DM

high level

When to use

Use ndk.dms for direct-message style conversations based on NIP-17 gift-wrapped messages.

Current behavior

ndk.dms provides:

• sending a message to a peer
• loading all conversations for the logged-in account
• loading a single conversation with one peer
• loading a cache-only snapshot of conversations
• parsing a wrapped message into a Nip17Message

Relay behavior

Sending uses DM relay lists for:

• the recipient
• the sender

That means:

• the recipient receives a wrapped copy on their DM relays
• the sender receives a wrapped copy on their own DM relays
• the sender can load their own conversation history from the same model

If either side does not have the required DM relay list, sending fails.

Loading conversations

loadConversations():

• loads wrapped messages addressed to the logged-in user
• unwraps them into message objects
• groups them by peer pubkey
• sorts messages inside a conversation by creation time
• sorts conversations by latest message time

loadConversationsSnapshot():

• reads only from cache
• does not require a network round trip
• is useful for immediate UI rendering

Existing conversations from other clients

NDK can load existing conversations created by other clients as long as:

• the messages are stored on relays queried by the logged-in user's DM relay list
• the logged-in account can decrypt the wrapped payloads

Decryption behavior

Conversation loading can reuse cached decrypted payload sidecars.

That means:

• previously unwrapped messages can load from cache
• repeated UI reads do not need to decrypt every message again
• persistent cache backends keep that benefit across restarts