ContextVM is a protocol and toolchain for transporting MCP (Model Context Protocol) traffic over Nostr. It lets MCP clients and servers find each other and exchange signed messages without depending on a central registry, domains, or OAuth.

How It Works

The ContextVM SDK provides TypeScript client and server transports for MCP over Nostr. Existing MCP servers can stay on their normal transports while a gateway exposes them to Nostr, and clients without native Nostr support can connect through a proxy layer.

Relays act as a message bus. They route events, while signing and encryption give endpoints authentication and transport privacy.

Components

SDK: TypeScript library with client/server transports, proxy support, and gateway functionality for bridging local MCP servers to Nostr.

CVMI: Command-line interface for server discovery and method invocation.

Relatr: Trust scoring service calculating personalized scores from social graph distance and profile validation.

Why It Matters

ContextVM is a transport bridge, not a replacement for MCP itself. That matters because it lowers adoption cost: an existing MCP server can gain Nostr reachability without rewriting its tool schema or business logic.

Recent ContextVM work also pushed ephemeral delivery for gift-wrapped traffic. That is useful for tool calls and intermediate responses where durable relay storage is unnecessary and can create extra privacy exposure.

Interop Notes

In February and March 2026, the project moved from implementation toward standardization. The team opened NIP proposals for MCP JSON-RPC over Nostr and for an ephemeral variant of gift wrap. Even if those proposals change, they show the protocol boundary more clearly: MCP stays the application layer, Nostr handles discovery and transport.

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