feat(pow): add relay-load-aware adaptive PoW difficulty

.changeset/adaptive-pow-pipeline.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+"nostream": minor
+---
+
+feat: add relay-load-aware adaptive PoW difficulty (NIP-13)
+
+Adds `limits.event.pow` settings that scale the required proof-of-work difficulty between a
+configured floor and ceiling based on the observed event rate, in place of the existing static
+`minLeadingZeroBits` values. The event rate is tracked per worker process with the same EWMA shape
+already used by the relay's rate limiter. Disabled by default (`limits.event.pow.enabled: false`),
+so existing static PoW configuration is unaffected unless explicitly opted in.

CONFIGURATION.md

@@ -159,11 +159,16 @@ The settings below are listed in alphabetical order by name. Please keep this ta
 | limits.event.content[].maxLength            | Maximum length of `content`. Defaults to 1 MB. Disabled when set to zero. |
 | limits.event.createdAt.maxNegativeDelta     | Maximum number of seconds an event's `created_at` can be in the past. Defaults to zero. Disabled when set to zero. |
 | limits.event.createdAt.maxPositiveDelta     | Maximum number of seconds an event's `created_at` can be in the future. Defaults to 900 (15 minutes). Disabled when set to zero. |
-| limits.event.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits     | Leading zero bits required on every incoming event for proof of work. Defaults to zero. Disabled when set to zero. |
+| limits.event.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits     | Leading zero bits required on every incoming event for proof of work. Defaults to zero. Disabled when set to zero. Ignored on the client path while `limits.event.pow.enabled` is true (mirrored events from `static-mirroring-worker.ts` still enforce this static value). |
 | limits.event.kind.blacklist                 | List of event kinds to always reject. Leave empty to allow any. |
 | limits.event.kind.whitelist                 | List of event kinds to always allow. Leave empty to allow any. |
+| limits.event.pow.ceilingBits                | Maximum adaptive PoW difficulty, reached at 2x `targetEventsPerSecond` and beyond. |
+| limits.event.pow.enabled                    | Enables load-aware PoW difficulty scaling, applied to both eventId and pubkey checks, in place of the static `minLeadingZeroBits` values. Defaults to false. |
+| limits.event.pow.floorBits                  | Minimum adaptive PoW difficulty, used at or under `targetEventsPerSecond`. |
+| limits.event.pow.periodMs                   | EWMA half-life (ms) used to smooth the observed event rate. |
+| limits.event.pow.targetEventsPerSecond      | Event-rate threshold above which the adaptive difficulty starts climbing toward `ceilingBits`. |
 | limits.event.pubkey.blacklist               | List of public keys to always reject. Public keys in this list will not be able to post to this relay. |
-| limits.event.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits      | Leading zero bits required on the public key of incoming events for proof of work. Defaults to zero. Disabled when set to zero. |
+| limits.event.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits      | Leading zero bits required on the public key of incoming events for proof of work. Defaults to zero. Disabled when set to zero. Ignored on the client path while `limits.event.pow.enabled` is true (mirrored events from `static-mirroring-worker.ts` still enforce this static value). |
 | limits.event.pubkey.whitelist               | List of public keys to always allow. Only public keys in this list will be able to post to this relay. Use for private relays. |
 | limits.event.rateLimits[].kinds             | List of event kinds rate limited. Use `[min, max]` for ranges. Optional. |
 | limits.event.rateLimits[].period | Rate limiting period in milliseconds. For `sliding_window`: the time window during which requests are counted. For `ewma`: the half-life of the exponential decay — shorter values forget bursts faster, longer values are stricter on bursty clients. |

resources/default-settings.yaml

@@ -218,6 +218,15 @@ limits:
         whitelist: []
     eventId:
       minLeadingZeroBits: 0
+    # Adaptive PoW: scales the required difficulty (applied to both eventId
+    # and pubkey checks) with observed relay load instead of using a fixed
+    # minLeadingZeroBits value. Disabled by default.
+    pow:
+      enabled: false
+      floorBits: 0
+      ceilingBits: 24
+      targetEventsPerSecond: 50
+      periodMs: 60000
     kind:
       whitelist: []
       blacklist: []

src/@types/settings.ts

@@ -92,6 +92,19 @@ export interface EventRetentionLimits {
   pubkey?: EventRetentionPubkeyLimits
 }
 
+export interface AdaptivePowSettings {
+  /** Enables load-aware difficulty scaling; replaces the eventId/pubkey minLeadingZeroBits checks while enabled. Defaults to false. */
+  enabled: boolean
+  /** Minimum required difficulty, used at/under targetEventsPerSecond. */
+  floorBits: number
+  /** Maximum required difficulty, reached at 2x targetEventsPerSecond and beyond. */
+  ceilingBits: number
+  /** Event-rate threshold (same EWMA scale as limits.event.rateLimits) above which difficulty starts climbing. */
+  targetEventsPerSecond: number
+  /** EWMA half-life in ms used to smooth the observed event rate. */
+  periodMs: number
+}
+
 export interface EventLimits {
   eventId?: EventIdLimits
   pubkey?: PubkeyLimits
@@ -101,6 +114,7 @@ export interface EventLimits {
   rateLimits?: EventRateLimit[]
   whitelists?: EventWhitelists
   retention?: EventRetentionLimits
+  pow?: AdaptivePowSettings
 }
 
 export interface ClientSubscriptionLimits {

src/handlers/event-message-handler.ts

@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+import {
+  getCurrentDifficulty as getAdaptivePowDifficulty,
+  recordEvent as recordAdaptivePowEvent,
+} from '../utils/adaptive-pow'
 import { ContextMetadataKey, EventExpirationTimeMetadataKey, EventKinds } from '../constants/base'
 import { attemptValidation } from '../utils/validation'
 import { eventSchema } from '../schemas/event-schema'
@@ -127,6 +131,16 @@ export class EventMessageHandler implements IMessageHandler {
       return
     }
 
+    // Recorded here, not inside canAcceptEvent's PoW branch: only events that
+    // clear every admission check (PoW, blacklist, auth, NIP-05, dedup, ...)
+    // should count toward the load signal. Recording earlier would let cheap,
+    // easily-rejected spam (e.g. from rotating pubkeys) push the difficulty to
+    // ceiling for everyone without the attacker ever doing any real work.
+    const powSettings = this.settings().limits?.event?.pow
+    if (powSettings?.enabled) {
+      recordAdaptivePowEvent(powSettings.periodMs)
+    }
+
     const strategy = this.strategyFactory([event, this.webSocket])
 
     if (typeof strategy?.execute !== 'function') {
@@ -195,17 +209,31 @@ export class EventMessageHandler implements IMessageHandler {
       return `rejected: created_at is more than ${limits.createdAt.maxNegativeDelta} seconds in the past`
     }
 
-    if (typeof limits.eventId?.minLeadingZeroBits !== 'undefined' && limits.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits > 0) {
+    if (limits.pow?.enabled) {
+      const requiredBits = getAdaptivePowDifficulty(limits.pow)
+
       const pow = getEventProofOfWork(event.id)
-      if (pow < limits.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits) {
-        return `pow: difficulty ${pow}<${limits.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits}`
+      if (pow < requiredBits) {
+        return `pow: difficulty ${pow}<${requiredBits}`
       }
-    }
 
-    if (typeof limits.pubkey?.minLeadingZeroBits !== 'undefined' && limits.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits > 0) {
-      const pow = getPubkeyProofOfWork(event.pubkey)
-      if (pow < limits.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits) {
-        return `pow: pubkey difficulty ${pow}<${limits.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits}`
+      const pubkeyPow = getPubkeyProofOfWork(event.pubkey)
+      if (pubkeyPow < requiredBits) {
+        return `pow: pubkey difficulty ${pubkeyPow}<${requiredBits}`
+      }
+    } else {
+      if (typeof limits.eventId?.minLeadingZeroBits !== 'undefined' && limits.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits > 0) {
+        const pow = getEventProofOfWork(event.id)
+        if (pow < limits.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits) {
+          return `pow: difficulty ${pow}<${limits.eventId.minLeadingZeroBits}`
+        }
+      }
+
+      if (typeof limits.pubkey?.minLeadingZeroBits !== 'undefined' && limits.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits > 0) {
+        const pow = getPubkeyProofOfWork(event.pubkey)
+        if (pow < limits.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits) {
+          return `pow: pubkey difficulty ${pow}<${limits.pubkey.minLeadingZeroBits}`
+        }
       }
     }
 

src/handlers/request-handlers/root-request-handler.ts

@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ export const rootRequestHandler = (request: Request, response: Response, next: N
       settings.nip42?.authRequired === true ||
       (eventLimits?.eventId?.minLeadingZeroBits ?? 0) > 0 ||
       (eventLimits?.pubkey?.minLeadingZeroBits ?? 0) > 0 ||
+      eventLimits?.pow?.enabled === true ||
       (eventLimits?.pubkey?.whitelist?.length ?? 0) > 0 ||
       (eventLimits?.pubkey?.blacklist?.length ?? 0) > 0 ||
       (eventLimits?.kind?.whitelist?.length ?? 0) > 0 ||
@@ -107,7 +108,12 @@ export const rootRequestHandler = (request: Request, response: Response, next: N
         max_content_length: Array.isArray(content)
           ? content[0].maxLength // best guess since we have per-kind limits
           : content?.maxLength,
-        min_pow_difficulty: eventLimits?.eventId?.minLeadingZeroBits,
+        // When adaptive PoW is enabled it replaces the static minLeadingZeroBits checks
+        // entirely, so advertise its floor -- the guaranteed minimum; the live requirement
+        // can be higher under load, but there's no static number to promise instead.
+        min_pow_difficulty: eventLimits?.pow?.enabled
+          ? eventLimits.pow.floorBits
+          : eventLimits?.eventId?.minLeadingZeroBits,
         // NIP-11: auth_required means AUTH before any action. We only gate publishes
         // via nip42.authRequired (advertised as restricted_writes instead).
         auth_required: false,

src/utils/adaptive-pow.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { AdaptivePowSettings } from '../@types/settings'
+import { calculateEWMA } from './ewma-rate-limiter'
+
+// Per-worker in-process state: adaptive PoW is a soft anti-spam gate, not a
+// hard cross-worker limit, so there's no need to pay a Redis round-trip on
+// every single event just to read a difficulty threshold.
+let rate = 0
+// 0, not Date.now(): the first recordEvent() call computes a huge deltaT
+// against it, which decays rOld (0) to effectively nothing before adding
+// the new hit -- exactly "never recorded before" without a special case.
+let lastEventAt = 0
+
+export const recordEvent = (periodMs: number, now: number = Date.now()): void => {
+  rate = calculateEWMA(rate, Math.max(0, now - lastEventAt), periodMs, 1)
+  lastEventAt = now
+}
+
+export const getCurrentRate = (): number => rate
+
+// calculateEWMA's `rate` is a recency-weighted event count, not a per-second
+// rate: at a steady R events/sec it converges to R * periodMs/1000/ln(2) --
+// about 86.6x R at the default 60s half-life. Divide back out by that same
+// factor before comparing against targetEventsPerSecond, which is per-second.
+export const getCurrentEventsPerSecond = (periodMs: number): number => rate / (periodMs / 1000 / Math.LN2)
+
+export const resetAdaptivePowState = (): void => {
+  rate = 0
+  lastEventAt = 0
+}
+
+export const getCurrentDifficulty = (config: AdaptivePowSettings): number => {
+  const eventsPerSecond = getCurrentEventsPerSecond(config.periodMs)
+
+  if (config.targetEventsPerSecond <= 0 || eventsPerSecond <= config.targetEventsPerSecond) {
+    return config.floorBits
+  }
+
+  const ratio = eventsPerSecond / config.targetEventsPerSecond
+  const scaled = config.floorBits + Math.ceil((ratio - 1) * (config.ceilingBits - config.floorBits))
+
+  return Math.max(config.floorBits, Math.min(config.ceilingBits, scaled))
+}

src/utils/settings-config.ts

@@ -593,6 +593,22 @@ export const validateSettings = (settings: Settings): ValidationIssue[] => {
     issues.push({ path: 'limits.rateLimiter.strategy', message: 'strategy must be ewma or sliding_window' })
   }
 
+  const pow = settings.limits?.event?.pow
+  if (pow?.enabled) {
+    if (!(pow.floorBits >= 0) || !(pow.floorBits <= pow.ceilingBits)) {
+      issues.push({ path: 'limits.event.pow.floorBits', message: 'floorBits must be >= 0 and <= ceilingBits' })
+    }
+    if (!(pow.periodMs > 0)) {
+      issues.push({ path: 'limits.event.pow.periodMs', message: 'periodMs must be greater than 0' })
+    }
+    if (!(pow.targetEventsPerSecond > 0)) {
+      issues.push({
+        path: 'limits.event.pow.targetEventsPerSecond',
+        message: 'targetEventsPerSecond must be greater than 0',
+      })
+    }
+  }
+
   validateShape(loadDefaults(), settings, [], issues)
 
   return issues