parrhesia/README.md

Parrhesia

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:

• a WebSocket relay endpoint at /relay
• NIP-11 relay info on GET /relay with Accept: application/nostr+json
• operational HTTP endpoints (/health, /ready, /metrics)
  • /metrics is restricted by default to private/loopback source IPs
• a NIP-86-style management API at POST /management (NIP-98 auth)

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:

mix setup

2) Start the server

mix run --no-halt

Server listens on http://localhost:4413 by default.

WebSocket clients should connect to:

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 is reachable behind your reverse proxy. Parrhesia itself listens on plain HTTP on port 4413, and the reverse proxy is expected to terminate TLS and forward WebSocket traffic to /relay.

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, metrics, 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_MODERATION_CACHE_ENABLED
• PARRHESIA_ENABLE_EXPIRATION_WORKER
• PARRHESIA_LIMITS_*
• PARRHESIA_POLICIES_*
• PARRHESIA_METRICS_*
• PARRHESIA_RETENTION_*
• PARRHESIA_FEATURES_*
• PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_*

Examples:

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

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
:metrics	PARRHESIA_METRICS_*	see table below	Runtime override group
: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

Parrhesia.Web.Endpoint

Atom key	ENV	Default	Notes
:port	PORT	4413	Main HTTP/WebSocket listener

Parrhesia.Web.MetricsEndpoint

Atom key	ENV	Default	Notes
:enabled	PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_ENABLED	false	Enables dedicated metrics listener
:ip	PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_IP	127.0.0.1	IPv4 only
:port	PARRHESIA_METRICS_ENDPOINT_PORT	9568	Dedicated metrics port

: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

:metrics

Atom key	ENV	Default
:enabled_on_main_endpoint	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

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:

nix-build

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

Option C: Docker image via Nix flake

Build the image tarball:

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

Load it into Docker:

docker load < result

Run database migrations:

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

Start the relay:

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 and .env.example so Docker users can run Postgres and Parrhesia together.

Set up the environment file:

cp .env.example .env

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

nix build .#dockerImage
docker load < result

Then start the stack:

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

The relay will be available on:

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 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 and nostr-rs-relay using nostr-bench.

Run it with:

mix bench

Current comparison results from 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:

mix precommit

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

mix test.nak_e2e

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

mix test.marmot_e2e