Nostr Web Client

I am long time fascinated by mainline DHT, and it's cool you are experimenting with it. Can we talk about browser js not being able to access DHT directly? User needs to set a custom dns server, which is quite a barrier, and is the middleman that can censor or be censored, is that right?

We could have a custom relay that could query dht for user's outbox relays and fetch requested events from there, acting as dht bridge for web apps. But then it's no different from existing indexer relays that clients hardcode for discovery.

We could also have a custom dns server resolving npubs to their outbox relay. But again users won't change their dns settings.

I go back and forth on this and still don't see what is fundamentally solved by this use of dht, at least for the web. Am I missing something?

Nuh 1y ago

This a common question: if you need to use a bridge between browsers and Mainline DHT then how is this better than Nostr relays?

1. Native apps obviously are a thing, and arguably they are giving the web a run for it's money, so why dismiss that?

2. relays/resolvers for Pkarr are not only useful for browsers, they also add some reliability and reduce the load on Mainline which then becomes like the DNS root servers

3. Finally to your point, the upside is that you as an app developer can use your own relay to support your browser customers, and I can use my own relay to support my users, and both our relays are going to magically connect, not by gossiping with untrusted strangers, and not by forming private swarms, but by simply using Mainline as the backbone.

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Discussion

brugeman 1y ago

Thanks for the input. Native apps don't really have to rely on dns like web apps and are already much less restricted and harder to censor at transport level. Those are much better censored at app store level and hence my focus on the web apps. Pkarr being cache seems like a bug, not a feature - if resolving HAS to use cache middleware to be reliable then it's less decentralised, and 10m nodes turn to 1. It looks like unless this becomes a web standard browsers won't benefit fundamentally. I thought about this much less than you did so this isn't a criticism, just thinking out loud.