ReadToRelay

A Chrome extension and website that extracts readable content from web pages and posts it to Nostr as Markdown.

read-to-relay-demo.mov

The extension/website posts the notes to your npub. The "Archiver" npub above was just for that demonstration.

Disclaimer: This app was vibe-coded pretty quickly. It is careful with your nsec, but the repo itself is kind of disorganized. Functionally, it does what it claims to, though!

What it does

Browser Extension

1. Click the extension icon on any web site - wiki pages, blog posts, "paywalled" news articles...
2. Read the content in a clean, distraction-free interface
3. Login with your nsec (stored locally only)
4. Post to Nostr as formatted Markdown

Website

1. Enter any URL on the ReadToRelay website
2. Read the extracted content in a clean interface
3. Login with your nsec (stored locally in your browser)
4. Post to Nostr as formatted Markdown

Note: the website will likely not work to extract most sites and won't have your auth to accounts for paid platforms. We probably shouldn't include it at all, actually.

Installation

Browser Extension - Chrome/Brave

Find it on the Chrome web store here

Or install it manually (for fun or development purposes).

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions/
3. Enable "Developer mode" (top right toggle)
4. Click "Load unpacked" and select the extension folder
5. The extension icon will appear in your toolbar

Browser Extension - Firefox

Coming soon.

Website

1. Open the website/index.html file in your browser, or
2. Host the website/ folder on any web server (GitHub Pages, Netlify, etc.)

The website uses:

• CDN-hosted libraries (nostr-tools, turndown, readability)
• A CORS proxy (allorigins.win) to fetch pages from other domains
• LocalStorage for your nsec, preferences, and relay settings

URL Parameter / Bookmarklet Usage

You can pass URLs directly to ReadToRelay by appending them to the URL:

file:///path/to/website/index.html#url=https://example.com/article

Or if hosted:

https://yoursite.com/#url=https://example.com/article

This works great as a bookmarklet! Create a bookmark with this JavaScript:

javascript:(function(){window.open('file:///path/to/ReadToRelay/website/index.html#url='+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href));})();

Replace file:///path/to/ReadToRelay/website/index.html with your actual path or hosted URL.

Mobile Share Target (PWA)

Like the website note above, as a PWA, it won't be logged in to any sites for which you have a privileged account, removing a lot of the utility of the tool...

When hosted on a server with HTTPS:

1. Open the website on your mobile device
2. "Add to Home Screen" from your browser menu
3. Now when you "Share" any webpage from your browser or apps, you'll see ReadToRelay as a share option!
4. Sharing to ReadToRelay will automatically extract and load the article

Note: The share target feature requires:

• HTTPS hosting (not available when opening index.html locally)
• Installing the PWA to your home screen
• Modern mobile browser (Chrome, Safari, Edge, etc.)

Privacy

Your nsec is never sent anywhere. It's stored locally (extension storage or browser localStorage) and only used to sign events on your device.

You can verify this by checking the code:

• Extension Storage: reader.js lines 24-35 (saves to chrome.storage.local)
• Website Storage: website/app.js (saves to localStorage)
• Signing: Uses local key with NostrTools.finalizeEvent
• No network calls except to Nostr relays for posting (and the CORS proxy for the website)

Features

• Clean reading interface with dark mode
• Adjustable font size
• HTML to Markdown conversion
• Relay management with "public" defaults