quartz-integration

star 1.5k

Integration guide for using the Quartz Nostr KMP library in external projects. Use when: (1) adding Quartz as a Gradle dependency, (2) setting up NostrClient with WebSocket, (3) creating/signing/sending events, (4) building relay subscriptions with Filter, (5) handling keys with KeyPair/NostrSignerInternal, (6) using Bech32 encoding/decoding (NIP-19), (7) platform-specific setup (Android vs JVM/Desktop), (8) NIP-57 zaps, NIP-17 DMs, NIP-44 encryption in external projects.

vitorpamplona By vitorpamplona schedule Updated 6/16/2026

name: quartz-integration description: Integration guide for using the Quartz Nostr KMP library in external projects. Use when: (1) adding Quartz as a Gradle dependency, (2) setting up NostrClient with WebSocket, (3) creating/signing/sending events, (4) building relay subscriptions with Filter, (5) handling keys with KeyPair/NostrSignerInternal, (6) using Bech32 encoding/decoding (NIP-19), (7) platform-specific setup (Android vs JVM/Desktop), (8) NIP-57 zaps, NIP-17 DMs, NIP-44 encryption in external projects.

Quartz Integration Guide

Reference for integrating com.vitorpamplona.quartz:quartz into external Nostr KMP projects.

Published artifact: com.vitorpamplona.quartz:quartz:1.12.6 (Maven Central) Targets: JVM 21+, Android (minSdk 21+), iOS (XCFramework quartz-kmpKit) License: MIT


1. Gradle Setup

Version Catalog (libs.versions.toml)

[versions]
quartz = "1.12.6"

[libraries]
quartz = { module = "com.vitorpamplona.quartz:quartz", version.ref = "quartz" }

build.gradle.kts (KMP project)

kotlin {
    sourceSets {
        commonMain.dependencies {
            implementation(libs.quartz)
        }
    }
}

Android-only project

dependencies {
    implementation("com.vitorpamplona.quartz:quartz:1.12.6")
}

Transitive dependencies pulled in automatically

Quartz exposes these as api (you get them transitively):

Dependency Used for
fr.acinq.secp256k1:secp256k1-kmp-* Schnorr signing
com.github.anthonynsimon:rfc3986-normalizer Relay URL normalization
com.fasterxml.jackson.module:jackson-module-kotlin Event JSON parsing

For Android, add to build.gradle.kts:

android {
    packaging {
        resources.excludes += "/META-INF/{AL2.0,LGPL2.1}"
    }
}

2. Key Concepts

Core Types

typealias HexKey = String        // 64-char hex string (pubkey, event id, sig)
typealias Kind = Int             // Event kind number
typealias TagArray = Array<Array<String>>

Event Anatomy

@Immutable
open class Event(
    val id: HexKey,        // SHA-256 of canonical JSON (64 hex chars)
    val pubKey: HexKey,    // Author public key (64 hex chars)
    val createdAt: Long,   // Unix timestamp (seconds)
    val kind: Kind,        // Event type
    val tags: TagArray,    // [["e","eventid"], ["p","pubkey"], ...]
    val content: String,
    val sig: HexKey,       // Schnorr signature (128 hex chars)
)

Kind Classification

// Regular events — stored by relays forever
val isRegular = kind in 1..9999

// Replaceable events — relay keeps only latest per (pubkey, kind)
val isReplaceable = kind == 0 || kind == 3 || kind in 10000..19999

// Addressable events — relay keeps latest per (pubkey, kind, d-tag)
val isAddressable = kind in 30000..39999

// Ephemeral events — relays don't persist
val isEphemeral = kind in 20000..29999

3. Key Management

Generate a new keypair

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.crypto.KeyPair

// Generate fresh random keys
val keyPair = KeyPair()

// From existing private key bytes
val keyPair = KeyPair(privKey = myPrivKeyBytes)

// Read-only (public key only, cannot sign)
val keyPair = KeyPair(pubKey = myPubKeyBytes)

// Access
val pubKeyHex: String = keyPair.pubKey.toHexKey()
val privKeyHex: String? = keyPair.privKey?.toHexKey()

Convert between formats

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.core.toHexKey
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.Nip19Parser

// ByteArray → hex
val hex = byteArray.toHexKey()

// hex → ByteArray
val bytes = HexKey.decodeHex(hex)

// Bech32 import (npub, nsec)
val parsed = Nip19Parser.uriToRoute("npub1abc...")
// or
val parsed = Nip19Parser.uriToRoute("nsec1abc...")

4. Signing Events

NostrSignerInternal (local key, JVM + Android)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.crypto.KeyPair
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.signers.NostrSignerInternal

val keyPair = KeyPair()
val signer = NostrSignerInternal(keyPair)

// Sign any EventTemplate
val template = TextNoteEvent.build("Hello Nostr!")
val signedEvent: TextNoteEvent = signer.sign(template)

NostrSignerSync (synchronous, for testing)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.signers.NostrSignerSync

val signerSync = NostrSignerSync(keyPair)
val event = signerSync.sign<TextNoteEvent>(
    createdAt = TimeUtils.now(),
    kind = 1,
    tags = emptyArray(),
    content = "Hello!"
)

NostrSigner interface (for custom signers)

abstract class NostrSigner(val pubKey: HexKey) {
    abstract fun isWriteable(): Boolean
    abstract suspend fun <T : Event> sign(createdAt: Long, kind: Int, tags: Array<Array<String>>, content: String): T
    abstract suspend fun nip04Encrypt(plaintext: String, toPublicKey: HexKey): String
    abstract suspend fun nip04Decrypt(ciphertext: String, fromPublicKey: HexKey): String
    abstract suspend fun nip44Encrypt(plaintext: String, toPublicKey: HexKey): String
    abstract suspend fun nip44Decrypt(ciphertext: String, fromPublicKey: HexKey): String
    abstract suspend fun deriveKey(nonce: HexKey): HexKey
    abstract fun hasForegroundSupport(): Boolean
    // Convenience: auto-detects NIP-04 vs NIP-44 by ciphertext format
    suspend fun decrypt(encryptedContent: String, fromPublicKey: HexKey): String
}

5. Creating Events

Using typed event builders (recommended)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip10Notes.TextNoteEvent
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip25Reactions.ReactionEvent

// Kind 1 — Text note
val template = TextNoteEvent.build("Hello Nostr!")
val event: TextNoteEvent = signer.sign(template)

// Kind 1 — Reply
val replyTemplate = TextNoteEvent.build(
    note = "Interesting thread!",
    replyingTo = originalEventHintBundle
)

// Kind 7 — Reaction
val reactionTemplate = ReactionEvent.build(
    content = "+",          // "+" = like, "-" = dislike, emoji = custom
    originalNote = targetEvent
)

Using low-level Event.build DSL

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.core.Event

val template = Event.build(
    kind = 1,
    content = "Hello world",
    createdAt = TimeUtils.now()
) {
    // TagArrayBuilder DSL
    add(arrayOf("p", mentionedPubKey))
    add(arrayOf("t", "nostr"))
    add(arrayOf("subject", "Greeting"))
}

val event: Event = signer.sign(template)

TagArrayBuilder DSL methods

// In the DSL lambda:
add(arrayOf("tagname", "value"))          // append
addFirst(arrayOf("tagname", "value"))     // prepend
addUnique(arrayOf("d", "my-slug"))        // replace all tags with same name
addAll(listOf(arrayOf("t", "tag1"), ...)) // bulk add
remove("tagname")                          // remove all with this name

6. Relay Client Setup (JVM / Android)

The relay client requires an OkHttp WebSocket builder (available on JVM + Android).

Minimal setup

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.client.NostrClient
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.sockets.okhttp.BasicOkHttpWebSocket
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient

// Build the WebSocket factory
val okHttpClient = OkHttpClient.Builder().build()
val wsBuilder = BasicOkHttpWebSocket.Builder { _ -> okHttpClient }

// Create client (manages its own CoroutineScope internally)
val nostrClient = NostrClient(websocketBuilder = wsBuilder)
nostrClient.connect()

With custom OkHttpClient per relay

val wsBuilder = BasicOkHttpWebSocket.Builder { normalizedUrl ->
    if (normalizedUrl.url.contains(".onion")) {
        torEnabledOkHttpClient   // Tor proxy for .onion relays
    } else {
        regularOkHttpClient
    }
}

With custom CoroutineScope

val appScope = CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO + SupervisorJob())
val nostrClient = NostrClient(wsBuilder, scope = appScope)

7. Subscribing to Events

Normalize relay URLs first

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.normalizer.RelayUrlNormalizer

// Returns NormalizedRelayUrl (wrapper with validated wss:// URL)
val relayUrl = RelayUrlNormalizer.normalize("wss://relay.damus.io")
val relayUrlOrNull = RelayUrlNormalizer.normalizeOrNull("wss://relay.damus.io")

// Handles common fixes: https:// → wss://, strips whitespace, etc.

Build a Filter

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.filters.Filter

// Fetch a user's notes
val filter = Filter(
    authors = listOf(pubKeyHex),
    kinds = listOf(1),
    limit = 50
)

// Since a timestamp
val filter = Filter(
    kinds = listOf(1, 6),
    since = System.currentTimeMillis() / 1000 - 3600  // last hour
)

// By event tags
val filter = Filter(
    kinds = listOf(7),
    tags = mapOf("e" to listOf(eventId))   // reactions to an event
)

// AND tag filter (NIP-91)
val filter = Filter(
    kinds = listOf(1),
    tagsAll = mapOf(
        "t" to listOf("nostr"),
        "p" to listOf(specificPubKey)
    )
)

// Full-text search (NIP-50)
val filter = Filter(
    kinds = listOf(1),
    search = "bitcoin lightning"
)

Open a subscription

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.client.listeners.IRelayClientListener
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.client.single.IRelayClient
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.commands.toClient.Message
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.commands.toClient.EventMessage
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.commands.toClient.EoseMessage

val relay = RelayUrlNormalizer.normalize("wss://relay.damus.io")

val subId = "my-sub-${System.currentTimeMillis()}"
val filtersMap = mapOf(relay to listOf(filter))

nostrClient.openReqSubscription(
    subId = subId,
    filters = filtersMap,
    listener = object : IRequestListener {
        override fun onEvent(subId: String, event: Event, relay: IRelayClient) {
            println("Got event: ${event.id}")
        }
        override fun onEOSE(subId: String, relay: IRelayClient) {
            println("End of stored events from ${relay.url}")
        }
    }
)

// Close when done
nostrClient.close(subId)

Global relay listener

nostrClient.subscribe(object : IRelayClientListener {
    override fun onIncomingMessage(relay: IRelayClient, msgStr: String, msg: Message) {
        when (msg) {
            is EventMessage -> handleEvent(msg.subscriptionId, msg.event)
            is EoseMessage  -> handleEose(msg.subscriptionId)
            else -> {}
        }
    }
    override fun onConnected(relay: IRelayClient, pingMillis: Int, compressed: Boolean) {
        println("Connected to ${relay.url} in ${pingMillis}ms")
    }
    override fun onDisconnected(relay: IRelayClient) {
        println("Disconnected from ${relay.url}")
    }
    // other callbacks: onConnecting, onSent, onCannotConnect
})

8. Publishing Events

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.relay.normalizer.RelayUrlNormalizer

val relaySet = setOf(
    RelayUrlNormalizer.normalize("wss://relay.damus.io"),
    RelayUrlNormalizer.normalize("wss://nos.lol"),
)

// Sign the event
val template = TextNoteEvent.build("Hello Nostr!")
val event: TextNoteEvent = signer.sign(template)

// Send to relays (handles retry + reconnect automatically)
nostrClient.send(event, relaySet)

9. Event Serialization

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.core.Event

// Serialize to JSON string
val json: String = event.toJson()

// Parse from JSON string
val event: Event = Event.fromJson(json)

// Null-safe parse
val event: Event? = Event.fromJsonOrNull(json)

// Specific typed parse (returns base Event, cast if needed)
val textNote = Event.fromJson(json) as? TextNoteEvent

10. Bech32 Encoding / Decoding (NIP-19)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.Nip19Parser
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.entities.NAddress
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.entities.NEvent
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.entities.NNote
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.entities.NProfile
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip19Bech32.entities.NPub

// Decode any bech32 entity (plain or nostr:-prefixed).
// uriToRoute() returns Nip19Parser.ParseReturn? — the parsed Entity is in .entity
when (val entity = Nip19Parser.uriToRoute(input)?.entity) {
    is NPub     -> println("pubkey: ${entity.hex}")
    is NNote    -> println("event id: ${entity.hex}")
    is NEvent   -> println("event: ${entity.hex}, relays: ${entity.relay}")
    is NProfile -> println("profile: ${entity.hex}")
    is NAddress -> println("address: ${entity.aTag()}")
    null        -> println("not a valid bech32 entity")
    else        -> {}
}

// Encode: ByteArray extensions from nip19Bech32/ByteArrayExt.kt
val npub = pubkeyBytes.toNpub()   // also toNsec(), toNote(), ...
// TLV entities with relay hints (relays: List<NormalizedRelayUrl>)
val nevent = NEvent.create(eventIdHex, authorHex, kind, relays)

11. Encryption

NIP-44 (modern, recommended)

// Via signer (preferred)
val encrypted = signer.nip44Encrypt(
    plaintext = "Secret message",
    toPublicKey = recipientPubKeyHex
)
val decrypted = signer.nip44Decrypt(
    ciphertext = encrypted,
    fromPublicKey = senderPubKeyHex
)

// Auto-detect format (NIP-04 or NIP-44)
val plaintext = signer.decrypt(encryptedContent, fromPublicKeyHex)

NIP-04 (legacy, avoid for new code)

val encrypted = signer.nip04Encrypt(plaintext, recipientPubKeyHex)
val decrypted = signer.nip04Decrypt(ciphertext, senderPubKeyHex)

12. Common NIP Event Builders

NIP-02 — Follow list (kind 3)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip02FollowList.ContactListEvent

val template = ContactListEvent.build(
    follows = listOf(
        ContactListEvent.Contact(pubKey = alicePubKey, relayUrl = "wss://relay.damus.io", petname = "alice"),
        ContactListEvent.Contact(pubKey = bobPubKey)
    )
)

NIP-25 — Reaction (kind 7)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip25Reactions.ReactionEvent

val like = ReactionEvent.build("+", targetEvent)
val dislike = ReactionEvent.build("-", targetEvent)
val custom = ReactionEvent.build("🤙", targetEvent)

NIP-57 — Zap request (kind 9734)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip57Zaps.LnZapRequestEvent

val template = LnZapRequestEvent.build(
    message = "Great post!",
    relays = listOf("wss://relay.damus.io"),
    target = targetEvent,
    zapType = LnZapRequestEvent.ZapType.PUBLIC
)
val zapRequest: LnZapRequestEvent = signer.sign(template)

NIP-59 — Gift wrap / sealed DM (kind 1059 + 14)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip17Dm.NIP17Factory

// Creates sealed rumor + gift wrap pair
val (dmEvent, giftWrap) = NIP17Factory.create(
    msg = "Private message",
    fromSigner = senderSigner,
    toUsers = listOf(recipientPubKey),
    relayList = listOf("wss://relay.damus.io")
)

NIP-23 — Long-form article (kind 30023)

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip23LongContent.LongTextNoteEvent

val template = LongTextNoteEvent.build(
    body = markdownContent,
    title = "My Article",
    image = "https://example.com/cover.jpg",
    summary = "A brief summary",
    slug = "my-article"   // d-tag
)

13. Platform-Specific Notes

JVM / Desktop

// jvmMain dependencies needed in consuming project:
// secp256k1-kmp-jni-jvm and lazysodium-java are transitive from quartz
// But you need JNA on the classpath for libsodium:
implementation("net.java.dev.jna:jna:5.18.1")

Android

// androidMain dependencies (transitive from quartz):
// secp256k1-kmp-jni-android, lazysodium-android, jna (aar)
// No extra setup needed beyond the maven dependency.

// For NIP-55 (Android external signer apps):
import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip55AndroidSigner.ExternalSignerLauncher

iOS

The library produces an XCFramework named quartz-kmpKit.

# Build XCFramework
./gradlew :quartz:assembleQuartz-kmpKitReleaseXCFramework
# Output: quartz/build/XCFrameworks/release/quartz-kmpKit.xcframework

In Xcode: drag & drop the .xcframework into your project, then use from Swift via Kotlin/Native interop.


14. Event Store (SQLite, all platforms)

SQLite-backed storage in commonMain (JVM, Android, iOS — uses the bundled androidx.sqlite driver) with full NIP support (NIP-09, NIP-40, NIP-45, NIP-50, NIP-62). All operations are suspend:

import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.store.sqlite.EventStore

val store = EventStore()  // default DB file "events.db"

// Insert
store.insert(event)

// Query
val events = store.query<Event>(
    Filter(authors = listOf(pubKey), kinds = listOf(1), limit = 50)
)

// Count (NIP-45)
val count = store.count(Filter(kinds = listOf(1)))

// Full-text search (NIP-50)
val results = store.query<Event>(Filter(search = "bitcoin"))

15. Quick Reference

Task API Package
Generate keys KeyPair() nip01Core.crypto
Create signer NostrSignerInternal(keyPair) nip01Core.signers
Build event TextNoteEvent.build(...) or Event.build(kind, content) { tags } nip10Notes, nip01Core.core
Sign event signer.sign(template) nip01Core.signers
Serialize event.toJson() nip01Core.core
Parse Event.fromJson(json) nip01Core.core
Normalize relay URL RelayUrlNormalizer.normalize("wss://...") nip01Core.relay.normalizer
Setup relay client NostrClient(BasicOkHttpWebSocket.Builder { okhttp }) nip01Core.relay.client
Subscribe client.openReqSubscription(subId, mapOf(relay to filters), listener) nip01Core.relay.client
Publish client.send(event, setOf(relayUrl)) nip01Core.relay.client
NIP-44 encrypt signer.nip44Encrypt(text, recipientPubKey) nip01Core.signers
Bech32 decode Nip19Parser.uriToRoute("npub1...") nip19Bech32
Bech32 encode Nip19Bech32.createNPub(pubKeyHex) nip19Bech32

Common Event Kinds

Kind Event Type NIP Quartz class
0 User metadata 01 MetadataEvent
1 Text note 10 TextNoteEvent
3 Follow list 02 ContactListEvent
4 Legacy DM 04 PrivateDmEvent
5 Deletion 09 DeletionEvent
6 Repost 18 RepostEvent
7 Reaction 25 ReactionEvent
14 Chat message (sealed) 17 NIP17GroupMessage
1059 Gift wrap 59 GiftWrapEvent
9734 Zap request 57 LnZapRequestEvent
9735 Zap receipt 57 LnZapEvent
10002 Relay list 65 AdvertisedRelayListEvent
30023 Long-form content 23 LongTextNoteEvent

Related Skills

  • nostr-expert — Internal Quartz patterns for Amethyst development
  • kotlin-multiplatform — KMP source sets, expect/actual patterns
  • kotlin-coroutines — Flow patterns for relay event streams
Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/vitorpamplona/amethyst --skill quartz-integration
Repository Details
star Stars 1,547
call_split Forks 208
navigation Branch main
article Path SKILL.md
More from Creator
vitorpamplona
vitorpamplona Explore all skills →