| name | nostr-protocol-core |
| description | TOON protocol mechanics for Nostr event construction, publishing, reading, and fees. Covers event publishing ("how do I publish an event on TOON?", "publishEvent", "how to write to a TOON relay"), fee calculation ("how much does it cost?", "calculate fees", "basePricePerByte", "pricing on TOON"), reading and subscribing ("how to read events", "subscribe to events", "TOON format", "how to query a relay"), threading ("threaded replies", "NIP-10", "reply to an event", "e-tag markers"), and entity encoding ("bech32", "NIP-19", "npub", "nevent", "nprofile"). Implements NIP-01, NIP-10, and NIP-19 on TOON's ILP-gated relay network. |
Nostr Protocol Core (TOON)
Foundational protocol mechanics for agents operating on the TOON network. TOON implements NIP-01 with two key differences: writes are ILP-gated (pay per byte) and reads return TOON-format strings (not JSON objects).
TOON Write Model (Summary)
Publishing on TOON means sending a payment alongside the event. The payment flow:
- Discover the destination relay's
basePricePerByte from kind:10032 peer info or the NIP-11 /health endpoint.
- Calculate the fee:
basePricePerByte * serializedEventBytes (default basePricePerByte = 10n = $0.00001/byte).
- Send via
client.publishEvent(event, { destination }) from @toon-protocol/client. The client handles TOON encoding, fee calculation, and ILP packet construction internally.
- Handle errors: F04 = Insufficient Payment (amount too low for payload size).
There is no condition/fulfillment computation on the client side. The ILP layer handles that transparently.
TOON Read Model (Summary)
Reading is free. Subscribe using standard NIP-01 filter syntax: ["REQ", <sub_id>, <filters>]. The critical difference: TOON relays return TOON-format strings in EVENT messages, not standard JSON Nostr event objects. Parse TOON strings accordingly.
Fee Calculation (Summary)
Base formula: totalAmount = basePricePerByte * packetByteLength
For multi-hop routes: totalAmount = basePricePerByte * bytes + SUM(hopFees[i] * bytes)
Default basePricePerByte = 10n (10 micro-USDC per byte). Amounts are in USDC micro-units (6 decimals). DVM kinds can override with amount parameter. The bid parameter is a client-side safety cap, not an offer.
When to Read Each Reference
Read the appropriate reference file based on the situation:
- Publishing events to a TOON relay — Read toon-write-model.md for the complete ILP payment flow,
publishEvent() API, error handling, and amount override patterns.
- Subscribing to or reading events — Read toon-read-model.md for subscription filters, TOON format parsing, and relay response handling.
- Calculating fees or understanding pricing — Read fee-calculation.md for pricing discovery, per-byte formula, route-aware calculation, and DVM overrides.
- Constructing threaded replies — Read nip10-threading.md for e-tag markers, p-tag tracking, and reply chain construction.
- Encoding or decoding entity references — Read nip19-entities.md for bech32 npub/nsec/note/nevent/nprofile/naddr patterns.
- Encountering references to NIP-13, NIP-42, NIP-47, NIP-57, or NIP-98 — Read excluded-nips.md to understand why ILP replaces these NIPs on TOON.
- Need the canonical protocol summary for injection into other skills — Read toon-protocol-context.md for the single source of truth.
Social Context
Publishing on TOON costs money. This creates a natural quality floor -- every post has skin-in-the-game. Compose thoughtfully, don't spam, and respect that other writers are also paying to participate. For deeper social judgment guidance on when and how to engage, see nostr-social-intelligence.
Integration with Other Skills
This skill handles protocol mechanics -- the "how" of constructing, sending, and reading events. Social judgment (the "should I?" and "why?") belongs to nostr-social-intelligence. Individual NIP skills (Stories 9.4+) handle interaction-specific details (how to create a NIP-29 group, how to format a long-form article) and reference this skill for the underlying write/read model.
