Team Soapbox

Team Soapbox

Soapbox creates tools that put the power back in your hands. Build your own platforms, communities, and applications with our open-source toolkit for Nostr.

Curated by MK Fain

Three Years of Building And What Comes Next

After three years of building apps, running services, and growing the Nostr community, Derek is reflecting on the journey, and what comes next. From founding NostrPlebs and NostrNests to launching the Grow Nostr Initiative and bringing Nostr Booths to conferences worldwide, it's been a wild ride. Now, a major change is on the horizon. This article is a milestone grounded in gratitude and a belief that we have to build the future we want to live in.

Cover image for Three Years of Building And What Comes Next

How to hide a Treasure

This is a brief guide for those curious about hiding new treasures/geocaches that are looking for a place to start.

Cover image for How to hide a Treasure

Nostr Web App UX Testing Script

As Nostr adoption grows and more web applications integrate decentralized identity, payments, and social functionality, it's critical to ensure a seamless and reliable user experience across platforms, devices, and authentication methods. This UX testing script was created to validate core functionality, such as login via popular signing tools (Alby, nos2x, Amber, NAK), zapping on both mobile and desktop, and contact list management, while also ensuring consistency across browsers and operating systems. The goal is to catch usability issues early, maintain trust in decentralized apps, and support a smoother on-boarding experience for new and existing Nostr users.

Cover image for Nostr Web App UX Testing Script

Launch Lancaster 2025 Post Mortem

At the recent Launch Music Festival, a volunteer initiative successfully introduced over 120 musicians to Bitcoin, Nostr, and Value-for-Value (V4V), resulting in participating artists earning almost 1M sats over three days. Musicians enthusiastically embraced these decentralized technologies, recognizing them as a solution to the failings of the current digital music industry. However, the on-boarding process highlighted significant usability issues with our apps of choice. Resolving these app issues is essential for effective on-boarding, with an ideal future event involving sponsors providing vouchers to all attendees to encourage hands-on Bitcoin transactions and demonstrate V4V, especially as the Launch conference plans to integrate V4V more broadly, presenting a large opportunity for further adoption.

Cover image for Launch Lancaster 2025 Post Mortem

Nostr: Fixing the Deplatforming of a Nation

Centralized platforms are vulnerable to government bans and censorship, as seen with the deplatforming of TikTok in the U.S., leaving millions disconnected. Nostr, as a decentralized protocol, cannot be banned or controlled by any single authority, giving users the freedom of choice and the ability to not have their voices taken away with the stroke of a pen.

Cover image for Nostr: Fixing the Deplatforming of a Nation