Features

Accounts & keys

• Multiple accounts — store as many nsecs as you like, drag to reorder, switch the active one in a click.
• Generate or import — make a fresh key, or import an existing nsec/hex, with a live profile preview before saving.
• PIN-protected — every private key is encrypted at rest (PBKDF2 → AES-GCM). Nothing is stored in plaintext, and the keystore auto-locks.
• nsec paste guard — pasting a secret key is blocked everywhere except the import field.

Signing (NIP-07)

• Full NIP-07 surface: getPublicKey, signEvent, nip04/nip44 encrypt & decrypt, getRelays.
• Per-site permissions — approve or reject each site, with a prompt that previews what you're signing. Relay auth (NIP-42) signs automatically.
• Per-site account binding — each site stays pinned to the account it logged in with, no identity desync.
• Port-aware sites — localhost ports are treated as separate sites.

Lightning wallet (NWC)

• Connect any Nostr Wallet Connect wallet (Alby Hub, Rizful, YakiHonne, …). Sidecar never holds your funds.
• Send (BOLT11 or Lightning address), receive (invoice or your Lightning-address QR), and paginated history.
• Live balance — incoming payments update the balance on their own, no refresh needed. Pin it to the panel header to keep it in view anywhere in Sidecar.
• WebLN — web apps can pay and make invoices through your wallet, gated by approval with an optional per-site daily budget.
• Pay from any page — a "Pay with Sidecar" card appears wherever a site shows a Lightning invoice.
• Auto-approve zaps (optional, off by default) — pay verified zaps without a prompt up to a limit you set.

Profile & backups

• View and edit your profile; publish kind 0.
• Backups — encrypt your profile, follows, and mute list to your own key on your relays (NIP-78), or export a signed JSON bundle.
• Follow-list recovery, powered by Mutable.

Note composer

• Post kind:1 notes directly from the panel, with autosaved per-account drafts.
• @mention autocomplete, Nostr event embeds, and link previews fetched with no third-party service.
• Media upload to your own Blossom servers, falling back to nostr.build.

Settings & safety

• Auto-lock timer, relay list, default web client for opening notes, balance privacy toggle.
• Reset Sidecar — wipe everything on the device (type-to-confirm).

Open source & private by design

• Open source — the full source, including the Nostr cryptography, is public on GitHub for anyone to audit.
• No backend, no data collection — Sidecar has no servers of its own. There is no analytics, no telemetry, and nothing is ever sent to the developer.
• Everything stays on your device — keys, wallet connection, and settings are encrypted and stored locally in the browser; the only network calls are to the relays and wallet you configure.

Sidecar is self-custodial: there is no recovery if you forget your PIN, so back up your nsecs. See the privacy policy for exactly what is stored and sent.