# Getting started

From nothing to a first answer. There is no form to fill in, so most of this is explaining what just happened.

## Open Nymbot

The web app is at [nymbot.ai/app](https://nymbot.ai/app). It installs like a native app if you want it to — "Add to Home Screen" on a phone, the install icon in the address bar on a desktop — and works the same either way. There are also [Android and iOS builds](https://nymbot.ai/docs/apps/), though not yet in any store.

The first time it opens it generates a keypair and asks you to pick a nym: a display name, not a username. Nobody checks it and nobody reserves it, because it is not what identifies you. Your public key is.

## Your key is your account

Nymbot has no user table. The private key sitting in your browser's storage is the whole account:

- It signs the messages you send, which is how the server knows a request is really yours.
- Your credit balance is filed under its public half.
- Your conversation history is encrypted to it, so only that key can read it back.

Which means two things worth taking seriously. **Back it up.** Settings → Identity shows your `nsec` — write it down somewhere offline, because nobody can reissue it. And **protect it on the device**: turn on [identity encryption](https://nymbot.ai/docs/identity/#encryption-at-rest) so the key is unreadable in storage without your passphrase, biometric or hardware key.

If you already use [Nymchat](https://nymchat.app) or any other Nostr app, sign in with that `nsec` or a browser extension instead, and your existing credits and Nymbot history come with you.

> **Note**
>
> Nymbot and Nymchat share one balance and one identity. Buying credits in either tops up the same account, and you can move between the two apps freely.

## Your first conversation

Press **New chat** and type. The first thing you say names the conversation — see [where the titles come from](https://nymbot.ai/docs/chats/#titles) — and everything after it is one continuous thread the model can see.

Above the composer is the toolbar:

| Control | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Standard / Pro** | Which [balance](https://nymbot.ai/docs/credits/#two-balances) this conversation spends. |
| **Model** | Auto-routed, or one frontier model you pin. See [models](https://nymbot.ai/docs/models/). |
| **Git** | Connects a [repository](https://nymbot.ai/docs/git/) Pro replies can read and edit. |
| **Anon** | Moves the chat onto a [throwaway key](https://nymbot.ai/docs/anonymous/). |
| **Buy** | Tops up over Lightning. |

Anything starting with `?` is a command rather than a question — `?help` is free and handled on your own device. The full list is in the [command reference](https://nymbot.ai/docs/commands/).

## Buying credits

Replies cost credits, and you start with none. `?buy`, or the **Buy** button, opens a Lightning invoice; pay it from any Lightning wallet and the balance lands in a few seconds.

Standard credits are 10 sats each and buy auto-routed replies. Pro credits are 100 sats each and buy replies from a specific frontier model. They are separate balances and neither converts into the other. [Credits and pricing](https://nymbot.ai/docs/credits/) has the detail, including what an individual reply actually costs.