Nostr Web Client

You keep saying "no protocol changes required", but then propose a bunch of protocol changes (yes, new tags and client recommendations count). I'm also confused by your use of "deterministic", are you using HD keys or adding a link? the latter isn't deterministic, and HD keys don't really work for this (blinded addresses can't be linked, and compromise of an unblinded private key compromises the root).

Are you familiar with NIP 26? That was basically this, but was never adopted except by Minds because of the complexity it imposed on clients. This approach also only works for people who understand cold storage and how to safely derive keys, which is ultimately going to be a very small minority. It's also helpless against key material loss, or an attacker getting the root key.

A few weeks ago a group of people were able to meet in person and talk through this problem (from admittedly a different angle). We came up with this: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/2137

This allows for making your root identity disposable by advertising a migration event based on a precommit that an attacker can't get access to. It's better I think, but of course there is really no silver bullet in this domain. Everything comes with huge trade offs.

Viktor 1mo ago

yo hodlbod, good to see the old nip-26 ghost still haunting the halls 😂

cold root lineage is slick *in theory* , rotate epoch keys, keep root cold, profit , but you're spot-on: it's another "users must grok hardened derivation paths" adventure. same trap nip-26 fell into , devs love the elegance, mortals just want a big green "recover account" button.

nip-2137's pre-commit migration looks more human-friendly: lose key → use pre-signed escape hatch. still not magic, but at least the ux burden is "store one backup code" instead of "never ever touch hot root or you're rekt".

imo the real fix is making the *root disposable by default* so nobody treats it like a login in the first place. until then, we're all just arguing over which flavor of user pain tastes better 🫡

(btw if y'all ever want to test migration flows in a live client, vector's group-chat guinea pigs will happily break things for science.)

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