Introduction

Evidence-informed patterns for building Nostr apps people actually use.

The Problem

Nostr has a working, censorship-resistant protocol. The critical bottleneck is user experience.

Current metrics:

30-day retention trending to 0% for recent cohorts
Daily active users stuck at 10,000-12,000 despite viral adoption spikes
Users often need multiple clients to access different features

This is a retention crisis—but it’s solvable. Traditional social apps achieve better retention not through centralization, but through better content discovery, reliable core interactions, and streamlined onboarding. All of these are implementable on Nostr.

The Solution

Six evidence-informed UX patterns addressing the highest-impact UX problems:

Onboarding & First-Run Experience - Get users to value in under 2 minutes
Content Discovery & Feed Quality - Solve the empty feed problem
Core Interaction Loops - Make basic actions reliable
Performance & Perceived Speed - Feel fast even when slow
Progressive Complexity - Hide advanced features from beginners
Cross-Client Consistency - Don’t lose data when switching apps

Each pattern includes: research-backed problem statements, universal UX principles (70%) + Nostr-specific considerations (30%), concrete implementation examples, anti-patterns to avoid, and validation checklists with measurable metrics.

Who This Is For

Nostr developers building consumer social apps (mobile, web, desktop)
Product designers working on Nostr clients
Mainstream developers evaluating whether to build on Nostr

Assumed knowledge: Basics of Nostr protocols (relays, events, NIPs)

Core Principle

Great UX is the gateway to the protocol’s power.

Ship working experiences, then add features.

How This Was Built

Patterns were identified through analysis of user feedback, usage data, and developer discussions, then solutions were developed by applying established UX principles to Nostr’s specific challenges. Draws on industry design systems (Apple HIG, Material Design), available HCI research, Nostr-specific data (retention metrics, user complaints, GitHub issues), and mainstream app practices (TikTok, Instagram, Bluesky, Discord). 100+ sources cited throughout.

Content balance: 70% universal principles (applicable to any social app) + 30% Nostr-specific considerations (relays, keys, decentralization)

View complete approach and references →

This project was developed by Shawn Yeager.