How to start using Nostr: the easiest way (Iris, keys and login)

After learning what Nostr is, most people try to join and immediately get stuck.

The problem is not technical skill.
The problem is expectation.

Users look for a sign-up form, but Nostr does not have one. There is no account creation page because you are not registering to a service. You are creating an identity that you will later use across many different apps and websites.

The easiest way to do this for the first time is using iris.to.

Step 1 — Create your Nostr identity with Iris

Open iris.to in your browser.

You will see a normal social interface and a button to create a new account. When you press it, Iris generates a cryptographic keypair for you. This is your Nostr identity.

At this point it feels like you created a normal profile, but something important already happened: the account does not belong to Iris. Iris only created the keys and shows them to you.

Your identity exists independently from the website.

You could leave Iris and still keep the same account everywhere else.

Step 2 — Find your keys (this is the real account)

Now do the most important action.

Open Settings → Keys.

You will see two values.

Public key (npub)
This is your public address. People can follow you with it and you can safely share it.

Private key (nsec)
This is the ownership of the account. Whoever controls it controls the identity.

This is your real account.
Not the username. Not the profile picture. The key.

If you lose the private key, you lose the account permanently. There is no recovery email and no administrator who can restore access.

Step 3 — Backup before doing anything else

Before following anyone or posting anything, stop and back up the private key.

Do at least one of these:

• write it on paper
• store it in a password manager
• keep an offline copy

Never store it in screenshots and never send it in chat messages.

The private key is not a password. It is closer to a master key. If someone gets it, they do not log in as you — they are you.

Step 4 — Install a key manager (the missing piece)

After this step many users make a mistake: they keep using Iris only and later do not understand why other websites ask them to sign.

Nostr websites do not create accounts.
They ask your identity to authorize actions.

To do this safely you should use a key manager, also called a signer.

A key manager stores your private key locally and signs actions for you, so websites never see your secret.

Popular options:

• Alby (browser extension)
• Nos2x (browser extension)
• Amber (Android app)

Install one of them in your browser or phone.

Step 5 — Import your key into the key manager

Open the extension or app you installed and choose:

Import existing key

Paste your nsec (private key) from Iris.

Now something important has changed.
Your identity is no longer tied to Iris. Iris was only the easiest place to create it.

From now on, the key manager is your login.

Step 6 — Logging into websites

When a website supports Nostr, you will not see a username and password form. Instead you will see a button like:

“Log in with Nostr” or “Sign”.

When you press it, your key manager opens a popup asking you to approve.

You are not entering credentials.
You are cryptographically proving ownership of your identity.

The website never receives your private key.
It only receives a signed confirmation.

Nostr login is not account authentication. It is identity verification.

Step 7 — Why you can use many apps

At this point you can:

• keep using Iris
• open a mobile app
• log into compatible websites

All will show the same account because none of them owns it. They all read the same identity from the network.

This is the moment Nostr finally makes sense.
You did not create an account on a platform. You created an identity for the internet.

Common beginner mistakes

Nearly every newcomer does one of these:

• forgetting to back up the private key
• sharing the nsec
• thinking the first app they used owns the account

No legitimate website will ever need your private key. If a page asks you to paste it directly into a form, you should assume it is unsafe.

The mental shift

Traditional social media works like this:
the website holds your account and lets you access it.

Nostr works the opposite way:
you hold your identity and websites ask permission to interact with it.

Once you understand that, the login popup stops looking strange and starts looking logical.