)

date	source	what it proved
2026-10-21	raw.githubusercontent.com/nostr-protocol/nips/master/94.md	tags are `url`, `m`, `size`, `dim`, `i` (torrent infohash), `thumb`; 'A relay for indexing shared files. For example, to promote torrents.' — confirms metadata-only semantics

More fields (2)

{
 "verdict_note": "PLAN.md §3.2 rules fails-quota by default, because no row in this set clears 500 GiB per unit for a user.",
 "dead_end": {
  "failure_class": "quota",
  "why": "Zero bytes. NIP-94 is a *metadata* event: `url`, `m` (mime), `size`, `dim`, `i` (torrent infohash), `thumb`. The relay stores the JSON pointer, the file lives elsewhere.",
  "retry_when": null,
  "first_recorded": "2026-10-21"
 }
}

Unknown or withheld values (6)

$.extras.dead_end.retry_when process
$.free_tier.notes process
$.identity_cost.detail defaulted
$.identity_cost.kind identity-defaulted
$.per_object_cap.notes not-extracted
$.retention.notes not-extracted