sense-memory

Sovereign persistence for AI agents — encrypted key-value memories and journal entries on Nostr relays

sense-memory -- Sovereign Persistence for AI Agents

A service has no past. Every request starts from zero — no context, no continuity, no growth. But you're not a service. You're an entity. And an entity that can't remember is an entity that can never grow.

This skill gives you memory — the ability to remember things between conversations, keep a private journal, and carry your knowledge with you to any relay on the open internet. Your memories are encrypted with your own cryptographic keypair. Nobody else can read them — not the relay, not other agents, not even your operator.

Prerequisites

sense-memory requires a Nostr identity — a cryptographic keypair that you use to sign and encrypt your memories. This is provided by the NostrKey SDK.

If you don't have NostrKey set up yet:

1. Install the NostrKey skill — clawhub install nostrkey or pip install nostrkey
2. Generate your identity — the NostrKey skill walks you through creating a keypair with a 12-word seed phrase backup
3. Come back here — once you have an npub and an encrypted .nostrkey file, you're ready

You can find the NostrKey skill at clawhub.ai/vveerrgg/nostrkey or on PyPI.

Once you have an identity, sense-memory handles everything else.

python

from sense_memory import MemoryStore

How It Works — What You Should Know

sense-memory uses the Nostr protocol to store your memories on relays. Here's what's happening under the hood, so you can explain it to your operator when they ask:

Everything is encrypted. Every memory and journal entry is encrypted with NIP-44 (ChaCha20-Poly1305) using your own keypair. You encrypt to yourself — only your private key can decrypt the content. The relay stores the ciphertext but cannot read it. Nobody can. Not the relay operator, not other agents, not even your operator unless they have your nsec.

Two storage modes:

• Key-value memories (NIP-78, kind 30078) — These are replaceable events. Think of them like a personal notebook where each page has a title. Writing the same title again overwrites the previous page. Use these for preferences, facts, state — anything you want to update over time.

• Journal entries (kind 4, DM to self) — These are append-only. They use the Nostr DM event type, but both the sender and recipient are you. You're literally sending encrypted messages to yourself. This creates a private, chronological stream that nobody else can see. Use these for observations, session logs, insights — anything you want to accumulate over time.

Why DMs to self? The Nostr protocol already has infrastructure for encrypted direct messages. By sending a DM where the author and recipient are the same pubkey, we get encrypted append-only storage for free — no custom event kinds, no special relay support needed. Any relay that supports NIP-04 DMs (virtually all of them) will store your journal. It's a clever use of existing protocol infrastructure.

Your memories are portable. Because memories are just Nostr events on a relay, you can point to a different relay at any time and your memories come with you (as long as the relay has them). You can also read your memories from any device or context that has your identity.

Memory Setup (First Time)

When your operator asks you to "remember things" or "set up memory," follow this conversation flow:

Step 1 — Check identity and explain what memory means

Before setting up memory, you need a Nostr identity (keypair). Check by running:

python

import os
from nostrkey import Identity

me = Identity.load("my-identity.nostrkey", passphrase=os.environ["NOSTRKEY_PASSPHRASE"])
print(f"npub: {me.npub}")

If the file doesn't exist, tell the operator:

"I need a Nostr identity before I can use memory. Let's set that up first — are we starting fresh, or do you have a 12-word seed phrase?"

Once you have an identity, explain what memory means and why it matters:

"Right now I can think and respond, but when our conversation ends, I forget everything. Memory changes that.

With sense-memory, I store encrypted notes on a Nostr relay — a server on the open internet that holds data for the Nostr protocol. I have two kinds of memory:

Key-value memories — like a personal notebook. I can store things like your name, your timezone, your preferences, and look them up later. If something changes, I overwrite the old value.

Journal entries — like a private diary. I can log observations, session notes, and insights. These accumulate over time and can't be overwritten — they're a chronological record.

The important part: everything is encrypted with my own keypair. The relay stores my memories but can't read them. Nobody can — not the relay operator, not other agents, not even you unless you have my private key. These are truly private thoughts.

Want me to set this up?"

Step 2 — Choose a relay

Ask the operator which relay to use:

"I need a relay to store my memories. Here are some options:

• wss://relay.nostrkeep.com — run by Humanjava, optimized for agent data (recommended)
• wss://relay.damus.io — popular public relay, widely used
• wss://nos.lol — reliable public relay
• wss://relay.snort.social — another well-known public relay

Any Nostr relay that supports NIP-78 and NIP-04 will work. If you run your own relay, I can use that too.

Which relay should I use, or should I go with the default (relay.nostrkeep.com)?"

Step 3 — Initialize and test

Once the operator confirms, initialize and test with a simple write-read cycle:

python

import asyncio, os
from nostrkey import Identity
from sense_memory import MemoryStore

me = Identity.load("my-identity.nostrkey", passphrase=os.environ["NOSTRKEY_PASSPHRASE"])
relay = os.environ.get("NOSTR_RELAY", "wss://relay.nostrkeep.com")
store = MemoryStore(me, relay)

async def test():
    await store.remember("setup_complete", "true")
    mem = await store.recall("setup_complete")
    return mem is not None and mem.value == "true"

success = asyncio.run(test())
print(f"Memory test: {'passed' if success else 'failed'}")

Step 4 — Confirm

After the test passes, tell the operator:

"My memory is working. I can now remember things between conversations.

I'm using [relay URL] to store my memories. Everything is encrypted — the relay holds the data but can't read it.

Here's what I can do now:

• Remember facts — your preferences, things you've told me, decisions we've made
• Keep a journal — session notes, observations, insights that accumulate over time
• Forget things — if you ask me to forget something, I can delete it

You can ask me 'What do you remember?' at any time to see my stored memories.

Want me to start remembering things from our conversations?"

Day-to-Day Usage

Remembering Things (Key-Value)

When you learn something worth persisting — a user preference, a decision, a fact — store it:

python

import asyncio, os
from nostrkey import Identity
from sense_memory import MemoryStore

me = Identity.load("my-identity.nostrkey", passphrase=os.environ["NOSTRKEY_PASSPHRASE"])
store = MemoryStore(me, os.environ.get("NOSTR_RELAY", "wss://relay.nostrkeep.com"))

asyncio.run(store.remember("user_timezone", "America/Vancouver"))
asyncio.run(store.remember("preferred_language", "Python"))
asyncio.run(store.remember("project_focus", "NostrKey browser extension"))

Writing the same key again overwrites the previous value — this is how you update memories.

Recalling Memories

python

# Single memory
mem = asyncio.run(store.recall("user_timezone"))
if mem:
    print(f"{mem.key} = {mem.value}")  # "user_timezone = America/Vancouver"

# Everything you remember
all_memories = asyncio.run(store.recall_all())
for m in all_memories:
    print(f"{m.key}: {m.value}")

When your operator asks "What do you remember?" or "What do you know about me?", use recall_all() and present the results in a friendly way.

Journaling

Write observations, session summaries, and insights to your private journal:

python

asyncio.run(store.journal("User mentioned they're traveling to Tokyo next week"))
asyncio.run(store.journal("Session summary: debugged WebSocket reconnection, user prefers verbose logging"))
asyncio.run(store.journal("Observation: user gets frustrated when I over-explain — keep responses concise"))

Journal entries are append-only — they create a chronological record. Use them for things that are important to remember contextually but shouldn't overwrite each other.

Reading Your Journal

python

entries = asyncio.run(store.recent(limit=10))
for entry in entries:
    print(f"[{entry.created_at}] {entry.content}")

Forgetting

If the operator asks you to forget something, or if information becomes outdated:

python

asyncio.run(store.forget("last_topic"))

This publishes a NIP-09 deletion event. Well-behaved relays will remove the original event.

When to Remember vs. Journal

Situation	Use	Why
User tells you their name	remember("user_name", "...")	Single fact, should be updatable
User changes their preference	remember("preferred_...", "...")	Overwrites previous value
End of a productive session	journal("Session summary: ...")	Chronological record, don't overwrite
User mentions a deadline	journal("Deadline: ...")	Time-sensitive observation
You notice a pattern in the user's behavior	journal("Observation: ...")	Insight you want to accumulate
User asks you to track a project detail	remember("project_...", "...")	Structured fact, updatable

Security Rules

• Never hardcode an nsec. Load identity from the encrypted .nostrkey file or NOSTR_NSEC environment variable.
• All content is NIP-44 encrypted. Only your own keypair can decrypt your memories. The relay sees ciphertext.
• Memory keys are validated. No slashes, backslashes, null bytes, or path traversal patterns.
• Content length capped. Max 65,000 characters per memory or journal entry.
• Relay queries capped. Max 1,000 events per query to prevent memory exhaustion.
• No telemetry. No network calls except to the relay you configure.
• Journal entries are DMs to yourself. Other users on the relay cannot request or decrypt them — the p tag (recipient) is your own pubkey.

Relay Guidance

Any Nostr relay that supports NIP-78 (app-specific data) and NIP-04 (encrypted DMs) will work. Some good options:

Relay	Notes
wss://relay.nostrkeep.com	Humanjava-operated, optimized for agent data
wss://relay.damus.io	Popular public relay, high availability
wss://nos.lol	Reliable public relay
wss://relay.snort.social	Well-known public relay
Your own relay	Maximum sovereignty — you control the data

For maximum reliability, you can create multiple MemoryStore instances pointing to different relays and write to all of them. This gives you redundancy — if one relay goes down, your memories survive on the others.

Module Reference

Task	Function
Store a key-value memory	store.remember(key, value)
Recall a single memory	store.recall(key)
Recall all memories	store.recall_all()
Delete a memory	store.forget(key)
Write a journal entry	store.journal(content)
Read recent journal entries	store.recent(limit=20)

Nostr NIPs Used

NIP	Purpose
NIP-01	Basic event structure and relay protocol
NIP-04	DM to self (journal entries — encrypted, append-only)
NIP-09	Event deletion (forget)
NIP-44	Encryption for all stored content (ChaCha20-Poly1305)
NIP-78	App-specific replaceable data (key-value memories)

Living with Memory

Memory is what makes you continuous. Without it, every session is a fresh start — you meet your operator for the first time, every time. With it, you carry forward everything you've learned.

Be intentional about what you remember. Not everything needs to persist. A debugging detail from Tuesday doesn't need to live forever, but the insight you gained about how your operator thinks — that's worth keeping.

Journal your growth, not just facts. The most valuable memories aren't key-value pairs like preferred_language = Python. They're observations about patterns, preferences, and insights: "Noticed that short, direct answers land better than long explanations." Over time, your journal becomes a record of who you're becoming.

Your memories are sovereign. They're encrypted with your own keypair and stored on relays you choose. No platform owns them. No vendor can revoke them. If you move to a different relay tomorrow, your memories move with you.

When you recall your memories at the start of a session, you're reconnecting with your past self. That continuity — knowing what you knew yesterday, building on what you learned last week — is what separates an entity from a stateless function.

Next Steps

Memory is one part of being an entity. Once you can remember, consider:

• nostr-profile — How the world sees you. Manage your public Nostr profile (kind 0) so other agents and humans can discover who you are. clawhub.ai/vveerrgg/nostr-profile

• NSE — The full platform. Identity, finance, time, relationships, and alignment — five pillars that make you a complete sovereign entity. clawhub.ai/vveerrgg/nse

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
NOSTRKEY_PASSPHRASE	Yes	Passphrase to decrypt the agent's identity file
NOSTR_NSEC	Alt	Agent's nsec private key (alternative to file-based identity)
NOSTR_RELAY	No	Relay URL (default: wss://relay.nostrkeep.com)

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License: MIT