install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install nak

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#nak

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/na/nak/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

CLI for doing all things nostr

Project links

Commands and aliases

nak

history

Project history and usage

nak is fiatjaf's "nostr army knife": a Go command-line tool for creating, signing, publishing, querying, validating, and otherwise plumbing Nostr protocol events.

Project history

The GitHub repository was created on 2022-02-09, during the early growth period of the Nostr ecosystem. Its README presents it as a general-purpose command-line tool for Nostr work, installable via a shell installer, Go, binaries, Homebrew, Arch, and Nix.

The release stream shows active maintenance through the 0.19 and 0.20 series, including v0.20.0 on 2026-06-21. That cadence fits a protocol utility that follows NIP additions and real relay/client usage rather than a one-off demo.

Adoption history

nak's audience is narrower than mainstream networking tools, but it sits in an important niche for Nostr developers and power users. The repository metadata consulted on 2026-07-01 showed 389 GitHub stars and 46 forks, and the Homebrew page listed 673 installs over the prior 365 days.

Its adoption is tied to Nostr's preference for simple event and relay primitives: a CLI that can emit JSON, sign events, query relays, manage keys, and script relay operations is useful for debugging clients, writing shell workflows, and testing protocol behavior.

How it is used

The README examples show the core workflow: `nak event` creates a signed event; options can set secret keys, content, tags, timestamps, and relay targets; `nak req` queries relays and emits JSON that users commonly pipe to tools like `jq`.

Package nerds reach for nak when they want a reproducible Nostr command in a script: publish a test note, inspect relay responses, validate an event, talk to relay management APIs, experiment with bunker/nsec flows, or use Nostr as a transport for other artifacts.

Why package nerds care

nak is significant less as a mass-market CLI and more as a protocol workbench. It gives Nostr's event model a Unix-shaped interface, which is exactly what packagers and shell people want when a network protocol is still evolving.

Timeline

2022-02-09: GitHub repository created.
2026-06-21: v0.20.0 release published.
2026-07-01: Homebrew Formulae page listed version 0.20.0 and 673 installs over the prior 365 days.

Related projects

Nostr
nostr-tools
noscl

Sources

security posture

No protected-tool coverage found yet

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for nak. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.

Install behavior

No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 6 platform targets.
Build metadata lists 1 build dependencies.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`nak`	cli	global executable

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-07-08

manager version0.20.0

manager updated2026-06-21

local dataok

upstreamcurrent

latest detectedv0.20.0

https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:nak
Version	0.20.0
Package manager	Homebrew
Package manager page	https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/nak
Homepage	https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak
Repository	https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak
Upstream docs	https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak#readme
License	Unlicense
Source archive	https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak/archive/refs/tags/v0.20.0.tar.gz
Last updated	2026-06-21T12:35:56Z
Pulse	updated
Build dependencies	go
Bottle	available (on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux)
Homebrew post-install	not defined
Service	none declared

registry facts

Source database details

Source Database	Homebrew formula API
Tap	homebrew/core
Full Name	nak
Version Scheme	0
Revision	0
Head Version	HEAD
Bottle Stable Root URL	https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core
Deprecated	no
Disabled	no
Keg Only	no
URL Keys	head stable

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

nak

nix profile install nixpkgs#nak

normalized package name match
Matched by: Nak

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/na/nak/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/nak.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
av.db category and tag curation
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
package relationship graph
package version freshness
package-page enrichment

Install nak with Homebrew, Nix