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Federation

This document describes how Owncast federates with other ActivityPub servers, following FEP-67ff.

Supported Federation Protocols and Standards

Supported FEPs

Actor

Owncast servers present as a single Service actor (not Person). Each Owncast instance has one actor representing the live stream.

The actor profile includes:

  • icon: Server logo/avatar
  • image: Profile banner image
  • summary: Server description (HTML)
  • attachment: Array of PropertyValue objects containing social links and metadata
  • tag: Hashtags describing the server content
  • manuallyApprovesFollowers: true if the server operates in private mode
  • discoverable: Always true

Owncast actors do not follow other actors. The following collection endpoint returns 404.

Activities

Activity Object Send Receive Notes
Create Note Yes No Sent on go-live and manual fediverse posts. Incoming posts are ignored.
Update Service Yes No Sent when server profile changes.
Update Person No Yes Updates cached follower profile information.
Follow - No Yes Queued for approval if private mode is enabled.
Accept Follow Yes No Sent automatically unless in private mode.
Undo Follow No Yes Removes the follower.
Like Note No Yes Optionally displayed in live chat.
Announce Note No Yes Optionally displayed in live chat.

Owncast is a broadcast-only service. It does not follow other actors or accept incoming posts.

Notes

Posts from Owncast are Note objects with:

  • content: HTML-formatted text with linked hashtags
  • attachment: Image object with stream thumbnail (for go-live posts)
  • tag: Array containing Hashtag and Mention objects
  • sensitive: true if the stream is marked NSFW

Go-Live Announcements

When a stream starts, Owncast sends a Create(Note) containing:

  • The configured go-live message (or default announcement)
  • A thumbnail image of the stream
  • Hashtags configured for the server
  • A link to watch the stream

Hashtags

Hashtags use toot:Hashtag type and link to https://directory.owncast.online/tags/{tag} for discovery across Owncast instances.

Addressing

Public posts are addressed to:

{
  "to": ["https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"],
  "cc": ["{actor}/followers"]
}

Owncast supports sending direct messages to specific actors (used for replying to engagement). These include the recipient in cc with a corresponding Mention tag for Mastodon compatibility.

HTTP Signatures

Outbound: All POST requests are signed using RSA-SHA256. Signed headers: (request-target), host, date, digest.

Inbound: All POST requests to the inbox must have a valid signature. Unsigned requests are rejected.

GET requests to actor, outbox, and followers endpoints do not require signatures.

WebFinger

Actor discovery via /.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:{username}@{domain}

Response links include:

  • self (application/activity+json): Actor document
  • http://webfinger.net/rel/profile-page: Web profile
  • http://webfinger.net/rel/avatar: Profile image
  • alternate (application/x-mpegURL): HLS stream URL

The HLS stream link allows clients to discover the live stream URL directly from WebFinger.

NodeInfo

Available at /.well-known/nodeinfo with NodeInfo 2.0 at /nodeinfo/2.0.

Additional endpoints:

  • /.well-known/x-nodeinfo2: Extended format
  • /api/v1/instance: Mastodon-compatible instance information
  • /.well-known/host-meta: WebFinger discovery

Private Mode

Owncast can operate in private mode where:

  • manuallyApprovesFollowers is true on the actor
  • Follow requests are queued for admin approval
  • Accept is only sent after manual approval

Blocking

Owncast supports blocking at the domain and individual actor level. Blocked entities:

  • Cannot deliver to the inbox (requests rejected)
  • Do not receive activities from the server

Interoperability Notes

  • Owncast uses Service actor type, not Person
  • There is no following collection (Owncast does not follow accounts)
  • Owncast does not accept incoming posts (Create from remote actors is ignored)
  • Engagement (Like, Announce) can be displayed in the live chat if enabled
  • The sensitive flag indicates NSFW content for the entire stream

Additional Resources