bind.ws

Relay on demand. Sign once, and it's yours.

A relay at a name picked for you, open to anyone for 14 days. Claim it to keep it.

durable object

Each name has one object. The object holds the SQLite database and the relay's open sockets. The owner is the pubkey that signed the first claim. After the claim, all management is done via NIP-86 calls signed by that key. The relay page is a client of this API. The object can hibernate between frames; retained storage and scheduled work still count.

lease

A lease is a relay at a name picked for you, open to everyone, for a fixed number of days. POST /lease returns one; no key needed. A claim before it expires keeps it, events and files included. After that, the object is wiped and the name is free again.

fuel

Fuel prices four values: events stored, files stored, estimated hours awake and metered rows written. Mirrored site files share the file allowance; Git repositories use SQLite storage and the events allowance. Traffic is visible but uncharged. Below the allowances, you owe nothing. Above them, a zap adds balance. The Health tab and public /fuel show usage and prices.

leave

NIP-77 sync copies readable events to a different relay. Copy site files through Blossom and clone Git repositories separately; event sync does not copy their bytes.

Interfaces

Endpoint	Protocol	Auth	Notes
wss://<name>.bind.ws	NIP-01, 09, 13, 17, 29, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46 transport, 50, 56, 59, 62, 66, 67, 70, 77	optional NIP-42	Sockets hibernate; a negentropy session carries on after a wake.
GET / (accept nostr+json)	NIP-11	none	limitation, retention, payments_url, self
POST /	NIP-86	NIP-98, owner	claim and the management methods
POST /lease	lease	optional NIP-98	A temporary relay for 14 days. A signature reserves the claim for that key.
wss://relay.example.com	custom domain	owner	A hostname you own, CNAME to customers.bind.ws. Set on the Identity tab; up to three per relay.
POST /events /query /count	HTTP bridge	NIP-98	The signer has the same access as an authenticated socket.
PUT /upload, GET /<sha256>	Blossom	kind 24242	Stored in R2. Counted as files. HEAD /upload checks first; PUT /mirror copies from a URL; PUT /report files a report.
POST /nip96, GET /.well-known/nostr/nip96.json	NIP-96	NIP-98	Same bucket and file list as Blossom. NIP-94 tags in every answer.
GET /.well-known/nostr.json	NIP-05	none	Members that have a name.
GET /e/<id>, /a/<d>, /feed.xml	pages, Atom	none	Notes and articles as pages with Open Graph tags, and a feed. Only when anyone may read.
GET /card.json, /card.svg, /card.nostr	card	none	A status card for links and profiles: members, rules, fuel, the group naddr as a QR. The .nostr form is signed by the relay key.
GET /fuel, POST /fuel/invoice	NIP-57	none	Gauges are public. The invoice comes from a signed zap request.
https://<site-label>.bind.ws/	NIP-5A	relay read rule	Root, named and snapshot sites, verified files and custom-domain targets. Restricted sites use browser sign-in or NIP-98.
/<npub>/<identifier>.git	GRASP-01	signed NIP-34 state	Public clone, fetch and state-authorized push while enabled with open reads. The identifier is percent-encoded. Bounded hosting; storage limits remain independent of fuel balance.

Limits

Parameter	Default	Range
name	3 to 32 of a-z 0-9 -	some names are reserved
max_message_length	128 KB	16 to 1,024 KB
max_subscriptions	20	1 to 200
max_limit	500	1 to 5,000
eventsPerMinute / reqsPerMinute	120 / 240 per connection	set by the owner
maxBlobMB	25	1 to 95
min_pow_difficulty	0	set by the owner

Metering

Line	Backing cost	Free / month	Beyond
events stored	DO SQLite	100 MB	400 sats/GB-mo
files stored	R2	1,024 MB	30 sats/GB-mo
time awake	DO duration	100 h	11 sats/h
rows written	SQLite writes	250,000	2,000 sats/M
traffic, rows read	not fuel-priced	not billed	free

Below the allowances, you owe nothing. With no balance past an allowance, event writes and uploads stop; GRASP requests and remote site fetches also stop. Fuel exhaustion does not delete stored data.

The meters are relay totals, not a bill per feature. Git history remains in retained SQLite storage after refs expire. Provider requests and object operations are host overhead, not separate tenant charges. Understanding fuel explains the shared allowances and metering limits.

Protocol

NIP	What it does here
01	Publish, subscribe, and query events. All clients use this.
09	Delete your own events.
11	The relay describes itself: limits, retention, owner, payment.
13	The owner can require proof of work on events.
29	The relay is one group: joins, leaves and moderation by owner and moderators, state signed by the relay.
40	Events with an expiration tag are removed at that time.
42	Clients prove their key. Needed for private kinds and members-only reads.
45	Count events without downloading them.
50	Prose search by default; the owner can index all public content or switch search off.
17, 59	Private messages are sent only to the sender and the recipient.
62	Request to vanish: the relay deletes all your events and refuses older ones.
70	Protected events are accepted only from their author, over an authenticated socket.
77	Sync events with a different relay, in either direction.
86	Manage the relay with signed JSON-RPC calls.
98	Sign an HTTP request with your key. Used by claim, management, and the HTTP endpoints.
05	Members with a name are you@name.bind.ws.
43	The relay signs and publishes its member list.
57	Zaps to the relay add fuel. The receipt is stored on the relay.
66	The relay signs a discovery record about itself, so directories find it without a probe.
Blossom	Upload and fetch files by hash on the same host. Check an upload before sending it, mirror a file from a URL, report one by hash.
94, 96	The same files through the NIP-96 door, with NIP-94 metadata in every answer.
NIP-5A	Root, named and snapshot websites from signed manifests, on isolated hostnames. Site hosting and mirroring are on by default; the relay's read rule governs access.
Marmot	Opt-in KeyPackages and opaque MLS group messages. Account admission and caps apply to ephemeral authors; clients handle encryption.
GRASP-01	Opt-in public Git Smart HTTP. Signed NIP-34 state authorizes refs, and publication waits for matching Git objects. Owners can inspect retained storage. Later GRASP specifications are not advertised.