parrhesia/README.md

# Parrhesia

<img alt="Parrhesia Logo" src="./docs/logo.svg" width="150" align="right">

Parrhesia is a Nostr relay server written in Elixir/OTP with PostgreSQL storage.

**ALPHA CONDITION – BREAKING CHANGES MIGHT HAPPEN!**

- Advanced Querying: Full-text search (NIP-50) and COUNT queries (NIP-45).
- Secure Messaging: First-class support for Marmot MLS-encrypted groups and NIP-17/44/59 gift-wrapped DMs.
- Identity & Auth: NIP-42 authentication flows and NIP-86 management API with NIP-98 HTTP auth.
- Data Integrity: Negentropy-based synchronization and NIP-62 vanish flows.

It exposes:

- listener-configurable WS/HTTP ingress, with a default `public` listener on port `4413`
- a WebSocket relay endpoint at `/relay` on listeners that enable the `nostr` feature
- NIP-11 relay info on `GET /relay` with `Accept: application/nostr+json`
- operational HTTP endpoints such as `/health`, `/ready`, and `/metrics` on listeners that enable them
- a NIP-86-style management API at `POST /management` on listeners that enable the `admin` feature

## Supported NIPs

Current `supported_nips` list:

`1, 9, 11, 13, 17, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 59, 62, 66, 70, 77, 86, 98`

## Requirements

- Elixir `~> 1.19`
- Erlang/OTP 28
- PostgreSQL (18 used in the dev environment; 16+ recommended)
- Docker or Podman plus Docker Compose support if you want to run the published container image

---

## Run locally

### 1) Prepare the database

Parrhesia uses these defaults in `dev`:
- `PGDATABASE=parrhesia_dev`
- `PGHOST=localhost`
- `PGPORT=5432`
- `PGUSER=$USER`

Create the DB and run migrations/seeds:

```bash
mix setup
```

### 2) Start the server

```bash
mix run --no-halt
```

The default `public` listener binds to `http://localhost:4413`.

WebSocket clients should connect to:

```text
ws://localhost:4413/relay
```

### Useful endpoints

- `GET /health` -> `ok`
- `GET /ready` -> readiness status
- `GET /metrics` -> Prometheus metrics (private/loopback source IPs by default)
- `GET /relay` + `Accept: application/nostr+json` -> NIP-11 document
- `POST /management` -> management API (requires NIP-98 auth)

---

## Production configuration

### Minimal setup

Before a Nostr client can publish its first event successfully, make sure these pieces are in place:

1. PostgreSQL is reachable from Parrhesia.
   Set `DATABASE_URL` and create/migrate the database with `Parrhesia.Release.migrate()` or `mix ecto.migrate`.

2. Parrhesia listeners are configured for your deployment.
   The default config exposes a `public` listener on plain HTTP port `4413`, and a reverse proxy can terminate TLS and forward WebSocket traffic to `/relay`. Additional listeners can be defined in `config/*.exs`.

3. `:relay_url` matches the public relay URL clients should use.
   Set `PARRHESIA_RELAY_URL` to the public relay URL exposed by the reverse proxy.
   In the normal deployment model, this should be your public `wss://.../relay` URL.

4. The database schema is migrated before starting normal traffic.
   The app image does not auto-run migrations on boot.

That is the actual minimum. With default policy settings, writes do not require auth, event signatures are verified, and no extra Nostr-specific bootstrap step is needed before posting ordinary events.

In `prod`, these environment variables are used:

- `DATABASE_URL` (**required**), e.g. `ecto://USER:PASS@HOST/parrhesia_prod`
- `POOL_SIZE` (optional, default `32`)
- `PORT` (optional, default `4413`)
- `PARRHESIA_*` runtime overrides for relay config, limits, policies, listener-related metrics helpers, and features
- `PARRHESIA_EXTRA_CONFIG` (optional path to an extra runtime config file)

`config/runtime.exs` reads these values at runtime in production releases.

### Runtime env naming

For runtime overrides, use the `PARRHESIA_...` prefix:

- `PARRHESIA_RELAY_URL`
- `PARRHESIA_TRUSTED_PROXIES`
- `PARRHESIA_MODERATION_CACHE_ENABLED`
- `PARRHESIA_ENABLE_EXPIRATION_WORKER`
- `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_*`
- `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_*`
- `PARRHESIA_METRICS_*`
- `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_*`
- `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_*`
- `PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_*`

Examples:

```bash
export PARRHESIA_POLICIES_AUTH_REQUIRED_FOR_WRITES=true
export PARRHESIA_FEATURES_VERIFY_EVENT_SIGNATURES=true
export PARRHESIA_METRICS_ALLOWED_CIDRS="10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16"
export PARRHESIA_LIMITS_OUTBOUND_OVERFLOW_STRATEGY=drop_oldest
```

Listeners themselves are primarily configured under `config :parrhesia, :listeners, ...`. The current runtime env helpers tune the default public listener and the optional dedicated metrics listener.

For settings that are awkward to express as env vars, mount an extra config file and set `PARRHESIA_EXTRA_CONFIG` to its path inside the container.

### Config reference

CSV env vars use comma-separated values. Boolean env vars accept `1/0`, `true/false`, `yes/no`, or `on/off`.

#### Top-level `:parrhesia`

| Atom key | ENV | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `:relay_url` | `PARRHESIA_RELAY_URL` | `ws://localhost:4413/relay` | Advertised relay URL and auth relay tag target |
| `:moderation_cache_enabled` | `PARRHESIA_MODERATION_CACHE_ENABLED` | `true` | Toggle moderation cache |
| `:enable_expiration_worker` | `PARRHESIA_ENABLE_EXPIRATION_WORKER` | `true` | Toggle background expiration worker |
| `:limits` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_*` | see table below | Runtime override group |
| `:policies` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_*` | see table below | Runtime override group |
| `:listeners` | config-file driven | see notes below | Ingress listeners with bind, transport, feature, auth, network, and baseline ACL settings |
| `:retention` | `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_*` | see table below | Partition lifecycle and pruning policy |
| `:features` | `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_*` | see table below | Runtime override group |
| `:storage.events` | `-` | `Parrhesia.Storage.Adapters.Postgres.Events` | Config-file override only |
| `:storage.moderation` | `-` | `Parrhesia.Storage.Adapters.Postgres.Moderation` | Config-file override only |
| `:storage.groups` | `-` | `Parrhesia.Storage.Adapters.Postgres.Groups` | Config-file override only |
| `:storage.admin` | `-` | `Parrhesia.Storage.Adapters.Postgres.Admin` | Config-file override only |

#### `Parrhesia.Repo`

| Atom key | ENV | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `:url` | `DATABASE_URL` | required | Example: `ecto://USER:PASS@HOST/DATABASE` |
| `:pool_size` | `POOL_SIZE` | `32` | DB connection pool size |
| `:queue_target` | `DB_QUEUE_TARGET_MS` | `1000` | Ecto queue target in ms |
| `:queue_interval` | `DB_QUEUE_INTERVAL_MS` | `5000` | Ecto queue interval in ms |
| `:types` | `-` | `Parrhesia.PostgresTypes` | Internal config-file setting |

#### `:listeners`

| Atom key | ENV | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `:public.bind.port` | `PORT` | `4413` | Default public listener port |
| `:public.proxy.trusted_cidrs` | `PARRHESIA_TRUSTED_PROXIES` | `[]` | Trusted reverse proxies for forwarded IP handling |
| `:public.features.metrics.*` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_*` | see below | Convenience runtime overrides for metrics on the public listener |
| `:metrics.bind.port` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_PORT` | `9568` | Optional dedicated metrics listener port |
| `:metrics.enabled` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_ENABLED` | `false` | Enables the optional dedicated metrics listener |

#### `:limits`

| Atom key | ENV | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `:max_frame_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_FRAME_BYTES` | `1048576` |
| `:max_event_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_EVENT_BYTES` | `262144` |
| `:max_filters_per_req` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_FILTERS_PER_REQ` | `16` |
| `:max_filter_limit` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_FILTER_LIMIT` | `500` |
| `:max_subscriptions_per_connection` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_SUBSCRIPTIONS_PER_CONNECTION` | `32` |
| `:max_event_future_skew_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_EVENT_FUTURE_SKEW_SECONDS` | `900` |
| `:max_event_ingest_per_window` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_EVENT_INGEST_PER_WINDOW` | `120` |
| `:event_ingest_window_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_EVENT_INGEST_WINDOW_SECONDS` | `1` |
| `:auth_max_age_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_AUTH_MAX_AGE_SECONDS` | `600` |
| `:max_outbound_queue` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_OUTBOUND_QUEUE` | `256` |
| `:outbound_drain_batch_size` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_OUTBOUND_DRAIN_BATCH_SIZE` | `64` |
| `:outbound_overflow_strategy` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_OUTBOUND_OVERFLOW_STRATEGY` | `:close` |
| `:max_negentropy_payload_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_NEGENTROPY_PAYLOAD_BYTES` | `4096` |
| `:max_negentropy_sessions_per_connection` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_NEGENTROPY_SESSIONS_PER_CONNECTION` | `8` |
| `:max_negentropy_total_sessions` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_MAX_NEGENTROPY_TOTAL_SESSIONS` | `10000` |
| `:negentropy_session_idle_timeout_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_NEGENTROPY_SESSION_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` | `60` |
| `:negentropy_session_sweep_interval_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_LIMITS_NEGENTROPY_SESSION_SWEEP_INTERVAL_SECONDS` | `10` |

#### `:policies`

| Atom key | ENV | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `:auth_required_for_writes` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_AUTH_REQUIRED_FOR_WRITES` | `false` |
| `:auth_required_for_reads` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_AUTH_REQUIRED_FOR_READS` | `false` |
| `:min_pow_difficulty` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MIN_POW_DIFFICULTY` | `0` |
| `:accept_ephemeral_events` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_ACCEPT_EPHEMERAL_EVENTS` | `true` |
| `:mls_group_event_ttl_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MLS_GROUP_EVENT_TTL_SECONDS` | `300` |
| `:marmot_require_h_for_group_queries` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_REQUIRE_H_FOR_GROUP_QUERIES` | `true` |
| `:marmot_group_max_h_values_per_filter` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_GROUP_MAX_H_VALUES_PER_FILTER` | `32` |
| `:marmot_group_max_query_window_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_GROUP_MAX_QUERY_WINDOW_SECONDS` | `2592000` |
| `:marmot_media_max_imeta_tags_per_event` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_MEDIA_MAX_IMETA_TAGS_PER_EVENT` | `8` |
| `:marmot_media_max_field_value_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_MEDIA_MAX_FIELD_VALUE_BYTES` | `1024` |
| `:marmot_media_max_url_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_MEDIA_MAX_URL_BYTES` | `2048` |
| `:marmot_media_allowed_mime_prefixes` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_MEDIA_ALLOWED_MIME_PREFIXES` | `[]` |
| `:marmot_media_reject_mip04_v1` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_MEDIA_REJECT_MIP04_V1` | `true` |
| `:marmot_push_server_pubkeys` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_SERVER_PUBKEYS` | `[]` |
| `:marmot_push_max_relay_tags` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_MAX_RELAY_TAGS` | `16` |
| `:marmot_push_max_payload_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_MAX_PAYLOAD_BYTES` | `65536` |
| `:marmot_push_max_trigger_age_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_MAX_TRIGGER_AGE_SECONDS` | `120` |
| `:marmot_push_require_expiration` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_REQUIRE_EXPIRATION` | `true` |
| `:marmot_push_max_expiration_window_seconds` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_MAX_EXPIRATION_WINDOW_SECONDS` | `120` |
| `:marmot_push_max_server_recipients` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MARMOT_PUSH_MAX_SERVER_RECIPIENTS` | `1` |
| `:management_auth_required` | `PARRHESIA_POLICIES_MANAGEMENT_AUTH_REQUIRED` | `true` |

#### Listener-related Metrics Helpers

| Atom key | ENV | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `:public.features.metrics.enabled` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENABLED_ON_MAIN_ENDPOINT` | `true` |
| `:public` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_PUBLIC` | `false` |
| `:private_networks_only` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_PRIVATE_NETWORKS_ONLY` | `true` |
| `:allowed_cidrs` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_ALLOWED_CIDRS` | `[]` |
| `:auth_token` | `PARRHESIA_METRICS_AUTH_TOKEN` | `nil` |

#### `:retention`

| Atom key | ENV | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `:check_interval_hours` | `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_CHECK_INTERVAL_HOURS` | `24` | Partition maintenance + pruning cadence |
| `:months_ahead` | `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_MONTHS_AHEAD` | `2` | Pre-create current month plus N future monthly partitions for `events` and `event_tags` |
| `:max_db_bytes` | `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_MAX_DB_BYTES` | `:infinity` | Interpreted as GiB threshold; accepts integer or `infinity` |
| `:max_months_to_keep` | `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_MAX_MONTHS_TO_KEEP` | `:infinity` | Keep at most N months (including current month); accepts integer or `infinity` |
| `:max_partitions_to_drop_per_run` | `PARRHESIA_RETENTION_MAX_PARTITIONS_TO_DROP_PER_RUN` | `1` | Safety cap for each maintenance run |

#### `:features`

| Atom key | ENV | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `:verify_event_signatures` | `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_VERIFY_EVENT_SIGNATURES` | `true` |
| `:nip_45_count` | `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_NIP_45_COUNT` | `true` |
| `:nip_50_search` | `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_NIP_50_SEARCH` | `true` |
| `:nip_77_negentropy` | `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_NIP_77_NEGENTROPY` | `true` |
| `:marmot_push_notifications` | `PARRHESIA_FEATURES_MARMOT_PUSH_NOTIFICATIONS` | `false` |

#### Extra runtime config

| Atom key | ENV | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| extra runtime config file | `PARRHESIA_EXTRA_CONFIG` | unset | Imports an additional runtime `.exs` file |

---

## Deploy

### Option A: Elixir release

```bash
export MIX_ENV=prod
export DATABASE_URL="ecto://USER:PASS@HOST/parrhesia_prod"
export POOL_SIZE=20

mix deps.get --only prod
mix compile
mix release

_build/prod/rel/parrhesia/bin/parrhesia eval "Parrhesia.Release.migrate()"
_build/prod/rel/parrhesia/bin/parrhesia foreground
```

For systemd/process managers, run the release command in foreground mode.

### Option B: Nix release package (`default.nix`)

Build:

```bash
nix-build
```

Run the built release from `./result/bin/parrhesia` (release command interface).

### Option C: Docker image via Nix flake

Build the image tarball:

```bash
nix build .#dockerImage
# or with explicit build target:
nix build .#packages.x86_64-linux.dockerImage
```

Load it into Docker:

```bash
docker load < result
```

Run database migrations:

```bash
docker run --rm \
  -e DATABASE_URL="ecto://USER:PASS@HOST/parrhesia_prod" \
  parrhesia:latest \
  eval "Parrhesia.Release.migrate()"
```

Start the relay:

```bash
docker run --rm \
  -p 4413:4413 \
  -e DATABASE_URL="ecto://USER:PASS@HOST/parrhesia_prod" \
  -e POOL_SIZE=20 \
  parrhesia:latest
```

### Option D: Docker Compose with PostgreSQL

The repo includes [`compose.yaml`](./compose.yaml) and [`.env.example`](./.env.example) so Docker users can run Postgres and Parrhesia together.

Set up the environment file:

```bash
cp .env.example .env
```

If you are building locally from source, build and load the image first:

```bash
nix build .#dockerImage
docker load < result
```

Then start the stack:

```bash
docker compose up -d db
docker compose run --rm migrate
docker compose up -d parrhesia
```

The relay will be available on:

```text
ws://localhost:4413/relay
```

Notes:

- `compose.yaml` keeps PostgreSQL in a separate container; the Parrhesia image only runs the app release.
- The container listens on port `4413`; use `PARRHESIA_HOST_PORT` if you want a different published host port.
- Migrations are run explicitly through the one-shot `migrate` service instead of on every app boot.
- Common runtime overrides can go straight into `.env`; see [`.env.example`](./.env.example) for examples.
- For more specialized overrides, mount a file and set `PARRHESIA_EXTRA_CONFIG=/path/in/container/runtime.exs`.
- When a GHCR image is published, set `PARRHESIA_IMAGE=ghcr.io/<owner>/parrhesia:<tag>` in `.env` and reuse the same compose flow.

---

## Benchmark

The benchmark compares Parrhesia against [`strfry`](https://github.com/hoytech/strfry) and [`nostr-rs-relay`](https://sr.ht/~gheartsfield/nostr-rs-relay/) using [`nostr-bench`](https://github.com/rnostr/nostr-bench).

Run it with:

```bash
mix bench
```

Current comparison results from [BENCHMARK.md](./BENCHMARK.md):

| metric | parrhesia | strfry | nostr-rs-relay | strfry/parrhesia | nostr-rs/parrhesia |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| connect avg latency (ms) ↓ | 13.50 | 3.00 | 2.00 | **0.22x** | **0.15x** |
| connect max latency (ms) ↓ | 22.50 | 5.50 | 3.00 | **0.24x** | **0.13x** |
| echo throughput (TPS) ↑ | 80385.00 | 61673.00 | 164516.00 | 0.77x | **2.05x** |
| echo throughput (MiB/s) ↑ | 44.00 | 34.45 | 90.10 | 0.78x | **2.05x** |
| event throughput (TPS) ↑ | 2000.00 | 3404.50 | 788.00 | **1.70x** | 0.39x |
| event throughput (MiB/s) ↑ | 1.30 | 2.20 | 0.50 | **1.69x** | 0.38x |
| req throughput (TPS) ↑ | 3664.00 | 1808.50 | 877.50 | 0.49x | 0.24x |
| req throughput (MiB/s) ↑ | 20.75 | 11.75 | 2.45 | 0.57x | 0.12x |

Higher is better for `↑` metrics. Lower is better for `↓` metrics.

(Results from a Linux container on a 6-core Intel i5-8400T with NVMe drive, PostgreSQL 18)

---

## Development quality checks

Before opening a PR:

```bash
mix precommit
```

Additional external CLI end-to-end checks with `nak`:

```bash
mix test.nak_e2e
```

For Marmot client end-to-end checks (TypeScript/Node suite using `marmot-ts`, included in `precommit`):

```bash
mix test.marmot_e2e
```