diff --git a/nip13/nip13.go b/nip13/nip13.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35a7d1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nip13/nip13.go
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+// Package nip13 implements NIP-13
+// See https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/13.md for details.
+package nip13
+
+import (
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"errors"
+	"math/bits"
+	"strconv"
+	"time"
+
+	nostr "github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr"
+)
+
+var (
+	ErrDifficultyTooLow = errors.New("nip13: insufficient difficulty")
+	ErrGenerateTimeout  = errors.New("nip13: generating proof of work took too long")
+)
+
+// Difficulty counts the number of leading zero bits in an event ID.
+// It returns a negative number if the event ID is malformed.
+func Difficulty(eventID string) int {
+	if len(eventID) != 64 {
+		return -1
+	}
+	var zeros int
+	for i := 0; i < 64; i += 2 {
+		if eventID[i:i+2] == "00" {
+			zeros += 8
+			continue
+		}
+		var b [1]byte
+		if _, err := hex.Decode(b[:], []byte{eventID[i], eventID[i+1]}); err != nil {
+			return -1
+		}
+		zeros += bits.LeadingZeros8(b[0])
+		break
+	}
+	return zeros
+}
+
+// Check reports whether the event ID demonstrates a sufficient proof of work difficulty.
+// Note that Check performs no validation other than counting leading zero bits
+// in an event ID. It is up to the callers to verify the event with other methods,
+// such as [nostr.Event.CheckSignature].
+func Check(eventID string, minDifficulty int) error {
+	if Difficulty(eventID) < minDifficulty {
+		return ErrDifficultyTooLow
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Generate performs proof of work on the specified event until either the target
+// difficulty is reached or the function runs for longer than the timeout.
+// The latter case results in ErrGenerateTimeout.
+//
+// Upon success, the returned event always contains a "nonce" tag with the target difficulty
+// commitment, and an updated event.CreatedAt.
+func Generate(event *nostr.Event, targetDifficulty int, timeout time.Duration) (*nostr.Event, error) {
+	tag := nostr.Tag{"nonce", "", strconv.Itoa(targetDifficulty)}
+	event.Tags = append(event.Tags, tag)
+	var nonce uint64
+	start := time.Now()
+	for {
+		nonce++
+		tag[1] = strconv.FormatUint(nonce, 10)
+		event.CreatedAt = time.Now()
+		if Difficulty(event.GetID()) >= targetDifficulty {
+			return event, nil
+		}
+		// benchmarks show one iteration is approx 3000ns on i7-8565U @ 1.8GHz.
+		// so, check every 3ms; arbitrary
+		if nonce%1000 == 0 && time.Since(start) > timeout {
+			return nil, ErrGenerateTimeout
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/nip13/nip13_test.go b/nip13/nip13_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1e4409
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nip13/nip13_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+package nip13
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	nostr "github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr"
+)
+
+func TestCheck(t *testing.T) {
+	const eventID = "000000000e9d97a1ab09fc381030b346cdd7a142ad57e6df0b46dc9bef6c7e2d"
+	tests := []struct {
+		minDifficulty int
+		wantErr       error
+	}{
+		{-1, nil},
+		{0, nil},
+		{1, nil},
+		{35, nil},
+		{36, nil},
+		{37, ErrDifficultyTooLow},
+		{42, ErrDifficultyTooLow},
+	}
+	for i, tc := range tests {
+		if err := Check(eventID, tc.minDifficulty); err != tc.wantErr {
+			t.Errorf("%d: Check(%q, %d) returned %v; want err: %v", i, eventID, tc.minDifficulty, err, tc.wantErr)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenerateShort(t *testing.T) {
+	event := &nostr.Event{
+		Kind:    1,
+		Content: "It's just me mining my own business",
+		PubKey:  "a48380f4cfcc1ad5378294fcac36439770f9c878dd880ffa94bb74ea54a6f243",
+	}
+	pow, err := Generate(event, 0, 3*time.Second)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	testNonceTag(t, pow, 0)
+}
+
+func TestGenerateLong(t *testing.T) {
+	if testing.Short() {
+		t.Skip("too consuming for short mode")
+	}
+	for _, difficulty := range []int{8, 16} {
+		difficulty := difficulty
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%dbits", difficulty), func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+			event := &nostr.Event{
+				Kind:    1,
+				Content: "It's just me mining my own business",
+				PubKey:  "a48380f4cfcc1ad5378294fcac36439770f9c878dd880ffa94bb74ea54a6f243",
+			}
+			pow, err := Generate(event, difficulty, time.Minute)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if err := Check(pow.GetID(), difficulty); err != nil {
+				t.Error(err)
+			}
+			testNonceTag(t, pow, difficulty)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func testNonceTag(t *testing.T, event *nostr.Event, commitment int) {
+	t.Helper()
+	tagptr := event.Tags.GetFirst([]string{"nonce"})
+	if tagptr == nil {
+		t.Fatal("no nonce tag")
+	}
+	tag := *tagptr
+	if tag[0] != "nonce" {
+		t.Errorf("tag[0] = %q; want 'nonce'", tag[0])
+	}
+	if n, err := strconv.ParseInt(tag[1], 10, 64); err != nil || n < 1 {
+		t.Errorf("tag[1] = %q; want an int greater than 0", tag[1])
+	}
+	if n, err := strconv.Atoi(tag[2]); err != nil || n != commitment {
+		t.Errorf("tag[2] = %q; want %d", tag[2], commitment)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenerateTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	event := &nostr.Event{
+		Kind:    1,
+		Content: "It's just me mining my own business",
+		PubKey:  "a48380f4cfcc1ad5378294fcac36439770f9c878dd880ffa94bb74ea54a6f243",
+	}
+	done := make(chan error)
+	go func() {
+		_, err := Generate(event, 256, time.Millisecond)
+		done <- err
+	}()
+	select {
+	case <-time.After(time.Second):
+		t.Error("Generate took too long to timeout")
+	case err := <-done:
+		if !errors.Is(err, ErrGenerateTimeout) {
+			t.Errorf("Generate returned %v; want ErrGenerateTimeout", err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkCheck(b *testing.B) {
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		Check("000000000e9d97a1ab09fc381030b346cdd7a142ad57e6df0b46dc9bef6c7e2d", 36)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkGenerateOneIteration(b *testing.B) {
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		event := &nostr.Event{
+			Kind:    1,
+			Content: "It's just me mining my own business",
+			PubKey:  "a48380f4cfcc1ad5378294fcac36439770f9c878dd880ffa94bb74ea54a6f243",
+		}
+		if _, err := Generate(event, 0, time.Minute); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkGenerate(b *testing.B) {
+	if testing.Short() {
+		b.Skip("too consuming for short mode")
+	}
+	for _, difficulty := range []int{8, 16, 24} {
+		difficulty := difficulty
+		b.Run(fmt.Sprintf("%dbits", difficulty), func(b *testing.B) {
+			for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+				event := &nostr.Event{
+					Kind:    1,
+					Content: "It's just me mining my own business",
+					PubKey:  "a48380f4cfcc1ad5378294fcac36439770f9c878dd880ffa94bb74ea54a6f243",
+				}
+				if _, err := Generate(event, difficulty, time.Minute); err != nil {
+					b.Fatal(err)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}