Relay Access Metadata and Requests

1 Overview

Some relays are private clubs. Only members can write, and sometimes only members can read. Before this NIP, a locked-out user had no protocol-level way to ask for a key. This NIP gives relays a voice and users a doorbell.

The relay side is metadata. A relay publishes events that define member roles, list its members, and announce when a member is added or removed. The relay signs these events with its own identity key: the pubkey in the self field of its NIP-11 information document.

The user side is requests. A user sends a join request with an invite code, asks the relay for an invite code, or sends a leave request to give up access. The relay answers each join request with a plain NIP-01 OK message.

Every event in this NIP carries the NIP-70 protected tag: a tag named -. It marks the event as protected, so other relays must not accept it from anyone except its author.

2 Role Definitions — Kind 33534

A relay may publish a kind 33534 event to define a role. A role is a named position that the relay can assign to members. The relay must sign the event with the NIP-11 self pubkey.

Two tags are required:

• The NIP-70 - tag.
• A d tag. Its value is the role id.

Four tags are optional:

{
  "kind": 33534,
  "pubkey": <nip11.self>,
  "tags": [
    ["-"],
    ["d", "28b7e50f"],
    ["label", "king"],
    ["description", "ruler of the relay"],
    ["color", "37"],
    ["order", "1"]
  ]
  // ...other fields
}

A relay may treat members with a given role differently in its access policies. The NIP defines no mechanism to inspect those policies at this time.

3 Membership Lists — Kind 13534

A relay may publish a kind 13534 event to list the pubkeys that have access to it. The relay must sign the event with the NIP-11 self pubkey.

Two tags are required:

• The NIP-70 - tag.
• One member tag per member. Its value is the member's hex pubkey. Assigned role ids may follow as later elements of the same tag.

{
  "kind": 13534,
  "pubkey": <nip11.self>,
  "tags": [
    ["-"],
    ["member", "c308e1f882c1f1dff2a43d4294239ddeec04e575f2d1aad1fa21ea7684e61fb5"],
    ["member", "ee1d336e13779e4d4c527b988429d96de16088f958cbf6c074676ac9cfd9c958", "28b7e50f"]
  ]
  // ...other fields
}

4 Add and Remove Announcements — Kinds 8000 / 8001

A relay may publish a kind 8000 event when it adds a member. A relay may publish a kind 8001 event when it removes a member. Both events must be signed with the NIP-11 self pubkey. Both events require two tags:

• The NIP-70 - tag.
• A p tag with the member's hex pubkey.

{
  "kind": 8000,  // or 8001 to remove
  "pubkey": <nip11.self>,
  "tags": [
    ["-"],
    ["p", "c308e1f882c1f1dff2a43d4294239ddeec04e575f2d1aad1fa21ea7684e61fb5"]
  ]
  // ...other fields
}

5 Join Request — Kind 28934

A user may send a kind 28934 event to a relay to request admission. The event must have a claim tag that holds an invite code. The event's created_at must be now, plus or minus a few minutes.

{
  "kind": 28934,
  "pubkey": <user pubkey>,
  "tags": [
    ["-"],
    ["claim", <invite code>]
  ]
  // ...other fields
}

When a relay receives a claim, it must report the status of the claim in an OK message. Failed claims should use the standard restricted: prefix from NIP-42. On success, the relay should update its kind 13534 member list. It may also publish a kind 8000 add-user event.

← ["OK", <event-id>, false, "restricted: that invite code is expired."]
← ["OK", <event-id>, false, "restricted: that is an invalid invite code."]
← ["OK", <event-id>, true, "duplicate: you are already a member of this relay."]
← ["OK", <event-id>, true, "info: welcome to wss://relay.bunk.skunk!"]

6 Invite Request — Kind 28935

A user may ask a relay for a claim string. To do this, the user requests kind 28935 events with a normal NIP-01 REQ subscription. The relay answers with a kind 28935 event. That event must be signed with the NIP-11 self pubkey.

{
  "kind": 28935,
  "pubkey": <nip11.self>,
  "tags": [
    ["-"],
    ["claim", <invite code>]
  ]
  // ...other fields
}

7 Leave Request — Kind 28936

A user may send a kind 28936 event to a relay to request that their access be revoked. The event must include the NIP-70 - tag. The event's created_at must be now, plus or minus a few minutes.

{
  "kind": 28936,
  "tags": [["-"]]
  // ...other fields
}

On a leave request, the relay should update its kind 13534 member list. It may also publish a kind 8001 remove-user event.

8 Implementation Rule

Clients must check the relay's NIP-11 information document first. Only when supported_nips includes this NIP may a client request kind 28935 events from the relay or send kind 28934 events to it.

9 Worked Example

The session below shows a full admission. Alice's client checks NIP-11 support out of band, fetches an invite, joins, and later leaves. Orange lines go to the relay. Blue lines come from the relay.

-- 1. fetch an invite (relay supports NIP-43 per its NIP-11 document) --
→ ["REQ", "inv", {"kinds":[28935]}]
← ["EVENT", "inv", {"kind":28935, "pubkey":"a1b2c3d4…",
     "tags":[["-"],["claim","XK42-MEOW"]], …}]
← ["EOSE", "inv"]
→ ["CLOSE", "inv"]

-- 2. join with the claim --
→ ["EVENT", {"kind":28934, "pubkey":"c308e1f8…", "created_at":1782796800,
     "tags":[["-"],["claim","XK42-MEOW"]], "content":"", "sig":"…"}]
← ["OK", "7f31aa02…", true, "info: welcome to wss://club.example.com!"]

-- 3. the relay updates its metadata --
← ["EVENT", "meta", {"kind":8000, "pubkey":"a1b2c3d4…",
     "tags":[["-"],["p","c308e1f8…"]], …}]
← ["EVENT", "meta", {"kind":13534, "pubkey":"a1b2c3d4…",
     "tags":[["-"],["member","c308e1f8…"]], …}]

-- 4. months later, alice leaves --
→ ["EVENT", {"kind":28936, "pubkey":"c308e1f8…", "tags":[["-"]], …}]
← ["EVENT", "meta", {"kind":8001, "pubkey":"a1b2c3d4…",
     "tags":[["-"],["p","c308e1f8…"]], …}]

-- a failed claim looks like this --
← ["OK", "9c00d1ef…", false, "restricted: that invite code is expired."]

10 Version History

NIP-43 is young. It arrived in late 2025 and grew a role system half a year later. Notable changes, newest first:

• 20262026-06Added role definitions (kind 33534). member tags in the membership list may now carry role ids as extra elements.
• 20262026-06Reformatted the example blocks from jsonc to yaml across the repository.
• 20252025-12Added the relay tag to the NIP's status line.
• Origin2025-10hodlbod proposed relay access requests: membership lists, add/remove announcements, and the join, invite, and leave kinds.

11 See Also

• NIP-01 — the event object, REQ subscriptions, and OK messages used here.
• NIP-11 — the relay information document; source of the self pubkey and supported_nips.
• NIP-70 — protected events; defines the - tag required on every event in this NIP.
• NIP-42 — client authentication; defines the restricted: prefix used for failed claims.