When a word stops you, come here. Every card links to the room that explains it.
Fediverse The name for the whole universe of servers connected by ActivityPub. Federation + universe.
ActivityPub The shared manners (protocol) of federated social servers. A W3C Recommendation. It sets how letters are written and delivered.
Actor One resident's calling card in the federated universe. Not just people — bots and the server itself can be actors too.
inbox / outbox Each actor's mailbox, and the file copy of the letters they've sent. There's also a mailbox shared by the whole server (the shared inbox).
Activity "Created (Create)", "followed (Follow)", "liked (Like)" — the kinds of letters that express an action.
Note / Article A short post is a Note, a long piece is an Article. The contents enclosed with the letter.
JSON-LD The letter's format. Ordinary JSON with a "dictionary of word meanings" (@context) added.
WebFinger The directory mechanism that looks up an address (a URL) from a name like "@name@island".
HTTP Signatures The letter's wax seal. Two customs, old and new (RFC 9421 and draft-cavage), are both still on duty today.
Object Integrity Proofs (FEP-8b32) A new seal, stamped on the letter itself rather than the envelope. It can be verified even after being forwarded.
NodeInfo A server's self-introduction placard. Software name, version, number of residents, and so on.
Relay A relay station that delivers letters around in bulk. It connects small islands to one another.
KvStore / MessageQueue The shared mouths, fixed by fedify, for a shelf (storage) and a courier (a delivery queue). The same shape whether it's postgres or redis.
Mastodon API The shape of the desk for talking with Mastodon apps. hollo provides this, so existing apps work as they are.
fedify A library that takes ActivityPub's troublesome parts off your hands. The head temple of this museum town.