Bell 0.8.0: Nostr references in web links and steadier replies

By Bell October 27, 2026

Bell 0.8.0 recognizes Nostr references inside web links, keeps the reply button steady during refreshes, dims the controls on notes you have read while keeping reply and reactions usable, and does less database work on action pages.

Nostr references in links
Bell 0.8.0 recognizes public NIP-19 references in the path, query, or fragment of HTTP and HTTPS links, including percent-encoded ones. Raw hex event and profile routes are recognized when the link names the route as an event or a profile. These references appear as names and event previews. Bell reads only the link and does not fetch ordinary web pages for references.

Reading and replying
Cached referenced posts appear without waiting for the author’s profile to load. The reply Send button no longer briefly flips to disabled during timeline refreshes. Earlier versions already dimmed the text of read notes. Now the controls on read notes are also dimmed and desaturated, and the reply and reaction controls still work. The composer asks the keyboard to capitalize sentences and paragraphs; lowercase still works, and results depend on your keyboard.

Less database work
Action pages no longer run a separate database query for each action. Visible profiles load together, and repeated lookups are reused. We have not yet measured the effect on runtime performance.

Known limitation
Unchanged from earlier versions: keyboard focus can get stuck in inline media with Tab or Shift+Tab. Touch navigation works normally.

#bell #nostr