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@ Counter Narrative
2023-09-06 19:54:36
# Introduction
Nostr is a new and exciting protocol that many people have taken to building and incorporating into applications like Social Media. There are countless Nostr guides oriented toward new users looking to dive into an alternative to Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, etc.
This guide looks to take a different approach, focusing on the technical features of the Nostr protocol and get anyone up to speed on wanting to build applications and utilities with the protocol. It will also look to serve as a guide on resources and limitations of the protocol.
The focus will be less on the philosophical nature of a decentralized, censorship-resistant, communication layer or the common social media layer that the many have gravitated toward. Instead this will look at how the protocol works, the anatomy of events and requests, as well as things to consider when building and working with Nostr.
## Audience assumptions
This guide is geared toward technical users who are already familiar with Nostr from a user standpoint. Exposure to the main clients such as Damus, Amethyst, and Primal will be assumed. Some scripting or programming knowledge will also be assumed.
For anyone who needs a review of what Nostr is and a user guide please see the below links:
* https://nostr.how/en/what-is-nostr
* https://uselessshit.co/resources/nostr/
* https://nostr.com/get-started
## The NIP reference and development speed
Nostr moves fast, very fast! There are going to be some aspects of Nostr that will be deprecated in favor of more efficient and agreed upon standards.
As of now this guide will draw upon the NIP guidelines from September 5th, 2023 found here: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/tree/9879e90ad987609fb12f348520b62146c6a01aa5
This guide will be subject to change and you can reference the change log.
## Format
I will be breaking this guide out into different Long Form posts. These can be viewed like chapters across different aspects of Nostr. I will also be updating and adding different posts for different areas as I get to them and I encourage you to come back and check for updates.
## Corrections
This guide as provided as-is and may contain some errors. Please reach out to me via nostr on [wolfbearclaw@nostr.messagepush.io](nostr:npub1pwtrrydty95q5ces0tkm2r7hkqfe9jwxhmmee5xwke6g4lz70l7sd8pf5t) (npub: nostr:npub1pwtrrydty95q5ces0tkm2r7hkqfe9jwxhmmee5xwke6g4lz70l7sd8pf5t) if you spot any errors or incorrect information.
## Table of contents
TBD
## Next Sections
Next: [Getting Started](nostr:naddr1qqxnzd3exvunvdpc8ycngv35qgsqh933jx4jz6q2vvc84md4pltmqyuje8rtaauu6r8tvay2l308llgrqsqqqa28luavgd)