NIP-72 Community Join Request Auto-Approver Bot

A Nostr bot that automatically approves join requests for NIP-72 moderated communities by maintaining a community member list.

Overview

This bot monitors a specified relay for join request events (kind 4552) targeting a specific community and automatically adds the requesting users to the community's member list. It maintains a replaceable event (kind 34551) that serves as the community's member roster.

How It Works

1. Listens for Join Requests: The bot subscribes to kind 4552 events that are tagged with the specified community's a tag
2. Maintains Member List: For each join request, it updates or creates a kind 34551 replaceable event containing the community member list
3. Auto-Approval: New members are automatically added to the p tags in the member list event

NIP-72 Context

NIP-72 defines moderated communities where:

• Communities are defined by kind 34550 events
• Community posts are tagged with the community's a tag
• Moderators can approve posts using kind 4550 events
• This bot specifically handles membership management through kind 34551 events

Prerequisites

• Deno runtime
• A Nostr private key (nsec format)
• Access to a Nostr relay
• A NIP-72 community identifier

Installation

1. Clone this repository
2. Ensure Deno is installed on your system
3. Copy .env.example to .env and configure your environment variables

Configuration

The bot is configured using environment variables. Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

RELAY_URL="wss://relay.example.com"
GROUP_ADDR="34550:pubkey:community-identifier"
NSEC="nsec1your-private-key-here"

Environment Variables

• RELAY_URL: The relay URL to connect to (required)
• GROUP_ADDR: The community's a tag identifier in format 34550:<pubkey>:<d-identifier> (required)
• NSEC: Your Nostr private key in nsec format (required)

Example Configuration

RELAY_URL="wss://relay.chorus.community/"
GROUP_ADDR="34550:932614571afcbad4d17a191ee281e39eebbb41b93fac8fd87829622aeb112f4d:oslo-freedom-forum-2025-mb3ch5ft"
NSEC="nsec1abc123def456..."

Usage

Run the Bot

deno task start

Or run directly:

deno run -A --env-file main.ts

Development Mode

Run with file watching for automatic restarts during development:

deno task dev

Dependencies

• @nostrify/nostrify: Nostr protocol implementation
• nostr-tools: Nostr utilities and key handling

Security Considerations

• Private Key Security: Never commit your .env file or nsec to version control. The .env file is already included in .gitignore for safety
• Environment Variables: Store sensitive configuration in environment variables or use secure key management systems in production
• Relay Trust: Only connect to trusted relays
• Community Management: Ensure you have proper authorization to manage the target community
• Rate Limiting: The bot processes requests as they come in; consider implementing rate limiting for high-traffic communities

Event Types

Input Events (Kind 4552)

The bot listens for join request events with:

• kind: 4552 (join request)
• #a tag: Matching the specified community identifier

Output Events (Kind 34551)

The bot creates/updates member list events with:

• kind: 34551 (community member list)
• #d tag: Community identifier
• #p tags: List of member public keys

Limitations

• Only handles automatic approval (no rejection logic)
• Requires the bot operator to be authorized to manage the community
• No built-in duplicate detection (relies on Nostr's replaceable event semantics)
• No member removal functionality

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is in the public domain.

Related Resources

• NIP-72: Moderated Communities
• Nostr Protocol
• Nostrify Documentation