nostr-vpn

nostr-vpn is a Tailscale-style private mesh VPN with a data plane powered by our independently evolved FIPS implementation, based on the original FIPS project. It also includes an experimental marketplace for byte-metered public exit nodes paid in Bitcoin through Cashu.

Nostr identities and signed rosters control enrollment; peers connect directly when possible and route through FIPS neighbors when direct UDP is unavailable. MagicDNS, subnet routes, exit nodes, and WireGuard upstream egress are built in. The project includes the nvpn CLI and daemon plus native apps for macOS, Linux, Windows, Android, and iOS.

The fork is optimized for high-rate VPN traffic. In comparable direct-path benchmarks it delivers roughly three times the original implementation's throughput by keeping packet ownership, buffers, and session state together, batching I/O and cryptography, reusing packet storage, and avoiding packet-by-packet queue hops, allocations, copies, and repeated lookups. It preserves the FIPS protocol surface.

Install

• Desktop apps and CLI archives: git.iris.to releases or the GitHub mirror
• CLI: cargo install nvpn
• iOS: App Store or TestFlight
• Android: APK from the releases above or Zapstore
• Servers: signed StartOS (Start9) .s9pk packages in the releases above, plus a multi-architecture Umbrel image and app bundle

Desktop apps target Apple Silicon macOS and x64 Linux/Windows; mobile builds target arm64, and CLI archives also cover Linux arm64. StartOS and Umbrel support x86_64/amd64 and arm64. Intel macOS is source-only.

On Debian or Ubuntu, building the CLI with Cargo requires pkg-config and libdbus-1-dev (sudo apt install pkg-config libdbus-1-dev). The prebuilt CLI archives do not require these development packages.

CLI Quick Start

Create a network on the first device:

nvpn init
DEVICE_ID='<paste nostr_pubkey from nvpn init>'
nvpn set --device "$DEVICE_ID"
nvpn start --daemon --connect

On another device, start its daemon, generate a signed join request, and scan or paste the request into an admin's Nostr VPN app:

nvpn init
nvpn start --daemon --connect
nvpn join-request

The daemon lifecycle is:

nvpn start --daemon --connect
nvpn status
nvpn stop

For startup at boot, run sudo nvpn service install; on Windows, run nvpn service install from an elevated shell. Check it with nvpn service status.

Paid Exits

Buy or sell VPN bandwidth for Bitcoin. Providers can sell their own internet connection or a WireGuard VPN uplink. Providers advertise per-byte prices over Nostr; buyers fund Cashu Spilman channels and sign payment updates as they use bandwidth. Uploads count as sent; UDP replies and acknowledged TCP downloads count too, without double-billing TCP retransmissions. Choose a provider manually or automatically using connection quality, trusted ratings, and price.

DNS is encrypted by default, but exits still see destination IPs and unencrypted traffic. Use HTTPS for sensitive data. See payment and privacy details.

Build and Verify

just build
just run
just verify-fast

Use just run-macos or just run-linux for a specific desktop target. See verification tiers for broader native, integration, and release checks.

Documentation

• Protocol: enrollment, roster sync, routing, and DNS privacy
• StartOS packaging: contributor build and validation notes
• Changelog: release history
• Experiments: performance and reliability results
• Native UI parity: platform implementation status

The canonical repository is git.iris.to (htree://npub1xdhnr9mrv47kkrn95k6cwecearydeh8e895990n3acntwvmgk2dsdeeycm/nostr-vpn); GitHub is a mirror.