Nostr Web Client

For anyone using the Alby browser extension but mostly as a reminder to myself:

If you change browsers and install Alby in it anew, Alby will auto-generate keys for Nostr and you will not be able to use your existing profile - even if you logged into Alby with email/pw. Which IMO is insane. You're logging in with your credentials so why doesn't Alby pull YOUR keys but instead generates new ones?!

The other 'hideious' thing is that the key (and lightning address) at the bottom of this snippet were my correct ones, however the npub on the top and the private key as well were auto-generated.

The fix is to remove those generated keys and copy/paste your own npub into it. Et voila - everything is back to normal.

Thanks @TheGrinder for encouraging me to look at this for the umpteenth time and finally realizing that the npubs didn't match.

#alby #getalby #nostrkeys

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Discussion

HoloKat 1y ago

I had to uninstall Alby because of their forceful behavior to store nostr keys.

✨OᑕEᗩᑎᗷEE✨ 1y ago

How or where do you store you keys then? Or how do you use your keys without the extension. Sorry, I'm still a normie and a bit clueless.

Alby 1y ago

Thanks for your feedback and using Alby 🙂

Your keys are important. The extension can generate them and store locally, we (Alby) do not see it nor can recover them. Please have your backup when moving between browser.

We understand it's a UX issue and strive to make your experience easier and better.

PS It looks like you are using an outdated version of the extension. Please update!

✨OᑕEᗩᑎᗷEE✨ 1y ago

Thanks but how can it be outdated when I just installed it freshly?

Alby 1y ago

my bad, you're actually good!

but please keep in mind that your keys in the extension are separate from the lightning wallet that you use there!

bumi 1y ago

thanks for the feedback. Keys are never stored on the server thus they can not be pulled from anywhere.

The reason why keys get auto generated was to make it easier for users to get started - it was a often requested feature.

The tricky here is that the Alby account with the lightning address is independent of the key - keys are never stored on a server and thus you have to enter those.

Would you like to store an encrypted backup of the keys and with that make it easier to recover them in such a situation?