ActivityPub/Fediverse connectivity?

Does UNA work with the ActivityPub protocol/Fediverse? Allowing posts to be shared or incoming posts via ActivityPub?

If not, are there any plans for ActivityPub/Fediverse connectivity? Or an app that could be purchased to add this feature?

I am currently setting up my site using UNA, and getting it up and running complete and testing is going well. However, some of my users expressed interest in Fediverse connectivity, so I am also checking out Friendica as an alternative software.

UNA is way better looking and WAY more user-friendly than Friendica (both on the admin side and the user side), and has great support here in the Discussions. I'd rather stick with UNA if I can, but my users are really interested in the idea of being able to follow content from other websites (eg mastodon, bluesky, pixelfed, etc) to make the site a more "all in one" social hub.

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Replies (7)

    • Explored it a lot. Just like with data export protocols, decentralised federation protocols are very fragmented. There are at least 8 major ones and everyone is pulling the blanket. We actually built an early prototype based on PubSubHubbub spec about 10 years ago and same thing happened - nobody wants to agree on a spec and federations are siloed. UNA is meant to allow flexible schemas too, so adopting any one social protocol would mean forcing fixed architecture that may or may not survive. It’s possible that there will be a clear standard at some point, but as of now - we’re watching.

      • More likely scenario would a starter kit configured with a fediverse server integration.

        • How about the multi-site feature, for several connected but independent Una instances. Still no documentation on how to set up this yet?

          • That makes sense. Thank you!

            • There are a few different potential concepts here:

              1. Multi-tenant app. One database, multiple sub-communities. This can be done by configuring a context to work as a sub-community, with its own subdomain, logo, feed and members. Each Space has same core schema, but presents as its own mini-network depending on what fields can modified by admins. Many apps like Circle, Skool, MightyNetworks work this way. We have a development version of it running on UNA.SO. There are some flows we need to test before releasing, so it's likely to be one of the early v15 features.
              2. Multi-app network. Separate databases, different schemas, same Auth. This is possible now with SSO - setup separate networks, run one as an oAuth ID Server, and others as Clients. This way users can login to networked communities with same ID. It is possible to remove the "re-login" step in some situations, depending on your backend configuration. External SSO providers like Okta can be used as well.
              3. Federation. Federation is similar to SSO-based multi-app network, in a sense that users only need one account to participate in federated networks. The difference is that there can be multiple ID servers, so some sites can issue and process authorisations and some can work as clients only. It is of course imperative that all servers comply with a "protocol" of the federation to ensure safety and compatibility. In a trustless federation complied with protocol can't be left to administrative decisions - instead it the protocol itself includes logic that handles account verification (aka "immutable identifier"). That's where politics begin - everyone wants to be at the helm of creating THE protocol for social IDs, not unlike various blockchain/crypto protocols (blockchains) are claiming to "get it right". Protocols don't interop directly either, so you have to denormalise data if you want to integrate multiple ones, which is akin to creating your own protocol again.

              So, which one?

              • Una already have possibility for Multi-app network. Federation isn't really great for Una flexible schemas framework since all participating networks will have fixed apps and schemas.

                So my interest is in Multi-tenant app. I believe when the multi-site feature was first discussed by you, it's focus was on the Multi-tenant app. Have been trying to set-up this but unfortunately not able to get it to working right since no documentation yet on its full configuration. I hope you can finally help out on this.

                • @Andrey Yasko awaiting your prompt response.

                  Una already have possibility for Multi-app network. Federation isn't really great for Una flexible schemas framework since all participating networks will have fixed apps and schemas.

                  So my interest is in Multi-tenant app. I believe when the multi-site feature was first discussed by you, it's focus was on the Multi-tenant app. Have been trying to set-up this but unfortunately not able to get it to working right since no documentation yet on its full configuration. I hope you can finally help out on this.
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