Kind 1111: Comment

Overview

Kind 1111 events represent comments in the Nostr ecosystem. Unlike regular replies to text notes (which use kind 1 with e-tags), the Comment kind provides a structured approach for commenting on various types of content, including long-form articles, files, websites, podcasts, and other non-text-note content. Comments support a robust threading model that maintains clear relationships between root content, parent comments, and nested replies.

Specification

Property	Value
Kind Number	1111
Event Range	Regular
Defined in	NIP-22

Content Format

The content field contains the plaintext of the comment. No HTML, Markdown, or other formatting is specified in the NIP, though clients may choose to support these formats.

Schema

"content": "This is a comment on the article. I found it very interesting!"

Tags

Tag Name	Description	Format	Required
A, E, or I	Root scope (uppercase)	Various formats depending on type	Yes (one of these)
K	Root item kind	["K", "<root-kind>"]	Yes
P	Root author	["P", "<root-pubkey>", "<optional-relay-hint>"]	Yes (for events)
a, e, or i	Parent item (lowercase)	Various formats depending on type	Yes (one of these)
k	Parent item kind	["k", "<parent-kind>"]	Yes
p	Parent author	["p", "<parent-pubkey>", "<optional-relay-hint>"]	Yes (for events)
q	Quoted event	["q", "<event-id>", "<optional-relay-url>", "<optional-pubkey>"]	No

Client Behavior

Clients should:

1. Display comments in a threaded hierarchy showing the relationship between parent/child comments
2. Include all required tags when creating new comments
3. Use uppercase tags (A, E, I, K, P) for the root content
4. Use lowercase tags (a, e, i, k, p) for the parent item
5. Not use kind 1111 for replies to regular text notes (kind 1) - use NIP-10 instead
6. Support commenting on long-form content, files, external identities, and other non-text-note content

Relay Behavior

Relays should:

1. Accept and store comment events with proper validation
2. Allow retrieval of comment threads by filtering on the root or parent identifiers
3. Ensure comments can be efficiently queried based on their relationship to content

Use Cases

• Comments on long-form articles (kind 30023)
• Comments on files and media content (kinds 1063, 1064, etc.)
• Comments on websites, podcasts, and other external content
• Threaded discussions on any kind of content
• Creating nested reply chains to specific comments

Example

Comment on a long-form article:

{
  "id": "d96c3ef4fdd0e2ca4d75b40cfd299ccd4884a2b6c9d088fd379ece83b79c26b3",
  "pubkey": "3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289",
  "created_at": 1693246123,
  "kind": 1111,
  "tags": [
    ["A", "30023:3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289:f9347ca7", "wss://example.relay"],
    ["K", "30023"],
    ["P", "3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289", "wss://example.relay"],
    ["a", "30023:3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289:f9347ca7", "wss://example.relay"],
    ["e", "5b4fc7fed15672fefe65d2426f67197b71ccc82aa0cc8a9e94f683eb78e07651", "wss://example.relay"],
    ["k", "30023"],
    ["p", "3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289", "wss://example.relay"]
  ],
  "content": "Great article! I especially enjoyed the section on decentralized protocols.",
  "sig": "908a15e46fb4d8675bab026fc230a0e3542bfade63da02d542fb78b2a8513fcd0092619a2c8c1221e581946e0191f2af505dfdf8657a414dbca329186f009262"
}

Reply to a comment:

{
  "id": "892e5d17fe10c38a5c940506e05740fd1f3293c2bf2c45eda9da75c30cbc35f2",
  "pubkey": "93ef2ebaaf9554661f33e79949007900bbc535d239a4c801c33a4d67d3e7f546",
  "created_at": 1693246300,
  "kind": 1111,
  "tags": [
    ["E", "768ac8720cdeb59227cf95e98b66560ef03d8bc9a90d721779e76e68fb42f5e6", "wss://example.relay", "fd913cd6fa9edb8405750cd02a8bbe16e158b8676c0e69fdc27436cc4a54cc9a"],
    ["K", "1063"],
    ["P", "fd913cd6fa9edb8405750cd02a8bbe16e158b8676c0e69fdc27436cc4a54cc9a"],
    ["e", "d96c3ef4fdd0e2ca4d75b40cfd299ccd4884a2b6c9d088fd379ece83b79c26b3", "wss://example.relay", "3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289"],
    ["k", "1111"],
    ["p", "3c9849383bdea883b0bd16fece1ed36d37e37cdde3ce43b17ea4e9192ec11289"]
  ],
  "content": "I agree with your point about decentralization. It's crucial for the future of the web.",
  "sig": "a76f39224cebd44cf04eeebe01d5ab2e8f7a3e5e56c83cadd252e7bc5e2e34fd7ad7148cf7a2c7620d9490ccf2e1bac521995725f2e1f543159b8eb98bfdd405"
}

Comment on a website:

{
  "id": "a6c49604e8b105829f27804c56ba1eef8c487ceabc1a2eaffab3d9c9a312dfca",
  "pubkey": "252f10c83610ebca1a059c0bae8255eba2f95be4d1d7bcfa89d7248a82d9f111",
  "created_at": 1693247000,
  "kind": 1111,
  "tags": [
    ["I", "https://example.com/articles/decentralization"],
    ["K", "https://example.com"],
    ["i", "https://example.com/articles/decentralization"],
    ["k", "https://example.com"]
  ],
  "content": "This article makes some excellent points about the benefits of decentralized systems.",
  "sig": "5f8ac6d9c2dab830ebbdb231ad6123ef0121c4710218f339d9d3b5b22fd74c0a7b1be0de52ffce6022e87dfa5b7ae3f2749a126b09c82c3ea31eb4c69d25091c"
}

References

• NIP-22: Comment
• NIP-10: Text Notes and Threads (for understanding reply conventions)
• NIP-73: External Content IDs (for understanding I/i tags)

Related Kinds

• Kind 1: Short Text Note - Regular posts with simpler reply mechanisms
• Kind 30023: Long-form Content - Articles that can be commented on
• Kind 1063: File Metadata - Files that can be commented on

Notes

• Comments (kind 1111) should NOT be used to reply to regular text notes (kind 1); use NIP-10 for those.
• The uppercase tags (A, E, I, K, P) always refer to the root content.
• The lowercase tags (a, e, i, k, p) refer to the parent item (which could be the root content for top-level comments).
• For top-level comments, the root and parent references are the same.
• The I/i tags are used when commenting on external identities like websites, podcasts, etc., as specified in NIP-73.
• Clients should maintain a clear visual distinction between threaded replies to help users navigate the conversation.