Nostr Signaling

Run your own Nostr relay for GenosDB peer discovery

GenosDB/GenosRTC uses the Nostr relay network for peer discovery and signaling. By running your own Nostr relay, you get full control, better privacy, and improved reliability.

Benefits

Full Control

Complete ownership of signaling infrastructure

Privacy

Signaling metadata stays on your infrastructure

Reliability

No dependency on public relay availability

Customization

Configure access control, rate limiting, and retention policies

Quick Start (Under 5 Minutes)

This guide deploys a Nostr relay using nostream on an Ubuntu VM with Nginx and HTTPS.

Prerequisites

• Cloud VM (DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, etc.)
• Domain name with DNS access
• Basic server administration familiarity

Step 1: Provision VM

Create and access an Ubuntu server, then install packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nodejs npm nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx git tmux curl

Step 2: Install Docker

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

Verify:

docker --version
npm --version
node --version

Step 3: Clone nostream

git clone https://github.com/Cameri/nostream.git
cd nostream

Step 4: Configure Nginx

Remove default config:

sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Create new config:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Insert:

server {
    server_name relay.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;

        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8008;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }
}

Test and reload:

sudo nginx -t
sudo service nginx restart

Step 5: Configure DNS

Add an A record pointing relay.example.com to your VM IP.

Step 6: Enable HTTPS with Certbot

sudo certbot --nginx -d relay.example.com

Step 7: Start the Relay

tmux
cd ~/nostream
npm run docker:compose:start

Detach: Ctrl+B, then D
Reattach: tmux a

Step 8: Test Your Relay

Use any WebSocket testing tool to connect:

wss://relay.example.com

If the connection succeeds, your relay is live!

Use Your Relay in GenosDB

import { gdb } from "genosdb";

const db = await gdb("my-db", {
  rtc: {
    relayUrls: [
      "wss://relay.example.com",
      "wss://another-relay.example.org" // Optional backup
    ]
  }
});

Production Considerations

Event Limits and Retention

Configure in nostream settings to limit storage and manage retention policies.

Authentication and Access Control

Restrict relay access to known clients using authentication mechanisms.

Monitoring and Logging

Set up monitoring for relay health, connection counts, and error rates.

Regular Updates

Keep Docker images and dependencies updated for security patches.

More details: nostream GitHub

Related Pages

GenosRTC Architecture

P2P networking overview

Fallback Server

Optional reliability enhancement