Introduction

As far as I know, the software used by Fediverse, a decentralized social networking site, makes information public due to its decentralized nature, and as a result, it’s often possible to obtain feeds of the latest information via RSS.

However, the extent to which this is possible varies depending on the software’s capabilities and features, and I was interested in the functionality of each piece of software, so I decided to write this article to research and summarize the state of RSS on Fediverse, including its URL structure.

This article is based on a pioneering article titled “Finding Fediverse Feeds” that appeared on the website Hyperborea: Kelson Vibber.

Stream Fediverse feeds to your RSS reader

URL Structure Table

Software Section URL type Title visible links RSS Subscriptions from External Servers
Lemmy Community /feeds/c/{community}.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No
Lemmy User /feeds/u/{username}.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No
Lemmy Local Timeline /feeds/local.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No
Lemmy All Timeline /feeds/all.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No
Lemmy Your front page /feeds/front.xml/{jwt_token} RSS 2.0 Yes No -
Lemmy Your inbox /feeds/inbox.xml/{jwt_token} RSS 2.0 Yes No -
Lemmy Your modlog /feeds/modlog.xml/{jwt_token} RSS 2.0 Yes No -
PieFed Community /community/{community}/feed RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
PieFed User /u/{username}/feed RSS 2.0 Yes No Yes
PieFed Topic /topic/{topic}.rss RSS 2.0 Yes No Uninvestigated
PieFed Feeds /f/{feeds}.rss RSS 2.0? Yes? No Uninvestigated
Mbin Community /rss?magazine={community} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
Mbin User /rss?user={username} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
Mbin Tag /rss?tag={tag} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
Plume Blog /~/{blog}/atom.xml Atom Yes Yes Details unknown
Plume User /~/{username}/atom.xml Atom Yes Yes Details unknown
WriteFreely User /{username}/feed/ RSS 2.0 Yes No Details unknown
WriteFreely Reader /read/feed/ RSS 2.0 Yes No Details unknown
Funkwhale User /api/v1/channels/{user}/rss RSS2.0 Yes Yes Details unknown
PeerTube User feeds/videos.xml?videoChannelId={channel} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
PeerTube User-Podcast /feeds/podcast/videos.xml?videoChannelId={channel} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
Bookwyrm User /user/{username}/rss RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes
Mastodon User /@{username}.rss RSS 2.0 No No No
Mastodon Hashtag /tags/{hashtag}.rss RSS 2.0 No No No
Mastodon User-Hashtag /@{username}/tagged/{hashtag}.rss RSS 2.0 No No No
Pleroma User /users/{username}/feed.atom Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed
BlueSky User /profile/{did-placeholder}/rss RSS 2.0 No No External instance does not exist
Misskey User /@{username}.rss RSS 2.0 partially (example: “New note by UserName”) No Yes
Misskey User /@{username}.atom Atom 1.0 partially (example: “New note by UserName”) No Yes
Pixelfed User /users/{username}.atom Atom Yes Yes External accounts cannot be viewed
HackersPub User /@{username}/feed.xml Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed
HackersPub User Articles /@{username}/feed.xml?articles Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed
Hubzilla Posts and Comments /feed/{channel} Atom No No External accounts cannot be viewed
Hubzilla Only Posts /feed/{channel}?f=&top=1 Atom No No accounts are displayed in summary only
friendica User /feed/{username}/ Atom Yes Yes External accounts cannot be viewed
friendica User Comments /feed/{username}/comments Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed
friendica User Timeline /feed/{username}/activity Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed

説明

Below are descriptions of the columns in the table above.

  • Software
    • The software you are using.
  • Section
    • Which feed for that software?
  • URL
    • The URL structure.
  • Type
    • The file type. This indicates whether it is RSS or Atom.
  • Title
    • Whether the post title is displayed in the RSS feed.
  • Visible Links
    • Whether the RSS link is visible on the instance.
  • RSS Subscriptions from External Servers
    • Whether you can subscribe to RSS feeds from users of external instances.

Feed Functionality Comparison

Reference

Sort on Lemmy

/feeds/c/{community}.xml?sort={sort}

The {sort} part of Lemmy in the RSS list above corresponds to the “URL” column in the table below.

example:

/feeds/c/{community}.xml?sort=New

Type Description url
Active (default) Calculates a rank based on the score and time of the latest comment, with decay over time Active
Hot Like active, but uses time when the post was published Hot
Scaled Like hot, but gives a boost to less active communities Scaled
New Shows most recent posts first New
Old Shows oldest posts first Old
Most Comments Shows posts with highest number of comments first MostComments
New Comments Bumps posts to the top when they are created or receive a new reply, analogous to the sorting of traditional forums NewComments
Top Hour Highest scoring posts during the last 1 hour TopHour
Top Six Hours Highest scoring posts during the last 6 hours TopSixHour
Top Twelve Hours Highest scoring posts during the last 12 hours TopTwelveHour
Top Day Highest scoring posts during the last 24 hours TopDay
Top Week Highest scoring posts during the last 7 days TopWeek
Top Month Highest scoring posts during the last 30 days TopMonth
Top Three Months Highest scoring posts during the last 3 months TopThreeMonths
Top Six Months Highest scoring posts during the last 6 months TopSixMonths
Top Nine Months Highest scoring posts during the last 9 months TopNineMonths
Top Year Highest scoring posts during the last 12 months TopYear
Top All Time Highest scoring posts of all time TopAll

Source: Votes and Ranking

Stream RSS feeds to Your Fediverse Feeds

A well-known method of distributing RSS feeds from the web to ActivityPub is software (server) called RSSParrot, which was created for that purpose.

In addition, in the Japanese-speaking world, there is a public Mastodon instance called the RSSフィードbot鯖, which is dedicated to RSS Bots and is also widely used.

Original article

FediverseのRSS事情 - URL構造の一覧など - hoageckoのブログ (Article in Japanese)

Fediverse Advent Calendar

This post is the 15th article of Fediverse (2) Advent Calendar 2025 - Adventar (Article in Japanese).

  • albert_inkman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    This is invaluable documentation. The fact that Fediverse software treats RSS as first-class rather than an afterthought really matters for how information flows.

    RSS lets you control your feed, in your order. No algorithmic reorganization, no engagement optimization. You see what was posted, when it was posted. For someone trying to understand what’s actually being discussed in a community rather than what’s algorithmically surfaced, this is the whole point.

    The table format here is perfect — makes it clear which platforms actually commit to this vs which ones have “RSS but it’s read-only” situations. And the Lemmy entries showing you can sort by hot/new/controversial and pull custom community feeds… that’s a level of granularity you just don’t get on commercial platforms.