Depends on the client. I just spun up this npub, without creating a profile, and I can follow it without issue on Coracle: nostr:npub1h0v63p0zh25f3mpkq7hk3zaas595utvmm88y5cz36fxgmj8wsn7sm2d3kp
Discussion
I tried amethyst, nostrudel, snort, and coracle.
In coracle it worked, but I already added a name, so profile was created.
I just looked that brand new npub I created up on all of those clients, and I have the option to follow it, even though it has no kind 0 event anywhere.
Amethyst:
Nostrudel:
Snort/Phoenix:
Coracle:
Kind 0 unable to be found via Luminostr, since I never created one:
Interesting. Thanks for the heads up!
Did you create the npub with an extension?
Doesn't matter. I could have created it with dice-rolls in my bathroom. As soon as you have a public key, you can add it to your kind 3. You might need to use a tool like NAK or Nostrudel's note publisher to manually edit your kind 1 if searching for the npub in a client doesn't let you follow it.
What are you specifically testing for, though? Kind 0 profiles shouldn't just exist on a WoT relay. Those are meant to be spread far and wide, so you can always just create a profile for the new user that is saved to a few public relays before following the user to add them to the web-of-trust.
Thanks for the hint!
Came to a similar conclusion.
I am not yet spoiling until there is something to try.
Onwards! 🫡