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Relay Shadow DVM

The permanent record for this hackathon project: write-up, links, team, tags, and prizes.
Submitted Bitcoin++ Privacy Edition
Relay Shadow is a DVM that provides privacy-focused relay suggests on top of BigBrotr. It helps users in their relay selection based on their threat model, social network, and privacy requirements.
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The write-up

🔮 Relay Shadow DVM

About the Project

Relay Shadow solves a critical privacy gap in Nostr: users blindly select relays without understanding privacy risks. A journalist might connect to logging relays, or activists might use relays in hostile jurisdictions.

Inspired by analyzing BigBrotr's dataset of 800+ relays, we discovered users need intelligent, threat-aware relay recommendations based on real network data, not guesswork.

How We Built It

1. Advanced Analytics Engine

  • Pre-processed BigBrotr's massive relay dataset
  • Computed privacy scores, publisher influence, and network health
  • Built threat-model specific recommendation algorithms

2. Privacy-Focused DVM Server

  • Nostr DVM (kinds 5600/6600) with sophisticated privacy scoring
  • Real-time WebSocket connections to 800+ analyzed relays
  • Personalized recommendations using social graph analysis

3. Beautiful Modern Client

  • React interface making complex privacy concepts accessible
  • Interactive threat level selector (Casual → Nation-State)
  • Real-time DVM communication with smooth animations

Key Challenges

  • Scale: Processing millions of events across 800+ relays required materialized views for <3s responses
  • Privacy UX: Making threat models understandable through progressive disclosure
  • Real data: Extracting meaningful signals from noisy, incomplete relay metadata
  • Algorithm complexity: Balancing privacy, performance, social graph, and geographic diversity

Innovation

  • First threat-model based relay selector for Nostr
  • Social graph integration - recommendations consider who you follow
  • Real network intelligence from actual BigBrotr usage data
  • Complete ecosystem: DVM + Web Client + CLI tools

Relay Shadow democratizes privacy expertise, helping users make informed relay choices without deep technical knowledge.

Built With

Backend: Node.js, PostgreSQL, Nostr Protocol (DVM), WebSockets
Frontend: React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion
Data: BigBrotr Dataset (800+ relays), NIP-11 Metadata, Social Graph Analysis
Infrastructure: Materialized Views, JSONB Indexes, Real-time Analytics

Try It Out

🌐 Repository: github.com/Bigbrotr/relay-shadow-dvm

⚡ Quick Start:

git clone https://github.com/Bigbrotr/relay-shadow-dvm.git
cd relay-shadow-dvm
cp .env.example .env  # Add your BigBrotr DB credentials
./setup-hackathon.sh  # One-command setup
npm start             # Start DVM server
npm run client:dev    # Beautiful web client

🧪 Test CLI: npm run test:recommend
🌐 Web Demo: Open http://localhost:3000 for interactive threat-level selection and real-time privacy recommendations

The only Nostr DVM with real network intelligence from BigBrotr's comprehensive relay dataset.

Try it out