Nostr Wallet Connect primary sources — 2026-04-30

Project status in this pass

• No canonical standalone whitepaper or litepaper surfaced.
• The clearest current source of truth is the official docs corpus plus the NIP-47 specification and linked SDK/tooling pages.

Primary-source snapshots

1) Main site

• URL: https://nwc.dev/
• Key excerpt:
  • Defines NWC as “an open protocol to connect bitcoin wallets to apps.”
  • Emphasizes one-click, non-custodial app payments and a family of compatible apps and wallets.

2) Docs landing page

• URL: https://docs.nwc.dev/
• Key excerpt:
  • Frames NWC as “One Open Protocol to Connect Bitcoin Wallets and Apps.”
  • Splits the documentation for wallet builders versus app/website builders.

3) Queried docs answer (?ask=)

• URL: https://docs.nwc.dev/introduction/welcome-to-nwc.md?ask=What%20does%20NWC%20actually%20standardize%2C%20how%20do%20apps%20and%20wallets%20communicate%2C%20and%20what%20developer%20tools%20or%20SDKs%20does%20the%20documentation%20highlight%3F
• Key excerpt:
  • Says NWC standardizes how apps and wallets exchange payment intents, not the underlying payment network.
  • Says communication happens through Nostr relays.
  • Describes both HTTP and Nostr connection flows and highlights SDKs in JavaScript, React Native, Rust, Dart, Flutter, and Python.
  • Names Bitcoin Connect, the Alby developer sandbox, and an NWC faucet as supporting tools.

4) NIP-47 spec

• URL: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/47.md
• Key excerpt:
  • Defines the client, user, and wallet-service roles.
  • Describes E2E-encrypted direct-message transport over Nostr relays.
  • Specifies info, request, response, and notification event kinds.
  • Recommends unique keys per connection to reduce linkability.

5) Developer SDK surface

• URL: https://github.com/getAlby/js-sdk
• Key excerpt:
  • The main site points developers to the Alby JavaScript SDK as a direct integration path.
  • This helps confirm that NWC is not just a paper standard; it ships through practical SDK surfaces.

6) Bitcoin Connect

• URL: https://bitcoin-connect.com/
• Key excerpt:
  • The homepage presents Bitcoin Connect as a simple library that combines NWC with WebLN so websites can connect to user wallets across browsers and devices.
  • This is a useful clue that NWC is being operationalized as a shared wallet-connectivity layer for the web.

Working conclusion

Nostr Wallet Connect is best cataloged as remote-wallet-access and wallet-connectivity infrastructure: a Nostr-based interoperability protocol for Lightning apps and wallets rather than a wallet, processor, or payment app.