Fediverse Discovery Providers
4 days ago
- #Privacy
- #Discovery
- #Fediverse
- The Fediscovery project aims to improve search and discovery on the Fediverse through a decentralized, pluggable service.
- Presented at FOSDEM 2025, the project focuses on privacy, user choice, and interoperability across Fediverse services.
- Current Fediverse discovery is limited, often restricted to individual instances, posing challenges for small instances.
- Project goals include developing protocols and a reference implementation for cross-instance content discovery, respecting privacy settings.
- Privacy measures ensure only opt-in, public content is indexed, with strict data sharing protocols.
- Community feedback is encouraged to make the project useful for all Fediverse services, not just Mastodon.
- Specifications cover server-provider interactions, data sharing, trends, account search, and follow recommendations.
- A reference implementation in Ruby on Rails is provided, including plugins for easier provider development.
- Funded by NGI Search and implemented by Mastodon gGmbH, the project supports open, privacy-respecting search innovations.
- FAQs address concerns about centralization, privacy, and the project's applicability beyond Mastodon.