NIP-58 defines a badge system for Nostr, allowing issuers to create badges and award them to users who can then display them on their profiles.

How It Works

Badge Definition (Kind 30009)

Issuers create badge definitions as addressable events:

{
  "kind": 30009,
  "tags": [
    ["d", "early-adopter"],
    ["name", "Early Adopter"],
    ["description", "Joined before 2024"],
    ["image", "https://example.com/badge.png"],
    ["thumb", "https://example.com/badge-thumb.png"]
  ]
}

Badge Award (Kind 8)

Issuers award badges to users:

{
  "kind": 8,
  "tags": [
    ["a", "30009:issuer-pubkey:early-adopter"],
    ["p", "recipient-pubkey"]
  ]
}

Badge Display (Kind 30008)

Users choose which badges to display on their profile:

{
  "kind": 30008,
  "tags": [
    ["d", "profile_badges"],
    ["a", "30009:issuer-pubkey:early-adopter"],
    ["e", "award-event-id"]
  ]
}

Use Cases

  • Community Membership: Prove membership in groups or communities
  • Achievements: Recognize contributions or milestones
  • Verification: Third-party attestations (employee, creator, etc.)
  • Access Control: Gate content or features based on badge ownership

Trust Model

Badge value depends entirely on the issuer’s reputation. Anyone can create badges, so clients should:

  • Display issuer information prominently
  • Allow users to filter by trusted issuers
  • Not treat badges as authoritative without context