WELCOME, FREN
The whole nostr walk-in — signer, tag, face, zaps — one step at a time, in any order you like. We walked it alone once; you don't have to.
STEP 1 — YOUR SIGNER
WHAT IS A KEY?
On nostr there are no accounts — there is one cryptographic key pair, and it IS you. The public half is your address; the secret half signs everything you do, and whoever holds it is you, forever, with no reset button. That's why the key never lives in a website (including this one): it lives in a signer — a small app that holds the key and stamps signatures when you approve — and every site just asks the signer. A key is not a wallet, and signing can never move money.
ON A DESKTOP · BROWSER EXTENSION
Install a signer extension, add your key, reload: nos2x (just the signer, simplest) or Alby (signer + wallet features later).
ON ANDROID · SIGNER APP
Install Amber — a signer app that holds your key on the phone; the browser bounces to it for each approval and bounces back signed.
ON iPHONE / ANYTHING ELSE · REMOTE SIGNER
Set up a remote signer like nsec.app — your key lives there and answers over nostr itself; every signing door on this ship takes a bunker address.
NO KEY YET AT ALL?
Two honest options: the claim step (next) can forge one right in your browser with the full ceremony — or nstart.me is a guided key mint run by the nostr community (opens in a new tab). Either way the key ends up in a signer, never in a website.
skipping is fine — nothing here punishes you