🐦 Nostr Torrent Browser

A decentralized torrent client that runs entirely in your browser. No server. No database. No build step. Just open the HTML file.

Connects directly to Nostr relays via WebSocket, pulls NIP-35 torrent events, and renders them with LOSOS — a 6KB reactive framework. The whole app is 14 files and under 200KB.

🔗 Live Demo →

What is this?

Every torrent listing is a Nostr event (kind 2003, defined in NIP-35). Instead of a centralized tracker website, torrent metadata lives on the Nostr relay network — censorship-resistant and distributed across thousands of relays worldwide.

This app is a pure frontend that reads those events. It hosts nothing. It's a protocol demo that shows how linked data + WebSockets can replace traditional torrent sites.

Features

🔍 Browse — Search, filter by category, sort by date/size/files. Click any torrent for full details, file list, trackers, and magnet link.

📤 Publish — Sign in with your Nostr key via xlogin (supports nos2x, Alby, or any NIP-07 extension). Drop a .torrent file or paste a magnet link — it auto-fills everything including category detection from the title.

📊 Stats — Category distribution, 30-day activity timeline, data volume metrics, IMDb/TMDb linkage counts.

📡 Relays — Live connection status, per-relay event counts, unique vs duplicate breakdown, latency, and dedup ratio.

CLI

npx ntorrent                      # list latest torrents
npx ntorrent search "ubuntu"      # search by name
npx ntorrent --cat audio          # filter by category
npx ntorrent --cat video --magnet # magnet links only (pipeable)
npx ntorrent --json               # JSON output
npx ntorrent relays               # relay statistics

Options: --cat <video|audio|game|software|other>, --magnet, --json, --limit <n>, --relay <url>

Quick Start

Browser:

git clone https://github.com/nostrapps/ntorrent.git
cd ntorrent
python3 -m http.server 8080
# open http://localhost:8080

CLI:

npm i -g ntorrent
ntorrent search "linux"

No webpack. No React. Just files and a browser (or terminal).

How It Works

Browser / CLI                    Nostr Relays
  │                                  │
  ├──WebSocket──→ wss://nos.lol         ─┤
  ├──WebSocket──→ wss://relay.damus.io  ─┤  kind:2003
  ├──WebSocket──→ wss://nostr.mom       ─┤  torrent events
  ├──WebSocket──→ wss://relay.primal.net─┤
  ├──WebSocket──→ wss://relay.mostr.pub ─┤
  │                                  │
  ▼                                  │
  JSON-LD ──→ LOSOS store ──→ DOM   │
  (6KB framework, surgical patches)  │

1. Opens WebSocket connections to 5 Nostr relays (configurable)
2. Sends ["REQ", "browse", {"kinds": [2003], "limit": 500}]
3. Receives torrent events, deduplicates by event ID
4. Transforms to JSON-LD with schema.org vocabulary
5. LOSOS renders the UI with tagged template literals — no virtual DOM, no diffing library

Publish Flow

1. xlogin detects your NIP-07 browser extension
2. You fill the form (or drop a .torrent / paste a magnet link)
3. Category auto-detection runs regex against the title and filenames
4. The form builds a kind:2003 event with NIP-35 tags
5. Your extension signs it — private key never leaves the extension
6. Signed event broadcasts to all connected relays

NIP-35 Event Structure

{
  "kind": 2003,
  "tags": [
    ["title", "Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop"],
    ["x", "a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2"],
    ["file", "ubuntu-24.04-desktop-amd64.iso", "4071903232"],
    ["tracker", "udp://tracker.opentrackr.org:1337"],
    ["t", "linux"],
    ["t", "software"]
  ],
  "content": "Official Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release"
}

Stack

| Layer | What | Size | |-------|------|------| | html.js | Tagged templates → surgical DOM patches | 2.5 KB | | store.js | Reactive JSON-LD store with auto-save | 1.9 KB | | shell.js | Pane loader + tab persistence | ~1 KB | | lion | JSON-LD graph store (rdflib replacement) | 1.5 KB | | xlogin | One-line auth shim (Nostr / Solid / guest) | external | | Total framework | | ~7 KB |

Zero dependencies. Zero build step. Copy the files and open in a browser.

Files

index.html          Main app — Nostr WebSocket client + JSON-LD bootstrap
cli.js              CLI entry point (npx ntorrent)
lib/nostr.js        Shared core — relay connection, event parsing, fetchTorrents()
lib/format.js       CLI output formatting — tables, magnets, JSON, relay stats
panes/browse.js     Search, filter, sort, detail view, magnet links
panes/publish.js    xlogin auth, .torrent parser, magnet parser, auto-categorize
panes/torrent.js    Stats dashboard — categories, timeline, metrics
panes/relays.js     Relay status — connections, events, dedup, relay management
losos/              LOSOS framework (html.js, store.js, shell.js, registry.js)
lion/               LION JSON-LD store
og.png              Open Graph preview image

Install from npm

npm i ntorrent

License

AGPL-3.0 — If you modify and deploy this, share your source.

Disclaimer

This is a read-only Nostr relay client for educational and research purposes. It displays publicly available NIP-35 events from the Nostr network. It does not host, store, seed, or index any content. Users are responsible for compliance with applicable laws in their jurisdiction.

Built with LOSOS · Powered by Nostr · did:nostr