Signet — the native remote signer

Signet is a native macOS remote signer built on zig-nostr. It implements the NIP-46 “bunker” protocol: your nsec lives in a local daemon on a machine you control, and every signing request from a client waits for your explicit approval. The key never leaves the daemon.

Signet approving a Nostr signing request

How it works

A headless daemon holds the key (encrypted at rest with NIP-49) and speaks NIP-46 over relays.
A native approval GUI shows each incoming request — sign_event, nip44_encrypt, and so on — and forwards your approve/deny decision over a loopback channel. The GUI never sees the key.
Clients connect with a bunker:// URL. It works end-to-end over public relays, including those that require NIP-42 authentication.

Install (macOS, Apple Silicon)


curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zig-nostr/signet/main/scripts/install-macos.sh | bash

The installer resolves the latest release, verifies its SHA-256, installs Signet.app, and launches it. Source, releases, and build instructions live at zig-nostr/signet.

Supported operations

sign_event · get_public_key · nip44_encrypt · nip44_decrypt · ping

Each is gated by a per-request approval policy with method and event-kind allowlists, so you decide exactly what a connected client may ask for.

Why it matters

The hard problem in Nostr UX is key custody: every web client that wants to post on your behalf traditionally needs your nsec. Signet is the counter-example — a fast, native key manager that signs for any client while the secret stays put. It’s the first of the zig-nostr showcases; the messenger and reader are next.