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@ stl1988
2025-05-19 17:28:05NIP-XX
Documentation and Wikis with Spaces and Format Declaration
draftoptionalSummary
This NIP introduces a system for collaborative documentation and wikis on Nostr. It improves upon earlier efforts by adding namespace-like Spaces, explicit content format declaration, and clearer separation of article types, including redirects and merge requests.
Motivation
Previous approaches to wiki-style collaborative content on Nostr had two key limitations:
- Format instability – No declared format per event led to breaking changes (e.g. a shift from Markdown to Asciidoc).
- Lack of namespace separation – All articles existed in a global space, causing confusion and collision between unrelated projects.
This NIP addresses both by introducing:
- Spaces – individually defined wikis or documentation sets.
- Explicit per-article format declaration.
- Dedicated event kinds for articles, redirects, merge requests, and space metadata.
Specification
kind: 31055– Space DefinitionDefines a project namespace for articles.
Tags: -
["name", "<space title>"]-["slug", "<short identifier>"]-["description", "<optional description>"]-["language", "<ISO language code>"]-["license", "<license text or SPDX ID>"]Content: (optional) full description or README for the space.
kind: 31056– ArticleAn article in a specific format belonging to a defined space.
Tags: -
["space", "<slug>"]-["title", "<article title>"]-["format", "markdown" | "asciidoc" | "mediawiki" | "html"]-["format-version", "<format version>"](optional) -["prev", "<event-id>"](optional) -["summary", "<short change summary>"](optional)Content: full body of the article in the declared format.
kind: 31057– RedirectRedirects from one article title to another within the same space.
Tags: -
["space", "<slug>"]-["from", "<old title>"]-["to", "<new title>"]Content: empty.
kind: 31058– Merge RequestProposes a revision to an article without directly altering the original.
Tags: -
["space", "<slug>"]-["title", "<article title>"]-["base", "<event-id>"]-["format", "<format>"]-["comment", "<short summary>"](optional)Content: proposed article content.
Format Guidelines
Currently allowed formats: -
markdown-asciidoc-mediawiki-htmlClients MUST ignore formats they do not support. Clients MAY apply stricter formatting rules.
Client Behavior
Clients: - MUST render only supported formats. - MUST treat
spaceas a case-sensitive namespace. - SHOULD allow filtering, browsing and searching within Spaces. - SHOULD support revision tracking viaprev. - MAY support diff/merge tooling forkind: 31058.
Examples
Space Definition
json { "kind": 31055, "tags": [ ["name", "Bitcoin Docs"], ["slug", "btc-docs"], ["description", "Developer documentation for Bitcoin tools"], ["language", "en"], ["license", "MIT"] ], "content": "Welcome to the Bitcoin Docs Space." }Markdown Article
json { "kind": 31056, "tags": [ ["space", "btc-docs"], ["title", "Installation Guide"], ["format", "markdown"] ], "content": "# Installation\n\nFollow these steps to install the software..." }Asciidoc Article
json { "kind": 31056, "tags": [ ["space", "btc-docs"], ["title", "RPC Reference"], ["format", "asciidoc"] ], "content": "= RPC Reference\n\nThis section describes JSON-RPC calls." }MediaWiki Article
json { "kind": 31056, "tags": [ ["space", "btc-docs"], ["title", "Block Structure"], ["format", "mediawiki"] ], "content": "== Block Structure ==\n\nThe structure of a Bitcoin block is..." }Redirect
json { "kind": 31057, "tags": [ ["space", "btc-docs"], ["from", "Getting Started"], ["to", "Installation Guide"] ], "content": "" }Merge Request
json { "kind": 31058, "tags": [ ["space", "btc-docs"], ["title", "Installation Guide"], ["base", "d72fa1..."], ["format", "markdown"], ["comment", "Added step for testnet"] ], "content": "# Installation\n\nNow includes setup instructions for testnet users." }
Acknowledgements
This proposal builds on earlier ideas for decentralized wikis and documentation within Nostr, while solving common issues related to format instability and lack of project separation.