Can anyone recommend a good article or video explaining how ActivityPub works on a technical level? I understand the concept, but I’m interested how the protocol actually works (I am studying CS for context).
Can anyone recommend a good article or video explaining how ActivityPub works on a technical level? I understand the concept, but I’m interested how the protocol actually works (I am studying CS for context).
TL;DR, each user is an Actor, which has an inbox for receiving objects and activities, and an outbox for sending them. The objects are essentially structured metadata that various actions can be performed on. When you respond to a status, for example, your Actor is performing a Reply activity and sends out a Note object. Following another Actor, on the other hand, would be your Actor sending another Actor a Follow activity.
This implementor’s guide might be helpful to understand some of what’s going on underneath the hood: https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/pub/guide-for-new-activitypub-implementers
Some useful specs can be found here: