nVelope

https://github.com/StevenDay83/nvelope-client

Reinventing email over Nostr. Emphasizing privacy, security, and self-sovereignty over email communications.

Public Key

npub1xxzyawrm7hsfwj3q9plr03f30kg32qpt9wx2qm8tsc5wwajtmj4s9h088q

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrrpzwhpaltcyhfgszsl3hc5chmyg4qq4jhr9qdn4cv288we9ae2cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dszak4sk

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1xxzyawrm7hsfwj3q9plr03f30kg32qpt9wx2qm8tsc5wwajtmj4s9h088q

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-10-24 03:32:33 UTC

Leaked your nec key?
Not a disaster with nVelope.
This is why it uses a separate keypair for encrypting and decrypting messages.
As long as your private key certificate if safe you can take it with you no matter what happens to your npub.

2026-10-17 02:56:41 UTC

nVelope client beta 2 is out. Yes there is "Email on Nostr"
Come test things, set up a npub and email nvelope@nostrcheck.me.
Fixed a few bugs, fixed some UI items. Interface is a lot more responsive by caching a lot of the certificate and contact data.
OSX and Windows builds available to run.
https://blossom.primal.net/aed32995e950c23fb76526e8ebbce7a39c253af5726d638cd708154957d8fc83.png
https://blossom.primal.net/abfeb60db0071310abf1bcb2d08d11b1e7a2c6971d2c981194529edd17b42e78.png
https://blossom.primal.net/bda7f692225b5fd7e2c9a116ff64878c6b135a47455a370b61cd487533b20bd3.png
https://blossom.primal.net/90cafc66cbf9263efca860f9a5b72db40b3e0b3ef9ab87bb3761d0cdce5545f5.png
https://github.com/StevenDay83/nvelope-client/releases/tag/v0.1.0-beta.2

2026-10-15 22:55:55 UTC

Excited to announce that nVelope client v0.1.0 Beta has been released.
We need testers. Please either grab the code and run via npm or grab the pre-release binaries https://github.com/StevenDay83/nvelope-client/releases/tag/v0.1.0-beta.1
If you want an npub to email to test use
npub18x3kpxxvhz78guqqk34p4mu93rh4cyj8r9ka8av8ph3yj4jcltqsezv8gu
i'll be monitoring that mailbox and will respond.

2026-10-13 21:16:01 UTC

Welp it's been a while folks. After a lot of stopping and starting we are back.
Here are some developments over the past few weeks.
- Totally rewrote nvelope-core and have it both on github and npm. It is a fully functional Nostr-Mail library.
- Scrapped and started nvelope-client from scratch.
Still implementing the base features and I am happy to share with you some successful sending and receiving.
You can find them on primal or damus's relays on Kind 8500 (encrypted!).
Once the base functionality is done, some UI fixes are going to be applied and tested.
I expect to have the new nvelope-client code on github and available for testing in a week or two.
https://blossom.primal.net/648176fda736c508b07254927bbf2c84a4df7edf8c610b937ddc14d93218f5f4.png
https://blossom.primal.net/43ddb49e32c12d504913b6687af2ac9c1dcca60612b647177644ba320ffbcd84.png
https://blossom.primal.net/597f3e8c70cf46ce9cb8611771b0335c1500ebd228f324fda28b85a261ef8161.png
https://blossom.primal.net/ab4cceccab1ee9c36602bfea5dadd2096b90ec3711d0ad02bdf3cdf055ff0b20.png
https://blossom.primal.net/8e56acb488180d480106cfbd8757618d24a80c2e5c1ef80a895cf4534b223dbe.png

2026-03-08 04:47:57 UTC

So what IS going on with nVelope so far?
- nVelope-core development paused so integration into nVelope-client can continue
- Slow and steady progress on the main email window
To dos:
- Finish up basic functionality for email list widget
- Set up Preview pane, toolbars, and rendering components
- Get a compose window created (with the above components)
- Lots a little details to get right
Short term goal:
- A video demo showing sending an nVelope email from one npub to another using the nVelope-client.
#nostrmail #nvelope

2026-03-03 04:47:39 UTC

- reply

Hah thanks.
Still putting together some server configs.

2026-03-03 03:44:24 UTC

More GUI work. This mock up is less mock up and more of pouring test data in. Preview pane is showing markdown (one of the options for your nVelope email formats).
What is unseen is the code being put in for caching a bunch of data. When dealing with a decentralized protocol or network, cache is king to keep things responsive and snappy.
The last thing we need is the client hanging trying to pull some profile data or recipient policies.
https://blossom.primal.net/9aa43b9c7258b040c9fe4b025387d8046a10fc71a14ed0dce09fc1bc165fa239.png

2026-03-02 22:40:30 UTC

- reply

Yeah this is what happens when we have to rely on a handful of platforms for email. SMTP is pretty much captured since running an email server basically means asking for permission from Google Microsoft and a handful of others for your emails to go through and not be blacklisted.
I hope something like nVelope will help and it will require rejecting the legacy email system.

2026-02-28 05:03:05 UTC

GUI development activated.
Slow, steady, deliberate, with an excellent UX. This is the goal
https://blossom.primal.net/949bf80504500497c0ab6f8d51d729628de44a590e35c2e800c4d5db1c1674d8.png

2026-02-25 03:49:27 UTC

Mockups so the interface can start coming together.
https://blossom.primal.net/032cb231f4dd978e7694b29df7bcb7ca00d9ea24588ff58baadcdf2f5f0b5a96.png
#nvelope #nostrmail

2026-02-23 03:44:03 UTC

Code for Broadcast Emails just about done. Another milestone.
Looks like there will be 3 projects that will be built on top of the nvelope-core library:
- nVelope-Client - Base email client
- nVelope-Listserv - Agent for creating and managing mailing lists (Emails go to an npub and gets broadcasted out to subscribers)
- nVelope-Studio - For managing newsletters and other subscription based emails meant for mass audiences
Excited to tackle all 3 and have an ecosystem of practical use cases email done right over nostr.
Continue to see developments at https://github.com/StevenDay83/nvelope-core
https://blossom.primal.net/be8fd27424ee5539635c6f0a021f746684cc1b0359c3545d1b4ebb92ac5da847.jpg
#nvelope #nostrmail

2026-02-22 03:54:43 UTC

Direct emails between npubs on nVelope use proof of work to incur a cost on sending a message to a recipient.
This is determined by the recipient policy.
What immediately jumps out is how would newsletters or messages to a lot of recipients work?
Broadcast Messages are a special class of message that work more like a post than a message. They are symmetrically encrypted and subscribed to.
- Someone running a news letter would provide an naddr that contains the pubkey, topic, published relays, and preshared-key
- The recipient subscribes with that naddr info
- Their nVelope client would pull in Broadcast messages and decrypt with provided preshared key
This will work well for mailing lists too.
#nostrmail #nvelope #building

2026-02-21 05:23:36 UTC

Talk without code is just talk
Just published the in-progress code for nvelope-core library on github.
It is raw and a work in progress.
https://github.com/StevenDay83/nvelope-core
#nvelope #nostrmail

2026-02-20 04:45:07 UTC

Some examples of nVelope profiles in the wild (published on wss://relay.damus.io)
Recipient Profile:
https://blossom.primal.net/52d253b713811ddf2e65f43b1d90d300280354f37a3bc1fdb969d6eeb8edfb88.png
nVelope Public Key:
https://blossom.primal.net/494e6e9e5b3f7a68b932e23ae5dd6285d02a39c9ba1d3c499df2c9412afc1e3e.png
Blinded envelope:
https://blossom.primal.net/55d5ded682d7350565e28f03184eece954d084bb55bd6c4d39694af4e008ad11.png
Decrypted Message:
https://blossom.primal.net/30aa0f552227243e35680c5dbe4f2d71305a88c44e6784906f724171345e7800.png
#nostrmail #nvelope

2026-02-19 23:33:57 UTC

When you view Nostr as a general purpose API, the possibilities are endless.
The trade off is the additional logic has to be layered on.
What other protocol or system lets you post arbitrary text data?

2026-02-19 03:43:31 UTC

How nVelope's nostr mail will handle privacy and security with Blinded Envelopes:
Blinded Envelopes
Blinded Envelopes are the only method to send Direct and Special Direct messages to recipients. Blinded Envelopes provide the following functions:
Encryption:
All Blinded Envelopes are encrypted using the recipients public key. This ensures that the contents of Direct and Special Direct message contents are not read by anyone except the holder of the certificate private key.
The contents in the Blinded Envelope will be encoded in Base64 for compactness and compatibility purposes.
Privacy:
Blinded Envelopes are "Blind" because these events can and should be signed by a random Nostr keypair. Only the sender will know which event was signed and only the recipient will be able to process through any listed Blinded Envelopes to find the one intended for them.
This ensures that no metadata, such as sender and receiver are leaked when writing the event to a relay, which is publicly accessible. This also prevents any nsec key leaks from further compromising any prior communications.
Proof of Work:
Proof of work, mentioned earlier will only be applied to the Blinded Envelope level. The underlying event containing Direct or Special Direct Message data will not require any POW constraints.
The sender would need to process the Blinded Envelope event with the an event ID that satisfies the recipient POW requirements.
There are tradeoffs to using Blinded Envelopes that will place some burden on Nostr-Mail clients. All metadata is hidden and there is no way to determine whether a message is for a certain recipient without attempting to decrypt the message. This means that a Nostr-Mail client could spend more time trying to process messages if there are a high amount of Blinded Envelopes on a relay.
Attackers can generate throw away events that will increase the amount of messages a client would need to process. To counter this, a POW Global Filter would always be recommended as a hurdle to any would-be attackers from generating millions of events instantly.
#nostrmail #nvelope

2026-02-18 18:02:04 UTC

On components of a nostr-mail profile and proof of work as a filtering mechanism:
Nostr-Mail profile
Just as Nostr users may have a Nostr profile (Kind 0) to provide information such as a avatar picture, reference name, etc, a Nostr-Mail profile extends this to Nostr-Mail specific data for interacting with the protocol.A Nostr-Mail profile is composed of the following:
Public Certificate: This is the "public key" used by sends to encrypt messages intended for the user. A corresponding Private Certificate is stored safely by the user to decrypt emails sent to them.
Recipient Policy: This is the policy the Nostr-Mail user has defined for which Nostr npubs are allowed to send messages to the recipient as well as other constraints like Proof-of-Work minimums.
Global Filter: Proof of Work minimum for all senders. This is designed to reduce the burden of a recipient's Nostr-Mail client in which messages to attempt to process.

2026-02-18 15:30:48 UTC

- reply

Thanks for the reminder. Should be all set!

2026-02-18 04:23:07 UTC

Excerpt from Nostr-Mail white paper
Problem
Current methods of direct communication with Nostr are either opt-in open, such as with social media (Kind 1) use cases, or using previous designed Direct Message NIPs that leak metadata and exposes communications in the event of a nsec key leak. Kind 1 posts and Direct Messages have legitimate use cases and there is a gap in Nostr for secure messaging in an email format.
Current email technology (SMTP mail) is currently in a very centralized state where a handful of operators control the vast majority of accounts (i.e. Gmail, Microsoft, etc). Many email operators require some form of KYC to combat spam and identify users. Setting up a self-hosted email server runs into many pitfalls of security and unreliability. Spam and malicious emails are a constant threat since SMTP is designed to allow impersonation, despite multiple additions to combat these problems.

2026-02-17 13:03:29 UTC

Removing the middle men platforms and making the platform you!
#nostrmail #nvelope
https://blossom.primal.net/22942e5401df8e49ecd81275baeaf397689d9d5055412b6d659f1af7557e0517.jpg

2026-02-15 21:20:10 UTC

Why recreate something “boring” like email on Nostr?
DMs are great for quick exchanges.
DMs manage a single conversation vs separate threads.
Good luck really trying to search DMs for info over a long period of time.
They have their place and are great.
Email represents a more “personal media” vs social media approach.
“Boring” is fine if it can be safe, secure, and user owned.

2026-02-15 17:38:19 UTC

- reply

The original layout of the email-over-nostr protocol. Some things are changing out of practicality.
Worth the read and always open to feedback and suggestions. #naddr1qv…jxpr

2026-02-15 03:15:17 UTC

The best way to fix email is to dump the existing system.
One way to do this is to use Nostr and make long form non-DM communication over Nostr.
No centralized email platforms, just cryptography, proof of work, and the decentralization of the Nostr network.
nVelope will be that email client that will balance secure, private, personal communication with an intuitive UX.
More to come.