Creating a Nym

Nym Not Found Dialog

Nym Not Found Dialog

Back to the login window, when you click Start Session and the nym server’s public key is already in the keyring, then the client will search for the nym address that was given. If the nym is not found, you will be asked if you wish to create it and you will be directed to the Create Nym tab in the main window. To create a nym, you must provide the following information:

Pseudonymous Name

The Pseudonymous Name field is the name you are going to give to the nym.

Duration

You must provide the duration of the nym’s key. Once the key expires, the nym expires as well. The Duration must be in the same format used by GPG (e.g. 1w, 2m, or 3y).

Ephemeral Key

The Axolotl Ratchet protocol derives a master key from the handshake to start a conversation. Since there is already a secure channel between you and the server (using its PGP key), the user can go ahead and send a master key to skip that extra step. That key is the Ephemeral Key you need to provide. It can be any random string since it is ephemeral and will be used only on the first round of message exchange until the ratcheting starts.

Tip

nymphemeral will automatically generate one by default, but you can uncheck Auto-generate and provide a key that you generated.

hSub Passphrase

Using a hashed subject (hSub) is the easiest way of setting up subject identification for your nym to retrieve messages. An hSub is made of two parts, where the first is a random number and the second is the hash of that same random number and a passphrase. As the hashing is a one-way function, no one can identify the owner of the message. However, as you know your nym’s hSub passphrase, you can hash it with the random number of every message, and if the result collides with the second part of the hSub, that message was sent to your nym. More on hSub by Zax.

Saving your hSubs allows nymphemeral to retrieve messages from all your nyms at once. You just need to know how the encryption of the hSub passphrases file works:

The first nym that you create will encrypt its hSub passphase and can only be decrypted by itself. The next nym to be created will save its hSub passphrase in plaintext and will not be able to access the encrypted file until you re-log in with the first nym. Then, it will encrypt both passphrases to both nyms and if you create a third nym, those two other nyms can encrypt the passphrases to the third one and so on.

Tip

nymphemeral will automatically generate one by default, but you can uncheck Auto-generate and provide a key that you generated.

Note

Although the hSub Passphrase is not required to use a nym, this client works better if you use one and we decided to make it a required field. If you feel that it should allow nyms without an hSub, let us know.

Create Nym

Finally, click Create Nym. The text box will display the output message. Read it to see if the message was sent successfully. The nym will be created and the other tabs will be enabled.

Create Nym Tab

Create Nym Tab

Creation Message

Creation Message