Mastodon is a **free, open-source social network server** based on **open web protocols** like ActivityPub and OStatus. The social focus of the project is a viable decentralized alternative to commercial social media silos that returns the control of the content distribution channels to the people. The technical focus of the project is a good user interface, a clean REST API for 3rd party apps and robust anti-abuse tools.
Mastodon is a **free, open-source social network server** based on ActivityPub. Follow friends and discover new ones. Publish anything you want: links, pictures, text, video. All servers of Mastodon are interoperable as a federated network, i.e. users on one server can seamlessly communicate with users from another one. This includes non-Mastodon software that also implements ActivityPub!
Click on the screenshot below to watch a demo of the UI:
**Ruby on Rails** is used for the back-end, while **React.js** and Redux are used for the dynamic front-end. A static front-end for public resources (profiles and statuses) is also provided.
## Navigation
If you would like, you can [support the development of this project on Patreon][patreon].
**No vendor lock-in: Fully interoperable with any conforming platform**
It doesn't have to be Mastodon, whatever implements ActivityPub or OStatus is part of the social network!
It doesn't have to be Mastodon, whatever implements ActivityPub is part of the social network! [Learn more](https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2018/06/why-activitypub-is-the-future/)
**Real-time timeline updates**
**Real-time, chronological timeline updates**
See the updates of people you're following appear in real-time in the UI via WebSockets. There's a firehose view as well!
**Federated thread resolving**
If someone you follow replies to a user unknown to the server, the server fetches the full thread so you can view it without leaving the UI
**Media attachments like images and short videos**
Upload and view images and WebM/MP4 videos attached to the updates. Videos with no audio track are treated like GIFs; normal videos are looped - like vines!
**OAuth2 and a straightforward REST API**
**Safety and moderation tools**
Mastodon acts as an OAuth2 provider so 3rd party apps can use the API
Private posts, locked accounts, phrase filtering, muting, blocking and all sorts of other features, along with a reporting and moderation system. [Learn more](https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2018/07/cage-the-mastodon/)
**Fast response times**
**OAuth2 and a straightforward REST API**
Mastodon tries to be as fast and responsive as possible, so all long-running tasks are delegated to background processing
Mastodon acts as an OAuth2 provider so 3rd party apps can use the REST and Streaming APIs, resulting in a rich app ecosystem with a lot of choice!
**Deployable via Docker**
## Deployment
You don't need to mess with dependencies and configuration if you want to try Mastodon, if you have Docker and Docker Compose the deployment is extremely easy
**Tech stack:**
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- **Ruby on Rails** powers the REST API and other web pages
- **React.js** and Redux are used for the dynamic parts of the interface
- **Node.js** powers the streaming API
## Development
**Requirements:**
Please follow the [development guide](https://github.com/tootsuite/documentation/blob/master/Running-Mastodon/Development-guide.md) from the documentation repository.
- **PostgreSQL** 9.5+
- **Redis**
- **Ruby** 2.4+
- **Node.js** 8+
## Deployment
The repository includes deployment configurations for **Docker and docker-compose**, but also a few specific platforms like **Heroku**, **Scalingo**, and **Nanobox**. The [**stand-alone** installation guide](https://docs.joinmastodon.org/administration/installation/) is available in the documentation.
There are guides in the documentation repository for [deploying on various platforms](https://github.com/tootsuite/documentation#running-mastodon).
A **Vagrant** configuration is included for development purposes.
## Contributing
You can open issues for bugs you've found or features you think are missing. You can also submit pull requests to this repository. [Here are the guidelines for code contributions](CONTRIBUTING.md)
Mastodon is **free, open source software** licensed under **AGPLv3**.
You can open issues for bugs you've found or features you think are missing. You can also submit pull requests to this repository, or submit translations using Weblate. To get started, take a look at [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)
**IRC channel**: #mastodon on irc.freenode.net
## License
Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Eugen Rochko & other Mastodon contributors (see AUTHORS.md)
Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Eugen Rochko & other Mastodon contributors (see [AUTHORS.md](AUTHORS.md))
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
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## Extra credits
The elephant friend illustrations are created by [Dopatwo](https://mastodon.social/@dopatwo)
Eugen Rochko
6 years ago
committed by
GitHub