Flotilla
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Direct Messages

Using Flotilla By Jon Staab 2 min read

Starting encrypted one-on-one and group conversations outside of any space.

Direct Messages

Part of our guide to running an online community you actually own.

Direct messages (DMs) are private conversations with one person or a small group, kept separate from any space. You don’t have to share a space with someone to message them. All you need is their Nostr identity.

Starting a conversation

DMs live in their own “Chats” section, apart from your spaces and rooms. Open it, click “Start New Chat,” and add people in one of two ways:

  • Search an existing contact by name, if you already follow them or have interacted before.
  • Paste an npub or hex pubkey directly, if you know someone’s Nostr identity but don’t have a contact entry for them yet. Flotilla recognizes the key and adds them to the conversation.

Add one person for a one-on-one conversation, or several for a small group chat. Once everyone’s in, create the chat and start typing.

Drafts are saved automatically

Flotilla saves an in-progress message as a draft tied to the conversation you’re writing in. When you come back, your unsent text is still in the composer, ready to finish and send.

How DMs differ from room chat

Room chat is meant for other members of a space, and it lives on whatever relay hosts that space. Direct messages differ in three ways:

  • They’re end-to-end encrypted. Flotilla uses the NIP-17 standard for DMs, so the content of your conversation can’t be read by relays or anyone else it passes through. See Is Flotilla Private? for what that encryption does and doesn’t guarantee.
  • They’re not scoped to a space. A DM exists independently of any community. You can message someone you’ve never shared a space with, as long as you have their key.
  • They include a small proof-of-work step. Before a DM is sent, your device does a bit of extra computation attached to the message. This keeps a normal volume of messages cheap to send and bulk unwanted mail expensive.

Where to go from here

Is Flotilla Private? covers the limits of DM encryption, including the lack of forward secrecy. For the everyday mechanics of chatting inside a space, see Chatting in a Space. To control when DMs ping you, see Notifications and Muting.