Step 1 of 4
A chat message
A kind 9 event whose content is the message text. Nothing else is required.
NIP-C7
Chats
DraftEvents
Kind 9 is a chat message. To reply, send another kind 9 that quotes the earlier message with a q tag, so chats stay a simple ordered stream.
At a glance
- Status
- In use and still allowed to change.
- Kinds
- Tags
- q
- Last changed
- May 28, 2026
Try it
Edit the form or the JSON: both stay in sync, the badge says whether the result is valid, and tapping any field explains it.
Not signed yet · Demo keys only. These personas' secret keys are public on purpose.
Explain
Select any field in the form or the JSON to see what it does.
How this NIP works
In the course
No course chapter covers this NIP yet. The editor above is the quickest way in.
Related NIPs
Builds on
- NIP-18 Reposts
Quotes use NIP-18 q tags.
- NIP-21 nostr: URI scheme
The nostr:nevent link in the content is a NIP-21 URI.
Used by
- NIP-29 Relay-based Groups
NIP-29 relay-based groups use kind 9 for their chat messages.
See also
- NIP-7D Forum Threads
NIP-7D forum threads are the long-form counterpart.
Specification
Specification text is quoted in English from the nostr-protocol/nips repository. Our explanations and the interface are translated. Source on GitHub at commit 0046368
Read the spec98 words, quoted from the repository at commit 0046368.
A chat message is a kind 9 event.
{
"kind": 9,
"content": "GM",
"tags": []
}
A reply to a kind 9 is an additional kind 9 which quotes the parent using a q tag.
{
"kind": 9,
"content": "nostr:nevent1...\nyes",
"tags": [
["q", <event-id>, <relay-url>, <pubkey>]
]
}
Clients that render a "chat view" as a stream of ordered events MUST only fetch kind 9 events in order to prevent missing context across implementations. Other content types MAY be quoted within in a kind 9 following NIP 18.