https://github.com/mwt/apfollow
Public follow service for ActivityPub
https://github.com/mwt/apfollow
activitypub fediverse hacktoberfest mastodon webfinger
Last synced: 6 days ago
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Public follow service for ActivityPub
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/mwt/apfollow
- Owner: mwt
- License: bsd-2-clause
- Created: 2022-09-05T17:18:00.000Z (over 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-03-26T11:51:23.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-04-17T03:12:17.862Z (9 days ago)
- Topics: activitypub, fediverse, hacktoberfest, mastodon, webfinger
- Language: PHP
- Homepage: https://apfollow.mwt.me
- Size: 68.4 KB
- Stars: 41
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 2
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# AP Follow
## Basic usage
This is a remote follow tool for ActivityPub servers. With this tool, you can share links and buttons that allow people to follow you from their own ActivityPub instance. You can use by passing query parameters like so:
`https://apfollow.mwt.me/?user={username}&instance={domain.tld}`
[Here is a follow page generator](https://apfollow.mwt.me/)
[Here is an example follow page](https://apfollow.mwt.me/?user=mwt&instance=econtwitter.net).
## Advanced usage
The application does not rely on client-side javascript or relative links. So you can reverse proxy the service on your own domain. For example, you could add the following to an Apache `.htaccess` file to allow follows on the same paths used by Mastodon.
```apache
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^users/(.*)/remote_follow$ "https://apfollow.mwt.me/?user=$1&instance=yourdomain.com" [P,L]
```
Similarly in Nginx:
```nginx
location ~ ^/users/(.*)/remote_follow$ {
proxy_pass https://apfollow.mwt.me/?user=$1&instance=yourdomain.com;
}
```
This is beneficial because your follow links can be picked up by [the simplified federation browser extension](https://github.com/rugk/mastodon-simplified-federation/). Which will skip users needing to fill in their handle.
## Example follow buttons
Just put your username and instance in the `href` field at the beginning of these links to get a follow button that you can put on your website.
### Gray AP button
```html
Follow me
```
### Pink AP button
```html
Follow me
```
### Mastodon button
```html
Follow me
```
## Why do I need this?
The most popular ActivityPub implementations (such as Mastodon and Pleroma) have remote follow implementations. Mastodon provides a remote follow interface at `/users/{username}/remote_follow` on each instance [(an example)](https://mathstodon.xyz/users/mwt/remote_follow). You can share this link to allow people to follow you. However, an actual follow link does not exist in most other implementations. For example, Pleroma uses a POST request to start the flow from the remote follow button. Therefore, it not possible to provide a direct link.
Many other implementations of ActivityPub lack any builtin remote follow support. [The WordPress plugin](https://github.com/pfefferle/wordpress-activitypub) and Pixelfed are examples. Without this feature, the only way for users to follow your content is for them to manually search for your account handle.
Moreover, it is nice when making/using templates to have a standard follow link that can be used for any ActivityPub implementation.
## License and credits
This project is inspired by [this blog post by Hugh Rundle](https://www.hughrundle.net/how-to-implement-remote-following-for-your-activitypub-project/) which documents the procedure for remote follows.
## Requirements
This project depends on `php-curl` and `php-xml` (SimpleXML).