content: Optional reason for deletion
Kind 5 is a deletion request for one or more previous events by the same author. The 'e' tags list the event IDs to delete, and 'k' tags list the event kinds being deleted. Relays supporting NIP-09 SHOULD delete matching events. Deletion is not guaranteed – relays may ignore it, and events already cached by other relays persist.
Details
Kind 5 (event deletion) is a request to relays to remove previously published events.
Kind 5 tags: ["e", "event-id-to-delete"] – event ID to delete (can be multiple e tags) ["k", "event-kind"] – kind number of the events being deleted (e.g., "1" for notes) ["a", "kind:pubkey:d-tag"] – for parameterized replaceable events
Content: optional reason for deletion (shown by some clients).
Limitations: - Relays are not required to honor deletion requests (NIP-09 says SHOULD, not MUST) - Events already fetched and cached by other relays are not deleted there - Events seen by clients before deletion are not removed from those clients' caches - Only the original author can delete their own events (sig verification by relay) - Events deleted are not recoverable – clients should confirm before deleting
This is a fundamental property of Nostr's relay-based model: once an event is propagated, true deletion is impossible without cooperation from all relays that stored it. Users should treat published Nostr content as permanent.
Required Event Fields
Examples
{
"kind": 5,
"tags": [
["e", "event-id-to-delete"],
["k", "1"]
],
"content": "Posted by mistake",
"id": "...",
"sig": "..."
}