How to Connect OpenClaw to Nostr - Private Key and Relay Setup

Nostr is a very different kind of channel from the usual workplace chat apps, and the OpenClaw docs treat it that way. This integration is about encrypted direct messages over relays, not rooms or rich collaboration spaces, so the clean mental model is bot keypair plus relay list plus DM policy.

What the official docs support

The official docs label Nostr as an optional bundled plugin that is disabled by default until configured. The current documented protocol support covers NIP-01 for events and profile metadata plus NIP-04 encrypted DMs. Group chats, media attachments, and the newer NIP-17 or NIP-44 flows are not part of the documented production surface yet.

I would use Nostr when you specifically want a decentralized DM endpoint for an assistant, not when you want the richest OpenClaw channel. The integration is lean, predictable, and security-first: signatures are verified before sender policy, sender policy is enforced before decryption, and unknown senders can be kept on pairing or explicit allowlists.

What you need first

• A Nostr private key in nsec or hex format
• At least one reachable relay URL, ideally two or three
• A decision on DM policy, pairing, allowlist, open, or disabled
• A safe place to keep NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY out of version control

Recommended setup flow

The setup is short enough that the real work is choosing the right policy, not typing the config.

1. Generate a Nostr keypair if you do not already have one. The docs use nak key generate in the example flow, then keep the private key in NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY instead of baking it into committed config.
2. Add channels.nostr.privateKey to OpenClaw, either directly or via environment-backed config. The docs also support openclaw channels add --channel nostr --private-key "$NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY" for a non-interactive path.
3. Choose your relay set. OpenClaw documents relay.damus.io and nos.lol as defaults, but you can add a short custom list such as relay.primal.net or nostr.wine when you want redundancy. The docs explicitly recommend keeping the list small instead of spraying traffic everywhere.
4. Pick the DM policy. Pairing is the default, allowlist accepts specific pubkeys, open requires allowFrom ["*"], and disabled ignores inbound DMs completely. For production bots, allowlist is often the cleanest answer.
5. If you care about how the bot appears in clients, publish profile metadata through the config or the Control UI. The docs show fields like name, displayName, picture, banner, website, nip05, and lud16.

{
  channels: {
    nostr: {
      privateKey: "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}",
      relays: ["wss://relay.damus.io", "wss://relay.primal.net"],
      dmPolicy: "pairing"
    }
  }
}

Access, safety, and operational notes

Nostr access control is unusually explicit in the docs. Signature verification happens before policy and before decryption, which keeps bad traffic cheap to reject. That is exactly the kind of ordering you want on an internet-facing DM endpoint.

Treat duplicate deliveries as normal when you use multiple relays. The docs note that OpenClaw deduplicates by event ID, so the first delivery triggers the response and later copies are expected noise rather than a sign that the assistant double-thought the message.

How to verify it is working

The docs include a nice local test path with a strfry relay on ws://localhost:7777. If you prefer a real-world check, capture the bot pubkey from logs, message it from a client like Damus or Amethyst, and watch the gateway logs for relay connection and decrypt behavior.

Common gotchas

• This integration is DM-only in the current docs, not groups or media
• Private keys should stay in environment or secrets, never in committed files
• Too many relays add duplication and latency without much value

If you want the operator version with tighter rollout checklists, safer defaults, and more production patterns, The OpenClaw Playbook is the easiest shortcut.