Knowledge base Talking to people
Messages
The composer, the formatting it understands, and everything you can do to a message once it has been sent. This applies equally in channels, private messages and group chats unless a section says otherwise.
The composer
The box along the bottom. Enter sends; the buttons to its right attach an image, attach a file, open the emoji picker and open the GIF picker.
Three prefixes change what typing does:
| Type | And you get |
|---|---|
/ | A command, with an autocomplete list — see the command reference. |
? | Nymbot. |
@ | A mention picker of people in the conversation. |
Formatting
Messages are Markdown. What is supported:
| You type | You get | Command |
|---|---|---|
**bold** or __bold__ | Bold | /bold, /b |
*italic* or _italic_ | Italic | /italic, /i |
~~struck~~ | Strikethrough | /strike, /s |
`code` | Inline code | /code, /c |
| Three backticks around a block | A code block, syntax-highlighted, with a Copy button | /code |
> quoted | A block quote | /quote, /q |
#, ##, ### at the start of a line | Headings | — |
Links are detected automatically. A link to an image or a video becomes an inline preview; a link to an audio file becomes a player; a link to an ordinary page gets a preview card.
Replies and quotes
Quoting is how you reply. Pick Quote Message from a message's context menu — long-press on mobile, or a right-click on desktop — and your reply carries the original inside it. Tapping a quote jumps to the message it came from, even if that message is far up the history and not currently rendered.
Quote chains nest, which is also how you carry on a conversation with Nymbot: quote-reply to its answer and it keeps the thread's context.
Reactions and emoji
React from the same context menu, or from the small face button under a message that already
has reactions. Reactions are ordinary Nostr kind 7 events (NIP-25) and are
visible to everyone who can see the message.
The emoji picker also carries custom emoji: Nymchat discovers NIP-30 emoji
packs and renders :shortcode: references from them, so a message from a client
using a pack you do not have still shows the right picture.
Images, video and files
The image button uploads a picture or a video and posts it as a link, which every client renders inline. Multiple images in one message are grouped into a gallery rather than stacked.
The file button is different: it sends the file directly to the other device over WebRTC, with WebTorrent for larger transfers, up to 2 GB. Nothing is uploaded to a host. See what a direct connection reveals — the same caveat applies.
Blur Images from Others, under Settings › Privacy & Security, blurs incoming pictures until you tap them. It is on by default, and can be relaxed to friends-only or turned off. Your own images are never blurred.
Polls
/poll opens the poll composer: a question up to 280 characters and up to six
options of 100 characters each. Everyone in the channel can vote, and results update live as
votes arrive.
Translating a message
Pick Translate Message from a message's context menu and it is translated into your translation language, in place, with the original a tap away.
Set that language under Settings › Messaging & Display; it is Disabled by default, and there are around 45 languages to choose from. Auto-translate Messages then does it automatically for anything in the conversation you are looking at that is not already in your language, and can be limited to public channels, private messages or group chats independently.
Translation is a request to a machine-translation service through Nymchat's proxy, so the text of the message is sent to it. Auto-translate means that happens for every message you read in a foreign language, not only the ones you ask about.
Read receipts, typing and away messages
Three signals tell other people something about you, and all three are yours to scope. The first two live under Settings › Privacy & Security and take the same five values: Enabled everywhere, Both PMs and group chats, Only PMs, Only group chats, or Disabled completely.
| Signal | Default | What it tells people |
|---|---|---|
| Read Receipts | Enabled everywhere | That you have read their message (✓✓). |
| Typing Indicators | Enabled everywhere | That you are typing right now. |
| Show Status Indicators | Enabled | Online, away or offline on your avatar. "Friends only" broadcasts a hidden status publicly and shares the real one privately with friends. |
For a deliberate away message, /brb lunch sets one that auto-replies while you are
gone, and /back clears it.