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buzz/docs/nips
Logan Johnson 8bb49a1b6a feat(relay): publish channel type and creator on every channel-state event (#8174)
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## Summary
Clients cannot tell who created a channel, and only the channel-metadata
event says what type of channel it is. This PR makes every relay-signed
channel-state event carry both facts, so a client can find "the channel
that this key created" with one ordinary Nostr filter.

- Channel metadata, admin list and member list events (kinds 39000,
39001 and 39002) now all carry the channel type as their first `t` tag,
then the creator as a `P` tag.
- The creator comes from the relay's own record of who signed the
channel's create request. No client can set it, and it does not change
when ownership moves.
- Channel metadata (kind:39000) also carries `["created_at", <unix
seconds>]`, the time the channel was created. The event's own
`created_at` changes on every edit, so before this a client could not
tell which of two channels is older.

This is part 1 of a 3-part stack (channel labels and creator lookup).
The system channels stack (#8180–#8182) builds on it.

### Related issue
None found.

### Details
- **Why `P`.** Several Nostr specs (NIP-22, NIP-34, NIP-72) use
uppercase `P` for the author of the root object, and lowercase `p` for
people involved. Lowercase `p` is already used on these events for
members and DM participants, and a filter matches tag values, not their
meaning, so `#p` would mix them.
- **Trust.** A client that trusts a channel because of its creator must
also check that the relay key signed the event.
- **Order.** The type `t` tag comes first, so clients that read the
first `t` tag still get the type after part 2 adds labels as more `t`
tags.
- **Creation time.** The relay reads it from `channels.created_at`, so
an edit does not change it. #8176 uses it to pick one channel when two
creates race.
- `buzz-admin reconcile` writes the same tags when it rebuilds these
events. `NOSTR.md` documents the tags.
- **Spec.** New `docs/nips/NIP-CL.md` defines these tags, the trust rule
and lookup by creator. Later PRs in both stacks add their parts to it.
`NOSTR.md` links to it.

### Testing
- Relay tests in `group_state_postgres_tests.rs`: each of the three
kinds carries the type first, then the creator; the creator stays the
same after an ownership transfer; kind:39000 carries the stored creation
time, and still does after an edit.
- Unit test for the shared tag builder that both the relay and
`buzz-admin reconcile` use.

### Stack
These are two stacks. Merge them in this order. Client support
(creating, labeling and finding these channels) will be in
block/buzz-app, not the buzz SDK and CLI.

**Stack 1: channel labels and creator lookup (#8174–#8176)**

1. #8174 channel type and creator tags, and the channel creation time ←
this PR
2. #8175 channel labels
3. #8176 database-side label and creator match, and the rule for
choosing one channel

**Stack 2: system channels (#8180–#8182)**, stacked on stack 1 because
it uses labels and the creator tag

4. #8180 the system channel type
5. #8181 leave system channels out of reads that do not name them
6. #8182 channel-state filters opt in to system channels

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Signed-off-by: Logan Johnson <loganj@squareup.com>
Co-authored-by: Larry <627498bd4bd1f281a16431e3c6cce3b5c25b6692798c78672298aefbf2f8f8b5@buzz.block.builderlab.xyz>
2026-10-14 09:22:42 -04:00
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