nth

nth is a Node/TypeScript publisher that turns Bitcoin blocks into Nostr-based “hyperjump” objects for the Nakamoto Thermodynamic Hypertransit (NTH) in cyberspace.

For each block height, it:

• Fetches block data from an Esplora-compatible Bitcoin API (default: mempool.space)
• Derives a sector coordinate from the block merkle root
• Publishes a Nostr event (kind 321) to a relay

Requirements

• Node.js (recent LTS recommended)
• npm

Install

npm install

Run

npm start

This runs:

• npm run build (TypeScript → dist/)
• npm run run (executes node ./dist/index.js)

Configuration

The app loads environment variables via dotenv, so you can create a local .env file.

Private key

You can provide a Nostr private key via environment variable:

• NTH_PRIVATE_KEY (or PRIVATE_KEY)

If no key is provided, a new key is generated and written to:

• .nth/private_key

Other options

• NTH_RELAY (default: wss://cyberspace.nostr1.com)
• NTH_BITCOIN_API_BASE_URL / NTH_BITCOIN_API_BASE (default: https://mempool.space/api)
• NTH_START_HEIGHT (override start height; otherwise resumes from last published height + 1)
• NTH_PUBLISH_DELAY_MS (default: 200)
• NTH_NOT_MINED_DELAY_MS (default: 300000)
• NTH_ERROR_BACKOFF_BASE_MS (default: 1000)
• NTH_ERROR_BACKOFF_MAX_MS (default: 300000)
• NTH_BITCOIN_API_ERROR_LOG (default: .nth/bitcoin_api_errors.jsonl)

Example .env:

# Nostr
NTH_RELAY=wss://cyberspace.nostr1.com
# NTH_PRIVATE_KEY=<hex private key>

# Bitcoin API (Esplora)
NTH_BITCOIN_API_BASE_URL=https://mempool.space/api

# Optional start height override
# NTH_START_HEIGHT=0

Event format

Publishes kind 321 with tags:

• C: merkle root (32-byte / 64-hex)
• X, Y, Z: sector coordinates derived from C
• S: ${X}-${Y}-${Z}
• H: block hash
• P: previous block hash (or 64 zeros for height 0)
• N: next block hash
• B: block height

Local state

.nth/ contains local runtime state (generated private key, error logs) and is ignored by git.

License

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). See package.json.