Kind 10050: DM Relays

Overview

DM Relays events (kind 10050) specify a user's preferred relays for receiving direct messages. This event type is a crucial component of the improved direct messaging system defined in NIP-17, allowing users to designate specific relays where they want to receive private messages, thereby enhancing privacy and reducing relay load.

Specification

Property	Value
Kind Number	10050
Event Range	Replaceable
Defined in	NIP-17

Content Format

The content field is typically empty as all necessary information is contained in the tags.

Schema

"content": ""

Tags

Tag Name	Description	Format	Required
relay	URI of a relay where the user wants to receive DMs	["relay", "<relay-url>"]	Yes

Client Behavior

Clients should:

1. Publish a kind 10050 event with the user's preferred DM relays
2. Keep the relay list small (1-3 relays is recommended) for better performance
3. When sending messages to users:
   • Check the recipient's kind 10050 event to find their preferred DM relays
   • Connect to those relays and publish the message there
   • After sending, disconnect from these relays unless further messages are expected
4. For outgoing messages, also publish a copy to the user's own DM relays
5. When receiving messages:
   • Only connect to relays in the user's own kind 10050 list to retrieve messages
   • This pattern creates a lightweight implementation that works efficiently

Relay Behavior

Relays should:

1. Treat kind 10050 events as normal replaceable events
2. Store these events to allow discovery of users' preferred DM relays
3. Consider implementing specialized handling for relays that want to focus on DM services

Use Cases

• Specifying preferred relays for receiving direct messages
• Reducing the number of relays a client needs to connect to for DMs
• Enhancing privacy by limiting where private messages are stored
• Enabling specialized relays for secure messaging
• Managing relay load by directing messages only to specific servers

Example

{
  "id": "9ae96799eb074be9833be8e061381d1c91ad5d4a7266f86cae2d261e6b885b43",
  "pubkey": "32e1827635450ebb3c5a7d12c1f8e7b2b514439ac10a67eef3d9fd9c5c68e245",
  "created_at": 1684323281,
  "kind": 10050,
  "tags": [
    ["relay", "wss://relay.private-msgs.com"],
    ["relay", "wss://nostr-relay.denus.io"]
  ],
  "content": "",
  "sig": "3cb6233d2b7358e70b8a7311d33ec80b9614bb8e5f903378cc8ff34f5e4c9ec9d7c6c3af2903687b89c4deaf485f9edc7e9a7c80afe1b9ff32bee929845cc88"
}

Direct Messaging Architecture

The kind 10050 event is part of the improved direct messaging architecture defined in NIP-17:

1. User A publishes their kind 10050 event listing preferred DM relays
2. User B publishes their kind 10050 event listing preferred DM relays
3. When A messages B:
   • A's client checks B's kind 10050 event to find B's preferred relays
   • A's client publishes the message (kind 14) to B's relays
   • A's client also publishes a copy to A's own preferred relays
4. Both A and B only need to connect to their own preferred relays to see all messages

This architecture is more efficient than broadcasting DMs to all relays and provides better privacy controls.

References

• NIP-17: Event Treatment
• NIP-51: Lists

Related Kinds

• Kind 14: Direct Message - The direct message events that are published to these relays
• Kind 15: File Message - Encrypted file sharing messages

Notes

• Users should keep their DM relay list small (1-3 relays) for optimal performance
• Clients should spread the kind 10050 event to as many relays as possible to ensure discovery
• Clients should only try to send kind 14 events to users who have published a kind 10050 event
• This system allows for lightweight clients that only connect to a minimal set of relays