next.orly.dev/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

ORLY is a high-performance Nostr relay in Go with Badger/Neo4j/WasmDB backends, Svelte web UI, and purego-based secp256k1 crypto.

Quick Reference

# Build
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o orly
./scripts/update-embedded-web.sh  # With web UI

# Test
./scripts/test.sh
go test -v -run TestName ./pkg/package

# Run
./orly                    # Start relay
./orly identity           # Show relay pubkey
./orly version            # Show version

# Web UI dev (hot reload)
ORLY_WEB_DISABLE=true ORLY_WEB_DEV_PROXY_URL=http://localhost:5173 ./orly &
cd app/web && bun run dev

Key Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
ORLY_PORT	3334	Server port
ORLY_LOG_LEVEL	info	trace/debug/info/warn/error
ORLY_DB_TYPE	badger	badger/neo4j/wasmdb
ORLY_POLICY_ENABLED	false	Enable policy system
ORLY_ACL_MODE	none	none/follows/managed
ORLY_TLS_DOMAINS		Let's Encrypt domains
ORLY_AUTH_TO_WRITE	false	Require auth for writes

See ./orly help for all options. All env vars MUST be defined in app/config/config.go.

Architecture

main.go              → Entry point
app/
  server.go          → HTTP/WebSocket server
  handle-*.go        → Nostr message handlers (EVENT, REQ, AUTH, etc.)
  config/            → Environment configuration (go-simpler.org/env)
  web/               → Svelte frontend (embedded via go:embed)
pkg/
  database/          → Database interface + Badger implementation
  neo4j/             → Neo4j backend with WoT extensions
  wasmdb/            → WebAssembly IndexedDB backend
  protocol/          → Nostr protocol (ws/, auth/, publish/)
  encoders/          → Optimized JSON encoding with buffer pools
  policy/            → Event filtering/validation
  acl/               → Access control (none/follows/managed)
cmd/
  relay-tester/      → Protocol compliance testing
  benchmark/         → Performance testing

Critical Rules

1. Binary-Optimized Tag Storage (MUST READ)

The nostr library stores e and p tag values as 33-byte binary (not 64-char hex).

// WRONG - may be binary garbage
pubkey := string(tag.T[1])
pt, err := hex.Dec(string(pTag.Value()))

// CORRECT - always use ValueHex()
pubkey := string(pTag.ValueHex())           // Returns lowercase hex
pt, err := hex.Dec(string(pTag.ValueHex()))

// For event.E fields (always binary)
pubkeyHex := hex.Enc(ev.Pubkey[:])

Always normalize to lowercase hex when storing in Neo4j to prevent duplicates.

2. Configuration System

• ALL env vars in app/config/config.go - never use os.Getenv() in packages
• Pass config via structs (e.g., database.DatabaseConfig)
• Use ORLY_ prefix for all variables

3. Interface Design

• Define interfaces in pkg/interfaces/<name>/ - prevents circular deps
• Never use interface literals in type assertions: .(interface{ Method() }) is forbidden
• Existing: acl/, neterr/, resultiter/, store/, publisher/, typer/

4. Constants

Define named constants for repeated values. No magic numbers/strings.

// BAD
if timeout > 30 {

// GOOD
const DefaultTimeoutSeconds = 30
if timeout > DefaultTimeoutSeconds {

5. Domain Encapsulation

• Use unexported fields for internal state
• Provide public API methods (IsEnabled(), CheckPolicy())
• Never change unexported→exported to fix bugs

Database Backends

Backend	Use Case	Build
Badger (default)	Single-instance, embedded	Standard
Neo4j	Social graph, WoT queries	ORLY_DB_TYPE=neo4j
WasmDB	Browser/WebAssembly	GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm

All implement pkg/database.Database interface.

Logging (lol.mleku.dev)

import "lol.mleku.dev/log"
import "lol.mleku.dev/chk"

log.T.F("trace: %s", msg)  // T=Trace, D=Debug, I=Info, W=Warn, E=Error, F=Fatal
if chk.E(err) { return }   // Log + check error

Development Workflows

Add Nostr handler: Create app/handle-<type>.go → add case in handle-message.go

Add database index: Define in pkg/database/indexes/ → add migration → update save-event.go → add query builder

Profiling: ORLY_PPROF=cpu ./orly or ORLY_PPROF_HTTP=true for :6060

Commit Format

Fix description in imperative mood (72 chars max)

- Bullet point details
- More details

Files modified:
- path/to/file.go: What changed

Web UI Libraries

nsec-crypto.js

Secure nsec encryption library at app/web/src/nsec-crypto.js. Uses Argon2id + AES-256-GCM.

import { encryptNsec, decryptNsec, isValidNsec, deriveKey } from "./nsec-crypto.js";

// Encrypt nsec with password (~3 sec derivation)
const encrypted = await encryptNsec(nsec, password);

// Decrypt (validates bech32 checksum)
const nsec = await decryptNsec(encrypted, password);

// Validate nsec format and checksum
if (isValidNsec(nsec)) { ... }

Argon2id parameters: 4 threads, 8 iterations, 256MB memory, 32-byte output.

Storage format: Base64(salt[32] + iv[12] + ciphertext). Validates bech32 on encrypt/decrypt.

Documentation

Topic	Location
Policy config	docs/POLICY_CONFIGURATION_REFERENCE.md
Policy guide	docs/POLICY_USAGE_GUIDE.md
Neo4j WoT schema	pkg/neo4j/WOT_SPEC.md
Neo4j schema changes	pkg/neo4j/MODIFYING_SCHEMA.md
Event kinds database	app/web/src/eventKinds.js
Nsec encryption	app/web/src/nsec-crypto.js

Dependencies

• github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v4 - Badger DB
• github.com/neo4j/neo4j-go-driver/v5 - Neo4j
• github.com/gorilla/websocket - WebSocket
• github.com/ebitengine/purego - CGO-free C loading
• github.com/minio/sha256-simd - SIMD SHA256
• go-simpler.org/env - Config
• lol.mleku.dev - Logging