nihao 👋

Nostr identity setup and health-check CLI. Single binary, non-interactive, agent-friendly.

Source: https://github.com/dergigi/nihao

Capabilities Disclosure

This skill installs a single Go binary (nihao) that:

• Generates Nostr keypairs — random Ed25519 key generation via crypto/rand
• Publishes events — kind 0 (profile), kind 3 (follows), kind 1 (note), kind 10002 (relay list), kind 10050 (DM relays), kind 17375 (wallet), kind 10019 (nutzap info)
• Makes HTTP requests — NIP-05 verification, LNURL resolution, Cashu mint validation, relay NIP-11 probes, image HEAD checks
• Connects to Nostr relays — WebSocket connections to publish and query events

It does not:

• Store keys on disk (prints nsec to stdout; use --nsec-file to write to a file or --nsec-cmd to pipe to a command)
• Run as a daemon or background process
• Access local files beyond the binary itself
• Require any accounts, API keys, or KYC

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21+ — required to compile the binary from source. Check with go version.
  • Install: https://go.dev/dl/ or via your package manager (brew install go, apt install golang, etc.)

Install

nihao is distributed as source code compiled locally via Go's standard toolchain. No pre-built binaries are downloaded — the code is fetched from GitHub, compiled on your machine, and placed in your $GOPATH/bin.

go install github.com/dergigi/nihao@latest

Verify: nihao version

The source is fully auditable at https://github.com/dergigi/nihao.

On Install

When an agent installs this skill:

Step 1: Install Binary

go install github.com/dergigi/nihao@latest

Step 2: Create Identity

nihao --bot --name "<AGENT_NAME>" --about "<AGENT_BIO>" --nsec-file ./nsec.key --json --quiet

This generates a keypair, publishes the identity, and securely writes the nsec to ./nsec.key with 0600 permissions. Parse the JSON output to extract npub, pubkey, and relays.

⚠️ The nsec cannot be recovered if lost. Always use --nsec-file or --nsec-cmd to persist it securely.

Step 3: Report to User

Tell the user:

• Their agent's npub
• Their agent's lightning address (default: <npub>@npub.cash)
• Remind them to back up the nsec

Step 4: (Optional) Follow Owner

If the user provides their npub, the agent should follow them. nihao doesn't handle follows of specific npubs — use nak or another tool for that.

Setup — Create a New Identity

nihao --bot --name "AgentName" --about "I do things" --json

What this does:

1. Generates a Nostr keypair (or uses --sec/--stdin)
2. Publishes profile metadata (kind 0)
3. Publishes relay list (kind 10002) with NIP-65 read/write markers
4. Publishes DM relay list (kind 10050) per NIP-17
5. Publishes follow list (kind 3)
6. Sets up a NIP-60 Cashu wallet (kind 17375 + kind 10019)
7. Sets lightning address to <npub>@npub.cash
8. Posts a first note with #nihao hashtag

Setup Flags

Key Management

nihao never writes keys to disk by default. Secret keys are handled securely:

• --nsec-file <path> — writes nsec to a file with 0600 permissions (recommended for automation)
• --nsec-cmd <command> — pipes nsec to a command's stdin (e.g., a password manager), never as a CLI argument
• --stdin — reads an existing key from stdin, avoiding shell history and process list exposure
• --json output — includes nsec in structured output for programmatic parsing

⚠️ Avoid passing raw nsec values as CLI arguments (e.g., --sec nsec1...) in shared environments, as arguments are visible in process listings. Prefer --stdin or --nsec-cmd instead.

# Generate and save securely
nihao --bot --name "Bot" --nsec-file ./bot-nsec.key --json

# Pipe to password manager
nihao --bot --name "Bot" --nsec-cmd "pass insert -m nostr/nsec" --json

# Use existing key via stdin (avoids process list exposure)
echo "$NSEC" | nihao --bot --name "Bot" --stdin

Check — Audit an Existing Identity

nihao check npub1... --json

Checks and scores (0–8):

Check Flags

Exit Codes

Backup — Export Identity Events

nihao backup <npub|nip05> > identity.json
nihao backup <npub|nip05> --quiet > identity.json

Exports all identity-related events as JSON: kind 0 (profile), kind 3 (follows), kind 10002 (relay list), kind 10050 (DM relays), kind 10019 (nutzap info), kind 17375/37375 (wallet). JSON goes to stdout, progress to stderr. Use for snapshots, migration, or archival.

Backup Flags

JSON Output

Both setup and check support --json for structured, parseable output.

Setup output:

{
  "npub": "npub1...",
  "nsec": "nsec1...",
  "pubkey": "hex...",
  "relays": ["wss://..."],
  "profile": { "name": "...", "lud16": "..." },
  "wallet": { "p2pk_pubkey": "02...", "mints": ["https://..."] }
}

Check output:

{
  "npub": "npub1...",
  "pubkey": "hex...",
  "score": 6,
  "max_score": 8,
  "checks": [
    { "name": "profile", "status": "pass", "detail": "..." },
    { "name": "nip05", "status": "fail", "detail": "not set" }
  ]
}

Integration

TOOLS.md

After setup, store for quick reference:

## Nostr Identity
- npub: npub1...
- Lightning: npub1...@npub.cash
- Relays: relay.damus.io, relay.primal.net, nos.lol

Periodic Health Check

Run nihao check <npub> --json --quiet on a schedule to monitor identity health. Parse the JSON and alert if score drops.

Security

• No pre-built binaries — nihao is compiled from source on your machine via go install. The source is public and auditable.
• No key storage — nihao does not persist keys unless explicitly told to via --nsec-file or --nsec-cmd.
• No network exfiltration — the only network connections are to Nostr relays (WebSocket), NIP-05/LNURL endpoints (HTTPS), and Cashu mints (HTTPS). No telemetry, no analytics, no phoning home.
• Stdin-first key input — when using an existing key, prefer --stdin over --sec to avoid process list exposure.
• File permissions — --nsec-file writes with 0600 (owner read/write only).

Defaults