Kind 10005: Public Chats

Overview

Public Chats events (kind 10005) allow users to maintain a list of chat channels they participate in. This standard replaceable event kind serves as a record of a user's chat channel memberships, making it easier to organize and access their conversations. It primarily references NIP-28 chat channels, providing a centralized list of channels the user wants to track.

Specification

Property	Value
Kind Number	10005
Event Range	Replaceable
Defined in	NIP-51

Content Format

The content field can contain encrypted private chat channels using NIP-04 encryption. The encrypted content follows the same structure as the public tags but is only visible to the creator. This allows users to have both public chat memberships (in tags) and private ones (encrypted in content).

Schema

For encrypted private chat channels:

"content": "<NIP-04 encrypted JSON array of tags>"

The encrypted content, when decrypted, would reveal a JSON array of tags:

[
  ["e", "<channel-creation-event-id>", "<relay-url>"]
]

Tags

Tag Name	Description	Format	Required
e	Channel definition event reference	["e", "<channel-creation-event-id>", "<relay-url>"]	Yes

Client Behavior

Clients should:

1. Display the user's chat channels in a dedicated section or navigation menu
2. Provide functionality to join (add) or leave (remove) channels
3. Use this list for quick access to the user's channels
4. Handle both public (in tags) and private (encrypted in content) channel memberships
5. When displaying the channels list:
   • Fetch channel metadata (kind 40 events) for display
   • Show channel names, descriptions, and possibly recent activity
   • Provide quick navigation to channel content
6. When retrieving channel messages, fetch them from the relays specified in relay hints
7. When processing encrypted channel memberships, decrypt using NIP-04 and the user's keys
8. Maintain the chronological order of channels, with newest additions at the end
9. Support notifications or status indicators for channel activity

Relay Behavior

Relays should:

1. Handle kind 10005 events as normal replaceable events
2. Store these events to allow clients to retrieve the user's channel memberships
3. Not attempt to interpret or enforce channel membership (this is client-side functionality)

Use Cases

• Maintaining a list of active chat memberships
• Organizing communication channels
• Creating a chat channel directory
• Providing quick navigation between conversations
• Discovering new chat channels through friends' memberships
• Synchronizing channel membership across devices
• Creating categorized communication spaces

Example

{
  "id": "1eb334913896f5c0cf7a740c4896ec6fc1590331a69833ca87202b3155d9f8db",
  "pubkey": "854043ae8f1f97430ca8c1f1a090bdde6488bd5115c7a45307a2a212750ae4cb",
  "created_at": 1699597889,
  "kind": 10005,
  "tags": [
    ["e", "4a26b58eda3c08c4a0fe2d43d3b3a384d379696eeba72c10e7d9aa5dce79fd87", "wss://relay.nostr.example.com"],
    ["e", "9e40b1331d9c2feee893141487a26ecfc6194046a6cf9074c2b587299154cea0", "wss://relay.damus.io"],
    ["e", "f3a3c41edbf4009610747a156106320059bfa87fa56a2562b1d5e293d2b4bf8d", "wss://purplepag.es"]
  ],
  "content": "TJob1dQrf2ndsmdbeGU+05HT5GMnBSx3fx8QdDY/g3NvCa7klfzgaQCmRZuo1d3WQjHDOjzSY1+MgTK==?iv=S3rFeFr1gsYqmQA7bNnNTQ==",
  "sig": "a9a4e2192eede77e6c9d24ddfab95ba3ff7c03fbd07ad011fff245abea431fb4d3787c2d04aad001cb039cb8de91d83ce30e9a94f82ac3c5a2372aa1294a96bd"
}

References

• NIP-51: Lists
• NIP-28: Public Chat
• NIP-04: Encrypted Direct Messages

Related Kinds

• Kind 40: Channel Creation - Defines a chat channel
• Kind 41: Channel Metadata - Updates to channel information
• Kind 42: Channel Message - Messages posted to channels
• Kind 43: Channel Hide Message - Hiding specific channel messages
• Kind 44: Channel Mute User - Muting users in a channel

Notes

• Public Chats list is one of several standard list types defined in NIP-51
• Users can only have one public chats list (since it's a replaceable event)
• The channel events referenced should be kind 40 (Channel Creation) events as defined in NIP-28
• Channel membership privacy can be managed by choosing whether to use public tags or encrypted content
• For maximum privacy, sensitive channel memberships should be stored in the encrypted content field
• Relay hints in the e tags are recommended to help clients locate the channel metadata and messages
• This list doesn't automatically subscribe users to notifications; that's client-specific functionality