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+# viewercount
+
+Just a small executable I made for myself using
+[rust-nostr](https://rust-nostr.org) to update the viewer count on
+[zap.stream](https://zap.stream) live streams.
+
+If you self-host your own stream (by providing a m3u8 URL), then by default,
+zap.stream always shows '0 viewers' because the stream is not hosted by
+zap.stream's servers, so they can't possibly know the number of viewers by
+themselves.
+
+Fortunately, [nostr NIP53 Live Activies
+replaceable events](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/53.md)
+may contain a special `current_participants` tag that signals to nostr clients
+the number of live stream viewers.
+
+There was no previously existing software that allowed to change that tag.
+
+I made `viewercount` so that you can run it on the same machine that is hosting
+the m3u8 live stream and periodically update the `current_participants` tag of
+your live stream NIP53 events.
+
+## Install
+
+```bash
+cargo install viewercount
+```
+
+The `viewercount` binary will be in `~/.cargo/bin/viewercount`
+
+Or manually:
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/sommerfelddev/viewercount
+cd viewercount
+cargo build --release
+```
+
+The `viewercount` binary will be in `target/release/viewercount`.
+
+
+## Usage
+
+```
+Usage: viewercount [OPTIONS] [NADDRS]...
+
+Arguments:
+  [NADDRS]...  specific naddrs of Live Events to update, if none, all user authored Live Events that are 'live' will be updated
+
+Options:
+  -i, --interval <INTERVAL>  watch interval in seconds [default: 60]
+      --reset-nip46          remove previously cached NIP46 signer credentials and ask for new ones
+  -h, --help                 Print help
+  -V, --version              Print version
+```
+
+You can just run it without any arguments. It will ask for a [NIP46 nsecbunker
+URI](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/46.md) which you can
+easily obtain if using [Amber](https://github.com/greenart7c3/Amber),
+[Keystache](https://github.com/Resolvr-io/Keystache),
+[nsec.app](https://nsec.app/) or [nsecbunker.com](https://nsecbunker.com/).
+
+You just need to copy paste the URI on the first run, and it will then use your
+[NIP65 outbox relays](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/65.md)
+in combination with [zap.stream's default relays](https://github.com/v0l/zap.stream/blob/f369faf9c0242f0dd7f6cfff52547f86e20127fc/src/const.ts#L27-L32).
+
+The daemon will measure the number of live stream HLS connections by checking
+for system TCP sockets on source port 443 with an established state that lasts
+longer than 1 second.