Here’s the raw truth: HiveTalk is 100% bootstrapped. The challenge? Can a self-sovereign project scale on Nostr? Many said No, no, go get a grant. But – the numbers and time engaged in the market show that we’re making it work. Vanilla’s 18-month run and Honey’s beta launch prove bootstrapping *is* possible. It was not an easy decision, but we decided to align Hivetalk with the end users of our project. #Nostr users are who we are building for. We felt supported from the beginning and that was all the magic we needed to know that we could pull this off as a community funded project with passionate volunteers. Shout out to the core team - @npub1lqs30x7466guvx6r2cek8z9d4hpucycy7j08wx58cwx70m206q3qrscejr , @npub172y2yf9xrdekr25acsdfp2ag5t0lg4zdkz7rseegucuty8dp0ykq2ug6ef ; y’all are legends! We’ve had many people come and go from the project, which is fairly normal for open source, and we are grateful for what each one has brought and shared with in the form of advice, feedback and testing. It’s humbling, exhilarating, and a testament to community zaps keeping the lights on ⚡

Hivetalk Mantra: Code Quality Comes First Thanks to awesome new #AI based tools we were able to rapidly accelerate our build cycles, experiment more and turn around our code releases faster, while building the project in our free time. A little over a year ago, churning out 100,000+ lines of code at this speed would have been unthinkable! We put a lot of work in grinding out the new version, making a lot of revisions and trial and error along the way. While velocity matters, shipping responsibly matters more. We invested heavily in DDoS relay hardening, and enforcing NIP-42 authentication on our relay, two critical infrastructure layers that matter but don’t show up as user facing visible work. We also tackled tech debt cleanup—the unsexy but essential work that prevents yesterday’s shortcuts from becoming tomorrow’s bottlenecks. Check out our progress in this beautiful Hivetalk Honey Build animation.

Key Observations from 2025: #Privacy First, Feedback Welcome Running a Nostr-native tool taught us volumes about what users crave: Nostr-Friendly, Not Exclusive: Join without a login? Check. It’s accessible to all, but supercharged for Nostr folks. Privacy is Paramount: Users demanded it, and we delivered. Private meetups outpaced public hangouts 10-to-1, fostering intimate, secure spaces. We don’t sell or track data—ever. Feedback’s Tricky: Direct input is gold but hard to mine. If you’ve got thoughts on HiveTalk, hit us up! We’d love more public, open community events to spark that dialogue. These insights shaped our roadmap, reminding us that in #Nostr, sovereignty starts with user trust.

Community Buzz: Small Businesses and Very Busy Bees If there’s one word for our user base this past 2025, it’s *vibrant*. We’ve watched small businesses and solopreneurs turn HiveTalk into their secret weapon for zap-powered transactions and global reach. Take @npub1m7h20lqwnjd8snaf8alefep6xfkdeanlv74ce4my5p4drjed5l2qsq0yf8 , the English teacher zapping his way through lessons for Russian students—frictionless peer to peer lightning payments, no banks involved. Or @npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424 , who hosted weekly “Shakespeare-vibe” coding sessions to demystify #AI tools for the community. These aren’t outliers; they’re the norm in our hive. Check out this talk from Nostr Valley about Nostr for Content Creators and see how Hivetalk plays a role!

Did you know? #asknostr Now when you create a permanent room on Honey Hivetalk, you can attach a calendar event (Kind 30313) to your room, and it will pop up seamlessly as an event scheduled on honey.hivetalk.org. But, there’s more - since #nostr is decentralized, these calendar events will show up across the ecosystem on other nostr clients, bridging the gap. This is much more than just “sharing a link on another website” - the cryptographically signed and verified event data is also replicated - who created it, when it was created, the event details, location, time and relays where the data is published. Here are two clients that replicate Honey calendar event data: plektos.app and nostrcal.com

A big win in 2025 was getting the #Nostr protocol specification extended to handle interactive media rooms. @npub18pudjhdhhp2v8gxnkttt00um729nv93tuepjda2jrwn3eua5tf5s80a699 wrote the extension to NIP-53 for true interoperability. Originally designed for one-to-many live streams (think Kind 30311 on Zap.Stream ), we pushed it further with Kind 30312 for interactive audio/video rooms. Both Hivetalk Honey and Vanilla support Kind 30312, as well as NostrNests.com, an audio space hangout. This integration isn’t just technical—it’s philosophical. HiveTalk slots right into Nostr’s decentralized fabric, enhancing without overshadowing. As we wrapped up 2025, seeing our events ripple through other clients felt like the ultimate validation.

#Hivetalk has been deepening Roots in the #Nostr Ecosystem 🔥 HiveTalk was never meant to be a silo—it’s the “Other Stuff” in Nostr’s “Notes and Other Stuff” ethos. In 2025, we doubled down on interoperability, ensuring we play nice with your favorite Twitter/X-style clients like Damus, Primal, Jumble, and Amethyst. Moving beyond nostr identities, honey allows users to create permanent rooms and moderator lists based on nostr users. Calendar events tied to rooms round out this set of features, but there’s more. If an organizer wants to schedule notes we’ve added that option as well in the Posta Nota section. Want to create notes that mention your events or adjust your relays? Maybe share a page with your rooms and events? That’s now all built in as well.

The differences between Vanilla and Honey in a nutshell.

@Dave Nicholls what are your preferred Vanilla features that you would like to see on Honey? 🐝💜

Hivetalk users, we need your opinion / feedback. Do you prefer using Vanilla even though it's only the videoconferencing, it can't scale and has worse fidelity? Or do you prefer the posibility of scale that Honey offers and all the #nostr tools that are enabled? #asknostr

Thanks to your constant support, We keep the lights on and #Hivetalk free :) Cheers!

What is Honey Hivetalk? The game-changer we dropped in October 2025 as an early-stage working product. Built from the ground up with client and relay support, it scales effortlessly to thousands of users. We’re added more native #Nostr features, better handling for spotty internet in remote areas, and seamless integration for massive events. Honey isn’t just bigger—it’s smarter, turning video calls into zap-fueled social experiences. By year’s end, Honey’s beta has been live for three solid months, proving its mettle in real-world chaos. We’ve hosted everything from yoga flows to vibe coding meetups, and the feedback? It’s sweet as... well, you know.

What is Vanilla Hivetalk? Our OG client-only setup, capped at 100 participants for cozy, intimate gatherings. Released in early 2024 as a proof-of-concept, it’s now been humming along for a full 20 months as of January. Perfect for quick team huddles or small #Nostr meetups, it’s the reliable workhorse that’s kept our community buzzing without a hitch. You can check it out at:

HiveTalk

Click the link to make a call.

HiveTalk calling provides real-time video calls, messaging and screen sharing.

2025 was the year HiveTalk truly took flight. Remember our initial goal? What started as a scrappy prototype #Nostr + #Lightning video conferencing has now blossomed into a thriving hub for global connections. That vision evolved rapidly, into two versions: Vanilla Hivetalk and Honey Hivetalk. If you haven't already, be sure to check them out at

HiveTalk

HiveTalk - Choose Your Experience

HiveTalk - Nostr + Lightning Enabled Video Conferencing. Choose between Vanilla (simple & ephemeral) or Honey (advanced & scalable).

Who says you can't have a party from the comfort of your home? Get into hivetalk, open up #wavlake , and let people join your online party and zap the epic #musicians 💜 🎶 ⚡

A new year to hive, A new year to thrive 🐝 💜⚡ 🙌

Happy New Year!! Ring the year with love and honey 🐝 💜 🎉

The New Year is fast approaching all over the world, Join the global countdown, wherever you are 🐝 💜⚡ 🙌 🎉

Thanks to your support, we get to cover our costs and keep Hivetalk free. 🐝 💜⚡ HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🙌 🎉

Spread the Hivetalk word, Help grow the swarm, Let's keep the future of the internet private and decentralized!