diff --git a/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts b/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
index d1bc244..211eb77 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import * as mixer from '@/mixer.ts';
 import { getAuthor, getFollowedPubkeys, getFollows, syncUser } from '@/queries.ts';
 import { booleanParamSchema, fileSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { jsonMetaContentSchema } from '@/schemas/nostr.ts';
-import { toAccount, toRelationship, toStatus } from '@/transformers/nostr-to-mastoapi.ts';
+import { accountFromPubkey, toAccount, toRelationship, toStatus } from '@/transformers/nostr-to-mastoapi.ts';
 import { isFollowing, lookupAccount, nostrNow, Time } from '@/utils.ts';
 import { paginated, paginationSchema, parseBody } from '@/utils/web.ts';
 import { createEvent } from '@/utils/web.ts';
@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@ const verifyCredentialsController: AppController = async (c) => {
   const event = await getAuthor(pubkey);
   if (event) {
     return c.json(await toAccount(event, { withSource: true }));
+  } else {
+    return c.json(await accountFromPubkey(pubkey, { withSource: true }));
   }
-
-  return c.json({ error: 'Could not find user.' }, 404);
 };
 
 const accountController: AppController = async (c) => {
diff --git a/src/deps.ts b/src/deps.ts
index a31d988..35b4763 100644
--- a/src/deps.ts
+++ b/src/deps.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export {
   nip13,
   nip19,
   nip21,
+  type UnsignedEvent,
   verifySignature,
 } from 'npm:nostr-tools@^1.14.0';
 export { findReplyTag } from 'https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/mostr/-/raw/c67064aee5ade5e01597c6d23e22e53c628ef0e2/src/nostr/tags.ts';
diff --git a/src/transformers/nostr-to-mastoapi.ts b/src/transformers/nostr-to-mastoapi.ts
index 5fc02a8..0bf09f3 100644
--- a/src/transformers/nostr-to-mastoapi.ts
+++ b/src/transformers/nostr-to-mastoapi.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@ import { isCWTag } from 'https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/mostr/-/raw/c67064aee5ad
 
 import { Conf } from '@/config.ts';
 import * as eventsDB from '@/db/events.ts';
-import { type Event, findReplyTag, lodash, nip19, sanitizeHtml, TTLCache, unfurl } from '@/deps.ts';
+import { type Event, findReplyTag, lodash, nip19, sanitizeHtml, TTLCache, unfurl, type UnsignedEvent } from '@/deps.ts';
 import { getMediaLinks, parseNoteContent } from '@/note.ts';
 import { getAuthor, getFollowedPubkeys, getFollows } from '@/queries.ts';
 import { emojiTagSchema, filteredArray } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { jsonMediaDataSchema, jsonMetaContentSchema } from '@/schemas/nostr.ts';
-import { isFollowing, type Nip05, nostrDate, parseNip05, Time } from '@/utils.ts';
+import { isFollowing, type Nip05, nostrDate, nostrNow, parseNip05, Time } from '@/utils.ts';
 import { verifyNip05Cached } from '@/utils/nip05.ts';
 import { findUser } from '@/db/users.ts';
 import { DittoAttachment, renderAttachment } from '@/views/attachment.ts';
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ interface ToAccountOpts {
   withSource?: boolean;
 }
 
-async function toAccount(event: Event<0>, opts: ToAccountOpts = {}) {
+async function toAccount(event: UnsignedEvent<0>, opts: ToAccountOpts = {}) {
   const { withSource = false } = opts;
 
   const { pubkey } = event;
@@ -75,6 +75,18 @@ async function toAccount(event: Event<0>, opts: ToAccountOpts = {}) {
   };
 }
 
+function accountFromPubkey(pubkey: string, opts: ToAccountOpts = {}) {
+  const event: UnsignedEvent<0> = {
+    kind: 0,
+    pubkey,
+    content: '',
+    tags: [],
+    created_at: nostrNow(),
+  };
+
+  return toAccount(event, opts);
+}
+
 async function parseAndVerifyNip05(nip05: string | undefined, pubkey: string): Promise<Nip05 | undefined> {
   if (nip05 && await verifyNip05Cached(nip05, pubkey)) {
     return parseNip05(nip05);
@@ -257,7 +269,7 @@ function unfurlCardCached(url: string): Promise<PreviewCard | null> {
   return card;
 }
 
-function toEmojis(event: Event) {
+function toEmojis(event: UnsignedEvent) {
   const emojiTags = event.tags.filter((tag) => tag[0] === 'emoji');
 
   return filteredArray(emojiTagSchema).parse(emojiTags)
@@ -310,4 +322,4 @@ async function toNotificationMention(event: Event<1>, viewerPubkey?: string) {
   };
 }
 
-export { toAccount, toNotification, toRelationship, toStatus };
+export { accountFromPubkey, toAccount, toNotification, toRelationship, toStatus };