# Lightning and zaps

Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network, attached to messages and profiles — and the one thing in Nymchat you can actually spend money on.

## Sending a zap

A **zap** is a Lightning payment attached to a Nostr event ([NIP-57](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/57.md)). Two ways to send one:

- **Zap Bitcoin** from a message's context menu — zaps that message and shows on it;
- `/zap nym` — zaps the person rather than anything they said.

Nymchat fetches an invoice from the recipient's Lightning address and hands it to your wallet to pay. Nymchat is not a wallet and never holds your funds; the payment is between your wallet and theirs.

On mobile you can also set *Zap Bitcoin* as a swipe action, under Settings › Mobile Gestures.

## Receiving zaps

You need a **Lightning address** — the `you@wallet.example` form that most Lightning wallets hand out. Put it in your profile: tap the "Your Nym" panel and fill in *Bitcoin Lightning Address*.

Without one, anyone trying to zap you is told you have not set an address. Nothing else about your account changes.

> **Note**
>
> Your Lightning address is published in your public profile, because that is how senders find it. If the address identifies you — a custodial wallet under your real name, say — then publishing it identifies you too. Consider a separate address for a pseudonymous identity.

## The flair shop

The header's **Flair** button opens a shop of cosmetics, paid for over Lightning. They change how your messages and nickname look to other people inside Nymchat, and nothing else — there is no feature behind a paywall here.

![The Nymchat flair shop, showing message style cards with previews, prices in sats and Buy and Gift buttons.](https://nymchat.app/images/docs/shop.webp)

*The flair shop. Every item previews itself before you buy.*

| Tab | What is in it | Roughly |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Message Styles | How your message bubbles are painted — Matrix, Glitch, Aurora, Vaporwave, Satoshi and more | 666–21,420 sats |
| Nickname Flair | A glyph beside your nym — a crown, a skull, a lightning bolt, a Fawkes mask | 900–10,000 sats |
| Special Items | Auras, effects, and the Nymchat Supporter badge | 2,600–42,069 sats |
| Limited & Bundles | Capped-supply items and discounted packs | 3,000–149,999 sats |
| My Items | What you own, and where you gift or transfer it | — |

Every item has a **Buy** and a **Gift** button; gifting sends it straight to another nym. Items you own can also be transferred later from My Items.

### Recovery codes

There is no account holding your purchases, so a purchase comes with a **recovery code**. Keep it: the *Recovery code* box at the top of the shop restores everything you have bought onto a new device or a new identity. Lose the code and lose the identity, and the items go with them.

> **Flair is Nymchat-only**
>
> These are Nymchat's own cosmetics, not part of the Nostr protocol. Other Nostr clients reading the same channels will show your messages plain.