flotilla/.agents/skills/welshman/SKILL.md
2026-07-29 15:52:13 -07:00

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---
name: welshman
description: "Use this skill for general welshman questions: architecture overview, which package to use, getting started, nostr concepts, or when you're unsure which sub-skill applies. Welshman is a modular TypeScript nostr toolkit for building client applications."
---
## What is welshman
Welshman is a modular TypeScript nostr toolkit extracted from the [Coracle](https://coracle.social) nostr client, designed for building highly configurable nostr client applications. It is production-tested, powering both Coracle and [Flotilla](https://flotilla.social). Packages are independent and opt-in — you can grab a single utility or use the full batteries-included framework.
## Package map
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
| `@welshman/util` | Core nostr types, event helpers, filters, tag specs, NIPs, and the `RelaySelection` routing DSL |
| `@welshman/lib` | General-purpose utilities: LRU cache, event emitter, deferred promises, task queue |
| `@welshman/net` | Relay connections, request/publish lifecycle, and auth handling |
| `@welshman/domain` | A typed Reader/Writer pair per event kind, so you never hand-parse tags |
| `@welshman/store` | Svelte stores and a Repository for indexing/querying nostr events client-side |
| `@welshman/signer` | Signing and login methods: NIP-01 (privkey), NIP-07 (extension), NIP-46 (bunker), NIP-55 (app), NIP-59 (gift wrap) |
| `@welshman/feeds` | Dynamic feed construction, filtering, and composition |
| `@welshman/app` | The `App` instance and its plugin registry, composing net, store, domain, signer, and feeds into a full application framework |
| `@welshman/content` | Parser and renderer for nostr note content (links, mentions, media, custom formatting) |
| `@welshman/editor` | Batteries-included Svelte rich-text editor component with mention and embed support |
## Dependency layering
Packages are layered so lower-level ones have no welshman dependencies:
- **Foundational** (no welshman deps): `@welshman/lib`, `@welshman/util`
- **Mid-level** (depend only on foundational): `@welshman/net`, `@welshman/store`, `@welshman/signer`, `@welshman/domain`
- **Composing** (depend on mid-level + foundational): `@welshman/feeds`, `@welshman/app`
- **UI-focused** (largely independent, UI rendering concerns): `@welshman/content`, `@welshman/editor`
For deep-dives on any package, load the `welshman-<name>` skill (e.g. `welshman-net`, `welshman-app`, `welshman-domain`).
## The App instance
Everything in the framework hangs off one `App`. An app owns the primitives a single identity
needs — repository, socket pool, tracker, wrap manager — so data never bleeds across sessions.
```typescript
import {createApp, Network, Profiles, User} from "@welshman/app"
// `createApp` = `new App` plus the default policies (ingest, relay stats, gift-wrap unwrapping)
const app = createApp({
user: await User.fromSigner(signer), // omit for a signed-out app
config: {
getDefaultRelays: () => ["wss://relay.example.com"],
getIndexerRelays: () => ["wss://indexer.example.com"],
},
})
app.use(Profiles).load(pubkey) // plugins are per-app singletons, constructed on demand
app.use(Network).load({relays, filters})
```
Three rules follow from this design:
1. **`app.use(Plugin)` is memoized and cheap** — call it inline rather than caching the result.
2. **An app is scoped to one identity.** Logging in means building a *new* app and calling
`cleanup()` on the old one, not attaching a user to the existing one.
3. **Side effects live in policies**, not in the data classes. An `AppPolicy` is
`(app) => Unsubscriber`, applied once at construction and torn down by `cleanup()`.
Svelte apps typically wrap `app` in a store so plugin reads re-subscribe when login swaps the
instance. That binding layer is app-specific and deliberately not part of welshman.
## Key nostr concepts
- **event** — the fundamental data unit in nostr; a JSON object signed by a keypair
- **kind** — integer field on an event that determines its type (e.g. kind 1 = short text note, kind 0 = profile metadata)
- **filter** — a query object (`{kinds, authors, since, until, limit, ...}`) sent to relays to request matching events
- **relay** — a WebSocket server that stores and forwards nostr events; clients connect to multiple relays
- **NIP** — "Nostr Implementation Possibility"; numbered specifications defining protocol behavior and event kinds
- **pubkey** — 32-byte hex public key that identifies a nostr user
- **signer** — abstraction over key management; handles signing events and optionally encryption, regardless of where the private key lives (in-memory, browser extension, remote bunker, mobile app)
## Common use-case routing
| Goal | Package(s) to use |
|---|---|
| Fetch notes from relays | `app.use(Network)`, or `@welshman/net` directly for low-level control |
| Select which relays to use | `RelaySelection` helpers in `@welshman/util` + `app.use(Router)` |
| Read or write a specific kind | `@welshman/domain` via `app.use(Domain)` |
| Sign and publish events | `@welshman/signer` + `Command` from `@welshman/app` |
| Build a feed UI | `@welshman/feeds` + `app.use(Feeds)` |
| Parse note text and media | `@welshman/content` |
| Embed a composer / editor | `@welshman/editor` |
| Cache nostr events client-side | `@welshman/store` + `app.repository` |
| Core event/filter/tag utilities | `@welshman/util` |
| Low-level helpers (LRU, emitter, utility functions) | `@welshman/lib` |
## App example
```typescript
import {createApp, Domain, Profiles, User} from "@welshman/app"
import {Note} from "@welshman/domain"
import {Nip07Signer} from "@welshman/signer"
// 1. Build an app for the signed-in user
const signer = new Nip07Signer()
const app = createApp({
user: await User.fromSigner(signer),
config: {
getDefaultRelays: () => ["wss://relay.example.com"],
getIndexerRelays: () => ["wss://indexer.example.com"],
},
})
// 2. Read the user's profile (loads from their write relays if not cached)
const profile = await app.use(Profiles).load(app.user!.pubkey)
console.log("Hello,", profile?.display())
// 3. Publish a note — build a writer, wrap it in a command, publish it
const writer = app.use(Domain).writer(Note).setContent("Hello, Nostr!")
const command = await app.use(Domain).command(writer)
await command.publish().waitForError()
```
Publishing goes through a `Command`, which owns the rendered event and its resolved relays:
`command.publish()`, `.publishToRelays(urls)`, or `.publishAsRelay(url)`. Plugin mutators
(`app.use(FollowLists).follow(...)`, `app.use(Rooms).joinRoom(...)`) already return a `Command`,
so `.then(publish)` is usually all you need.
## Lower-level example
The net layer takes an explicit context, so it can be used without an `App` at all.
```typescript
import {AbstractAdapter, isClientEvent, publish, request} from "@welshman/net"
import type {ClientMessage, NetContext} from "@welshman/net"
import {call, sleep} from "@welshman/lib"
import {Nip01Signer} from "@welshman/signer"
import {makeEvent, NOTE} from "@welshman/util"
const pingSigner = Nip01Signer.fromSecret(/* nostr hex secret key */)
const pongSigner = Nip01Signer.fromSecret(/* nostr hex secret key */)
const RELAY_URL = "bogus.relay"
// An adapter for our relay url which just prints the content
export class PrintAdapter extends AbstractAdapter {
get sockets() { return [] }
get urls() { return [] }
send = (message: ClientMessage) => {
if (isClientEvent(message)) {
const [_, event] = message
console.log(event.content)
}
}
}
// Context is passed explicitly. An `App` supplies its own via `app.netContext`; here we build one.
const context: NetContext = {
getAdapter: (url: string) => (url === RELAY_URL ? new PrintAdapter() : undefined),
}
call(async () => {
while (true) {
await sleep(1000)
const ping = await pingSigner.sign(makeEvent(NOTE, {content: "ping"}))
await publish({event: ping, relays: [RELAY_URL], context})
}
})
call(async () => {
request({
relays: [RELAY_URL],
filters: [{kinds: [NOTE], authors: [await pingSigner.getPubkey()]}],
context,
onEvent: async (ping, url) => {
const pong = await pongSigner.sign(
makeEvent(NOTE, {content: "pong", tags: [["q", ping.id, RELAY_URL, ping.pubkey]]}),
)
await publish({event: pong, relays: [RELAY_URL], context})
},
})
})
```