In previous years, I published two "fediverse tech roadmap" posts:
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In previous years, I published two "fediverse tech roadmap" posts:
- Fediverse tech roadmap 2024
- Fediverse tech roadmap 2025However, I didn't publish such post this year because not much has happened in 2025. Many problems I talked about require complex solutions, but unfortunately proposed solutions are often very limited or lead to centralization. Or worse, there is no solution but only an imitation of work. I don't want to write about that.
I saw a thread today where ATProto ecosystem was compared to #ActivityPub. Things are happening in the Atmosphere, but not in Fediverse. MAU graphs are flat. What's going on?
There are multiple factors at play, but I think fake activity may be the biggest contributor. Trivial developments presented as breakthroughs. Features that already exist somewhere in Fediverse presented as new inventions. Vaporware. Specs written by people who have no idea how to implement them. Working groups that do nothing but meetings.
Real work is ignored, competent developers see that and quit.
We need to fix this.
For my part, I will continue to document #Fediverse development at @weekinfediverse. But this newsletter doesn't have much impact.
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In previous years, I published two "fediverse tech roadmap" posts:
- Fediverse tech roadmap 2024
- Fediverse tech roadmap 2025However, I didn't publish such post this year because not much has happened in 2025. Many problems I talked about require complex solutions, but unfortunately proposed solutions are often very limited or lead to centralization. Or worse, there is no solution but only an imitation of work. I don't want to write about that.
I saw a thread today where ATProto ecosystem was compared to #ActivityPub. Things are happening in the Atmosphere, but not in Fediverse. MAU graphs are flat. What's going on?
There are multiple factors at play, but I think fake activity may be the biggest contributor. Trivial developments presented as breakthroughs. Features that already exist somewhere in Fediverse presented as new inventions. Vaporware. Specs written by people who have no idea how to implement them. Working groups that do nothing but meetings.
Real work is ignored, competent developers see that and quit.
We need to fix this.
For my part, I will continue to document #Fediverse development at @weekinfediverse. But this newsletter doesn't have much impact.
@silverpill@mitra.social I'm sorry you feel that way. I agree that I suppose there hasn't been a lot of true R&D lately, though a lot of that could be we're just shipping with little fanfare.
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@julian @silverpill Are you guys even on the same Fediverse as I am?
- Dozens of FEPs under development
- 10+ task forces in the CG
- New work like quote posts from Mastodon
- Ghost.org went live in 2025
- E2EE from Emissary and Bonfire this year
- New Working Group to revise ActivityPubThere is a tonne going on. We just had a FOSDEM Social Web Devroom with 20+ presenters. FediMTL.ca is next week. Fediforum is the week after that.
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@julian @silverpill Are you guys even on the same Fediverse as I am?
- Dozens of FEPs under development
- 10+ task forces in the CG
- New work like quote posts from Mastodon
- Ghost.org went live in 2025
- E2EE from Emissary and Bonfire this year
- New Working Group to revise ActivityPubThere is a tonne going on. We just had a FOSDEM Social Web Devroom with 20+ presenters. FediMTL.ca is next week. Fediforum is the week after that.
@evan@cosocial.ca maybe there just hasn't been a lot of true R&D coming from me then 😩
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@evan@cosocial.ca wait no, I have a better answer.
I must be on one of the other million fediverses @jaz@toot.wales talked about where nothing of note happens!
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@julian you've been doing great work.
I don't think @liaizon meant the original post to be a bummer for the Fediverse, but a wake-up call for engaging developers.
I agree that client-first development in ATProto is extremely exciting. We need to do better on the Fediverse side. Fortunately, our social API is great; we just need to start implementing it and using it.
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@julian you've been doing great work.
I don't think @liaizon meant the original post to be a bummer for the Fediverse, but a wake-up call for engaging developers.
I agree that client-first development in ATProto is extremely exciting. We need to do better on the Fediverse side. Fortunately, our social API is great; we just need to start implementing it and using it.
@evan@cosocial.ca I agree, and hopefully I'll have some bandwidth in the coming months to put a PoC together for using the social API!
@evan@cosocial.ca I agree, and hopefully I'll have some bandwidth in the coming months to put a PoC together for using the social API!
End of the day I think AP is on more structurally sound software foundations. There's absolutely merit in re-using boring tech (HTTP, JSON, et al.) to make something new and interesting. ATProto makes my spidey sense tingle, in a code smell sort of way. Like Angular did, back in the day.
That's why I'm bullish on AP.
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@julian Maybe we should try to implement a forum using just the API.
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@julian you've been doing great work.
I don't think @liaizon meant the original post to be a bummer for the Fediverse, but a wake-up call for engaging developers.
I agree that client-first development in ATProto is extremely exciting. We need to do better on the Fediverse side. Fortunately, our social API is great; we just need to start implementing it and using it.
@evan @julian
I was just ranting about what I see going on. There are some really promising user facing integrations between separate projects happening on the other side and it pains me to see it cause I know we can also have that here but there are some serious things lacking here and I desperately want to see more movement in exciting directions. The work @silverpill has been doing around portability & DID stuff I have been pointing out to people repeatedly cause its so important. -
@julian Maybe we should try to implement a forum using just the API.
@evan@cosocial.ca headless NodeBB? Hahahah I love it. We're already set up to go headless with minimal work.
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@julian Cool!
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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Well that was fun, can't believe Pixelfed has over 1M people in our community!
Looking forward to building bridges for the next million or two people to join the #fediverse
We have some important work to do this year!
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Nobody speaks for "The Fediverse."
I keep seeing posts declaring what The Fediverse believes, wants, or demands, often with ALL CAPS and a wall of #hashtags. It often slides into outright gatekeeping.
The fediverse is decentralized by design. Its opinions are too.
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@julian Cool!
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@evan@cosocial.ca headless NodeBB? Hahahah I love it. We're already set up to go headless with minimal work.
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@evan @julian
I was just ranting about what I see going on. There are some really promising user facing integrations between separate projects happening on the other side and it pains me to see it cause I know we can also have that here but there are some serious things lacking here and I desperately want to see more movement in exciting directions. The work @silverpill has been doing around portability & DID stuff I have been pointing out to people repeatedly cause its so important.
-
@julian Maybe we should try to implement a forum using just the API.
-
@evan@cosocial.ca I agree, and hopefully I'll have some bandwidth in the coming months to put a PoC together for using the social API!
@evan@cosocial.ca I agree, and hopefully I'll have some bandwidth in the coming months to put a PoC together for using the social API!
End of the day I think AP is on more structurally sound software foundations. There's absolutely merit in re-using boring tech (HTTP, JSON, et al.) to make something new and interesting. ATProto makes my spidey sense tingle, in a code smell sort of way. Like Angular did, back in the day.
That's why I'm bullish on AP.
