SocialPub/FEDERATION.md

# Federation

PrivaPub is an ActivityPub server written in C#. This document follows
[FEP-67ff](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/67ff/fep-67ff.md) and describes how it federates.

## Supported federation protocols and standards

- [ActivityPub](https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/) (server-to-server)
- [WebFinger](https://webfinger.net/)
- [HTTP Signatures](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-cavage-http-signatures), `rsa-sha256` / `hs2019` with RSA keys
- [NodeInfo](https://nodeinfo.diaspora.software/) 2.0 and 2.1

## Tested against

End to end, in a private network on the workstation (`tools/pasture/`), each peer driven through its own client API
and every run starting clean, with signed fetches required (as privapub.thepra.dev runs):
- **GoToSocial 0.22.1**
- **Mastodon 4.7.3**
- **Misskey 2026.10**
- **Sharkey 2025.4.7**
- **Akkoma 3.20.1**
- **Lemmy 1.0.0-beta.2**

Checked both ways, where the peer has the feature:
- follows, locked accounts included;
- every visibility, content warnings, replies and their notifications;
- likes, boosts and emoji reactions with their undos;
- direct messages;
- polls;
- quotes;
- images with alt text;
- edits with history and deletes;
- communities and circles;
- blocks and unfollows.

`docs/INTEROP.md` has each peer's evidence and what is still expected to fail. PeerTube, PieFed, Mbin and the others are
covered by unit tests written in their documents' shape.

## Supported FEPs

- [FEP-67ff: FEDERATION.md](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/67ff/fep-67ff.md)
- [FEP-f1d5: NodeInfo in Fediverse Software](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/f1d5/fep-f1d5.md)
- [FEP-2c59: Discovery of a WebFinger address from an ActivityPub actor](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/2c59/fep-2c59.md)
- [FEP-1b12: Group federation](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/1b12/fep-1b12.md) (communities; see "Groups")
- [FEP-044f: Consent-respecting quote posts](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/044f/fep-044f.md)
  (`QuoteAuthorization` at `/parrot-licences/{id}`; checked with Mastodon both ways)
- [FEP-9967: Polls](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/9967/fep-9967.md)
- [FEP-c0e0: Emoji reactions](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/c0e0/fep-c0e0.md) (`EmojiReact`, and Misskey's
  `Like` with content)
- [FEP-5feb: Search indexing consent](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/5feb/fep-5feb.md) (`indexable`)

Planned (see `docs/ROADMAP.md`, phases P7 and P8, and the per-platform notes in `docs/INTEROP.md`): FEP-9098 (custom
emoji), FEP-7888 and FEP-f228 (threads), FEP-7628 (Move), FEP-8fcf (followers synchronisation), FEP-8967 (link
attachments), FEP-521a and FEP-8b32 (keys and integrity proofs), FEP-ae0c (relays).

## Actors

Every account is an *avatar*: one private login can own several, and they are deliberately unlinkable. Nothing in an
actor document, a collection, NodeInfo or a delivery relates two avatars of the same login.

| Thing | Address |
|---|---|
| Actor (Person, Group, Application) | `/peasants/{name}` (`/users/{name}` redirects) |
| Inbox | `/peasants/{name}/mouth` |
| Outbox | `/peasants/{name}/anus` |
| Shared inbox | `/human-centipede` |
| Followers / following | `/peasants/{name}/groupies`, `/peasants/{name}/stalking` |
| Objects | `/peasants/{name}/scribbles/{id}` |
| Activities | `/peasants/{name}/grunts/{id}` |
| Quote permissions (`QuoteAuthorization`) | `/peasants/{name}/parrot-licences/{id}` |
| Direct-message context | `/peasants/{name}/whispers/{id}` |
| Profile and post pages | `/@{name}`, `/@{name}/{id}` |

The names are the project's own and are stable; resolve actors through WebFinger, not by guessing a path.

- The key is `{actor}#main-key`, RSA 2048, served as SPKI PEM with `owner` set to the actor.
- `published` on an actor is a whole day, chosen at random up to two weeks before the account was made, so two
  personas made on the same day do not share a date. `indexable` is `false` unless the persona turns it on, and
  `discoverable` is `true` unless it turns that off (the deploy's own persona, @thepra, is undiscoverable).
- The instance actor is `/peasants/privapub` (type `Application`). It signs every fetch PrivaPub makes, so no avatar's key
  is used to read another server's content.

## Groups

A group is either a **community** or a **circle**.

- A **community** follows [FEP-1b12](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/1b12/fep-1b12.md). Posts
  addressed to it (in `to`, `cc` or `audience`) are accepted according to its posting policy (followers, anyone, or
  moderators only) and the group `Announce`s the whole activity, with `audience` set, to its followers. A new post is
  also announced as an object so Mastodon shows it. Updates and deletes of community content are announced too. A
  top-level post is a `Page` with a `name`. Members are counted at `/flock`; moderators are listed at `/wardens`, which
  the actor's `attributedTo` points to, with `postingRestrictedToMods` as Lemmy expects. A mention of a community posts into it.
- A **circle** is private. Its actor is not discoverable and every follow is a request. Its posts are addressed to the
  circle and its members collection, delivered to each member's own inbox and never announced. Each member's copy also
  names that member in `cc`, so servers that keep only posts naming one of their accounts (Mastodon, GoToSocial) keep
  it; it names no other member. The posts are served only to a signed request from a member, or from the instance actor
  of a member's server, and that copy names the member (or the members on that server); anyone else gets 404. A
  Mastodon member's replies reach only the people they mention.
- Announces from **remote** groups (Lemmy communities) are followed through to the activity: the object is fetched
  from its own origin, never taken from the announce.

## Activities

Received:

| Activity | Effect |
|---|---|
| `Follow` | follows an avatar or community; `Accept` is sent unless the community approves members by hand |
| `Accept{Follow}`, `Reject{Follow}` | completes or ends a follow an avatar requested |
| `Undo{Follow, Like, Announce}` | reverses it |
| `Create{Note, Article, Page, Question, Video, Audio, Event, ChatMessage, …}` | stored when a local avatar follows the author, is addressed or mentioned, when it replies to a local post, or when it is addressed to a community the author follows; a public parent is fetched to complete the thread |
| `Update{Note}` | replaces the content; the previous version is kept |
| `Update{Person}` | refetches the actor |
| `Like` | counted and notified, on posts the liker could see |
| `Dislike` | counted as a downvote (Lemmy, PieFed, Mbin, Friendica); `Undo` takes it back |
| `EmojiReact`, `Like` with an emoji `content` | an emoji reaction (FEP-c0e0; Pleroma, Akkoma, Iceshrimp.NET, Misskey, Sharkey), Unicode or a custom emoji from its `tag`; a `Like` whose content is ❤ stays a favourite; `Undo` takes it back |
| `Join` | answered with `Ignore`: PrivaPub hosts no events yet (FEP-8a8e) |
| `Announce` | counted and notified for local posts; shown to followers of the announcer, with the original refetched from its origin |
| `Delete` | deletes the object, or the actor and its follows; a deleted object id is remembered for 90 days, so a late `Create` cannot bring it back |
| `Flag` | becomes a report for this server's moderators |

Sent: `Follow`, `Undo{Follow}`, `Create{Note}`, `Create{Question}` and poll votes, `EmojiReact` and its `Undo`, `Update{Note}`, `Update{Person}`, `Delete{Tombstone}`, `Accept{Follow}`,
`Reject{Follow}`, `Like`, `Announce` and their `Undo`, `Flag`. A deleted post answers 410 with a `Tombstone`.

- **Attachments** are `Document`s with `mediaType`, `name` (alt text), `blurhash`, `focalPoint`, `width` and `height`.
  Uploaded files have all metadata removed.
- **Pinned posts** are the actor's `featured` collection (`/trophies`); `featuredTags` is `/tattoos`.
- **Blocks are sent.** A blocked remote account receives `Block` from the blocking account (and `Reject{Follow}` if it
  followed); an unblock sends `Undo{Block}`.
- **Reports** are sent as `Flag` by the instance actor, never by the reporting account.

A `Create`'s `Note` carries Mastodon's `content`, `contentMap`, `summary` and `sensitive`, plus `Mention` and `Hashtag`
tags.

**Polls** (FEP-9967) go out as a `Question` with `oneOf` or `anyOf`, each option's count in `replies.totalItems`,
`endTime`, `votersCount`, and `closed` once it has ended. Incoming votes are `Create{Note{name, inReplyTo}}` with no
content, one per choice, counted once per voter. Counts are refreshed with an `Update{Question}` at most every three
minutes. Our own votes on other servers' polls are sent the same way to the poll's author only, without `published`.
An incoming `Update` without a newer `updated` only refreshes counts and details; it is never recorded as an edit.

**Quotes** (FEP-044f, with the older keys):
- **Received.** A quote is read from `quote`, `quoteUrl`, `quoteUri`, `_misskey_quote` or a FEP-e232 `Link` tag.
  - With a `quoteAuthorization`, the stamp is fetched and must be a `QuoteAuthorization` on the quoted author's origin,
    attributed to them, naming exactly the two posts.
  - A FEP-044f `quote` without a stamp is pending until an `Update` brings one.
  - A quote made with the older keys only, by software that asks nobody, is shown when the quoted post is public.
  - A `Delete` of a stamp revokes the quote.
- **Sent.** Our accounts quote with every key, plus the `RE:` fallback.
  - When the quoted post states an `interactionPolicy.canQuote` that allows us, `quote` is included and a `QuoteRequest`
    (with the quoting post as `instrument`) goes to the quoted author. The quote stays pending until their `Accept` brings a
    stamp we can verify; the post is then updated with `quoteAuthorization`.
  - Posts that state no policy are quoted the older way, without `quote`.
  - Quoting posts are also delivered to the quoted author.
- **Quoting our accounts.** Our public and unlisted posts state `interactionPolicy.canQuote`. By default anyone may quote,
  automatically (as on Mastodon); an account can choose followers only or nobody, and so can each post.
  - A `QuoteRequest` is answered with `Accept{result}` naming a stamp at `/peasants/{name}/parrot-licences/{id}`, or
    with `Reject`.
  - A stamp is a `QuoteAuthorization` naming both posts. A revoked stamp answers 410 and is announced with
    `Delete{stamp}`.
  - Followers-only posts and DMs can never be quoted.

**Custom emoji** (`Emoji` tags) are read on posts, display names, bios and profile fields, at most 64 per object.
**Profiles** keep their header, profile fields, `manuallyApprovesFollowers`, `published`, `movedTo`, `indexable`,
`memorial` and avatar and header descriptions. A post's title becomes `name` and is also the first, bold line of `content`, because Mastodon does not show
`name`. A content warning without its own text uses the title, or "Content warning".

Received `summary` is a content warning only on a `Note` or `Question`, or when `sensitive` is `true`. On an `Article`,
`Page`, `Event`, `Video` or `Audio` it is an excerpt or description, kept as such and never hidden.

Visibility is expressed in `to`/`cc` the way Mastodon does it: public, unlisted, followers-only and direct. Inbound
followers-only posts are recognised by the author's own `followers` collection.

## Link previews

For a public post that links to a page, PrivaPub builds a preview card. It uses, in order:
1. a Link attachment's own `preview` (FEP-8967) or the post's own image, title and summary;
2. otherwise, the linked page, read once by the server between 0 and 60 seconds after the post arrives (never when
   someone reads it), with an `Accept: text/html` request that reads at most 512 KB, through the same address checks as
   every other fetch.

The page's OpenGraph and Twitter tags give the title, description and image; the result is cached per address for 7
days and shared by every account on the server. Images are served to clients only through PrivaPub's media proxy.
`Federation:FetchLinkPreviews=false` turns page fetching off.

## Server descriptions and the crawler

PrivaPub keeps statistics about servers, never about accounts (see `/stargazing` on the server).
- **Describing a server:** a server it exchanges activities with is described at most once a week, from:
  - `/.well-known/nodeinfo` and the NodeInfo document it links;
  - `/api/v2/instance`, falling back to `/api/v1/instance`.

  These requests are unsigned, because they are not ActivityPub documents.
- **The crawler** is on at privapub.thepra.dev. It identifies as
  `PrivaPub-Stargazer/<version> (+https://privapub.thepra.dev/stargazing)`.
  - **What it reads:** `/robots.txt`, then the documents above and `/api/v1/instance/peers`, and nothing else: no
    accounts, posts or directories.
  - **How often:** one server a minute, each at most weekly.
  - **Opting out:** in robots.txt, the crawler obeys the group `PrivaPub-Stargazer`, then `PrivaPub`, then `*`. A
    robots.txt that answers with a server error or times out also keeps it out, as do this server's domain blocks.

## Local-only posts

Posts with a location (shown to nearby users of this server) never leave the server, in any form.

## Security rules a peer will notice

- **Signatures.** Inbox POSTs must be signed over `(request-target)`, `host`, `digest` and `date` (or `(created)`). The
  date may be at most one hour old and fifteen minutes ahead. A bad signature gets 401, malformed input 400, an accepted
  activity 202, too many requests 429. Activities are processed after the 202.
- **Origins.** An actor document is accepted only from the address it names as its `id`. A key only if its actor lists
  it with `owner` set to the actor and on the actor's origin. An activity's `id`, and any object it creates, updates or
  deletes, must be on its actor's origin. An embedded object from another origin is fetched from that origin.
- **Fetching.** All fetches are signed by the instance actor. They go only to public addresses, follow at most three
  redirects and read at most 1 MB.
- **Reading our documents (SecureMode).** privapub.thepra.dev answers ActivityPub GETs only when they are signed, like
  Mastodon's authorized fetch; the instance actor `/peasants/privapub` is the exception, since its key is needed first.
  A browser asking for HTML is redirected to the public page instead.
- **Posts that are not public** (followers-only, direct, circle) are served to a signed request from someone they were
  for, or from the instance actor of a server where someone they were for lives, and to nobody else (404). Once deleted
  they answer those same readers 410. A direct message's `context`, `/peasants/{name}/whispers/{id}`, is an
  `OrderedCollection` of the conversation's posts for its participants.
- **HTML.** Received HTML is sanitised to Mastodon's allowlist.
- **Keys we cannot fetch for now.** When a sender's key cannot be fetched because its server timed out or answered
  5xx, the inbox answers 503 with `Retry-After: 300` rather than 401.
- **Activity ids.** `Create` and `Announce` ids dereference, a community's announces included, until the post they
  carry is deleted (then 410); a persona's boost id sends a browser to the boosted post. `Follow`, `Like`, `Block` and
  the `Accept`, `Reject` and `Undo` that answer them do not, because serving them would reveal who follows, likes and
  blocks whom. Neither do `Update`, `Delete`, `EmojiReact`, `QuoteRequest` and its answers, `Flag`, `Ignore` or poll
  votes. All of them are always sent with their object embedded.
- **Hashtags.** A post's `Hashtag` links go to `/tags/{tag}`, a public page of this server's public posts with that tag.
- **Delivery.** Failed deliveries are retried with Mastodon's backoff (16 attempts). A host that keeps failing is paused,
  starting at an hour and growing to a week.

## Known limitations

- Our own posts carry no custom emoji: emoji are received and shown, not offered.
- Remote media is fetched through this server's proxy when a local client displays it. Video and audio are streamed
  through it with byte ranges passed on, so a PeerTube file is never fetched whole for one viewer.
- Collections expose counts, not members: `/groupies` and `/stalking` give the same totals as the Mastodon API's
  follower and following counts, and the outbox's `totalItems` is the persona's post count, though only public posts
  are listed. `/api/v1/instance/peers` is empty: which servers this one talks to is not published.
- Only `rsa-sha256`-style keys are verified. RFC 9421 signatures are planned.