winget install --id=mmalmi.nostr-vpn -e nostr-vpn is a Rust workspace for a Tailscale-style mesh VPN control plane built on Nostr signaling and userspace WireGuard. It includes the nvpn CLI plus a Tauri/Svelte app codebase that targets desktop and mobile platforms.
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.
cargo install nvpn.s9pk packages in the releases above, plus a multi-architecture Umbrel image and app bundleDesktop 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.
Create a network on the first device:
nvpn init
DEVICE_ID=''
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.
Providers publish byte-priced offers over Nostr, and buyers settle usage through Cashu Spilman channels. Uploads are counted immediately; matched UDP replies and buyer-acknowledged TCP downloads are also billed without double-counting TCP retransmissions.
Public DNS uses authenticated DNS-over-HTTPS by default, preventing the exit provider from reading or spoofing DNS questions and answers; MagicDNS names remain local. See Exit DNS and inbound safety for resolver options and limitations.
As with a Tor exit node, treat an unknown paid exit provider as an untrusted network. It can observe destination IPs and traffic metadata, and can read or modify plaintext HTTP and other traffic without end-to-end encryption. Use HTTPS or another authenticated, end-to-end encrypted protocol for sensitive traffic.
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.
The canonical repository is git.iris.to (htree://npub1xdhnr9mrv47kkrn95k6cwecearydeh8e895990n3acntwvmgk2dsdeeycm/nostr-vpn); GitHub is a mirror.