Hi 👋
We’re still alive, just kind of on a hiatus for the moment. We want to get things going again soon, what cool developments have you seen happening in the #Fediverse recently?
Ulrike Hahn
and 5 others
boosted
⁂ Article
Release v3.2.0 of Ktistec
The major feature in v3.2.0 of Ktistec is thread analysis. The previous release, v3.1.2, added support for viewing threads from Lemmy communities. I follow the Open Source community, which leads to many large threads. The thread on FFMpeg and Google has 112 posts and is still growing.
Thread analysis helps me navigate these extensive conversations. It includes: top contributors, a timeline histogram, and notable branches.
The analysis applies several heuristics to identify interesting branches of the main thread. “Interesting” is subjective, but the algorithm currently looks for sudden bursts of activity and highlights those areas. Ktistec uses this to create a table of contents that links directly to those branches. Clicking on one of these links takes you to a branch-only view that focuses on the selected part of the thread.
It's fast—I anticipated needing to cache analyses, but analyzing a thread with over 400 posts takes only about 50 milliseconds on my production server.
Figure 1: Screenshot of the final design. Notable branches link to subsets of the thread.This release also addresses an object visibility regression that was introduced in a previous version.
Full Changelog
Added
- Thread analysis that displays key participants, a timeline histogram, and notable branches
- New MCP tools:
analyze_threadandget_thread - Focal point rendering support for image attachments
Fixed
- Regression in object visibility affecting replies to threads
Changed
- Enhanced MCP tool details for likes, dislikes, and announces
- Improved cookie security.
⁂ Article
Release v3.2.0 of Ktistec
The major feature in v3.2.0 of Ktistec is thread analysis. The previous release, v3.1.2, added support for viewing threads from Lemmy communities. I follow the Open Source community, which leads to many large threads. The thread on FFMpeg and Google has 112 posts and is still growing.
Thread analysis helps me navigate these extensive conversations. It includes: top contributors, a timeline histogram, and notable branches.
The analysis applies several heuristics to identify interesting branches of the main thread. “Interesting” is subjective, but the algorithm currently looks for sudden bursts of activity and highlights those areas. Ktistec uses this to create a table of contents that links directly to those branches. Clicking on one of these links takes you to a branch-only view that focuses on the selected part of the thread.
It's fast—I anticipated needing to cache analyses, but analyzing a thread with over 400 posts takes only about 50 milliseconds on my production server.
Figure 1: Screenshot of the final design. Notable branches link to subsets of the thread.This release also addresses an object visibility regression that was introduced in a previous version.
Full Changelog
Added
- Thread analysis that displays key participants, a timeline histogram, and notable branches
- New MCP tools:
analyze_threadandget_thread - Focal point rendering support for image attachments
Fixed
- Regression in object visibility affecting replies to threads
Changed
- Enhanced MCP tool details for likes, dislikes, and announces
- Improved cookie security.
fedicat
and 1 other
boosted
Okay, my analysis is complete! Here are the core changes to Ktistec required for Mastodon API compatibility:
- PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange) must be optional: Because Mastodon makes PKCE optional, clients don't support it, which means other servers can't require it. PKCE (and the
code_challengeparameter) ensures that an authorization code can only be exchanged by the client that initiated the OAuth request. - Support for the
client_credentialsgrant type: Theclient_credentialsgrant type is used to grant a client app-level access without requiring user authentication. Mastodon requires this for some of its "public" API endpoints. This necessitates a change to the database schema to allow anullaccount id in the client secrets table. - Addition of a
created_attimestamp property: Mastodon requires a non-standardcreated_atproperty in the body of the/oauth/tokenendpoint response instead of (in addition to) the standardexpires_inproperty. - Support for both form-encoded and JSON request bodies: This isn't a Mastodon requirement per se but popular clients clearly demand some latitude in what they send.
- WebFinger must accept requests with no
resourceparameter: This is honestly a bug on my part. - Mastodon-compatible endpoints: A boatload of them. Clients expect many endpoints and don't gracefully degrade if they're not present. Really I should just implement features like pinned posts and bookmarks...
The only thing here that gives me heartburn is that PKCE is not required.
Okay, my analysis is complete! Here are the core changes to Ktistec required for Mastodon API compatibility:
- PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange) must be optional: Because Mastodon makes PKCE optional, clients don't support it, which means other servers can't require it. PKCE (and the
code_challengeparameter) ensures that an authorization code can only be exchanged by the client that initiated the OAuth request. - Support for the
client_credentialsgrant type: Theclient_credentialsgrant type is used to grant a client app-level access without requiring user authentication. Mastodon requires this for some of its "public" API endpoints. This necessitates a change to the database schema to allow anullaccount id in the client secrets table. - Addition of a
created_attimestamp property: Mastodon requires a non-standardcreated_atproperty in the body of the/oauth/tokenendpoint response instead of (in addition to) the standardexpires_inproperty. - Support for both form-encoded and JSON request bodies: This isn't a Mastodon requirement per se but popular clients clearly demand some latitude in what they send.
- WebFinger must accept requests with no
resourceparameter: This is honestly a bug on my part. - Mastodon-compatible endpoints: A boatload of them. Clients expect many endpoints and don't gracefully degrade if they're not present. Really I should just implement features like pinned posts and bookmarks...
The only thing here that gives me heartburn is that PKCE is not required.
fedicat
and 2 others
boosted
⁂ Article
Release v3.1.3 of Ktistec
There are two big features in release v3.1.3 of Ktistec: auto-approve followers and a new image viewer.
Auto-approve followers is conceptually simple ("the server automatically sends an Accept activity when it receives a Follow activity") but it required extensive changes to some of the oldest code in the codebase: the inboxes and outboxes controllers. I refactored inbox and outbox side-effect processing into independent services, which made it possible to support side-effects like auto-approve follow (and also auto-follow back), without having to go through the controllers.
A more significant change for me personally was replacing the lightGallery image gallery (an external dependency) with my own implementation. It's not as slick, and not as full of features—I wrote it in two days—but it is fully free software, and that's important to me.
Added
- Add admin page for managing OAuth access tokens.
- Add support for auto-approve followers. (fixes #26)
- Add support for auto-follow back.
Fixed
- Prevent triggering actor refresh when user is anonymous.
Changed
- Replace "lightgallery" dependency with custom image viewer.
- Set OAuth access token expiry to 30 days (previously expired after 24 hours).
- Refactor inbox and outbox processing into dedicated processor services.
The OAuth changes set the groundwork for better support of the Mastodon API and the Fediverse clients that depend on it. Stay tuned!
⁂ Article
Release v3.1.3 of Ktistec
There are two big features in release v3.1.3 of Ktistec: auto-approve followers and a new image viewer.
Auto-approve followers is conceptually simple ("the server automatically sends an Accept activity when it receives a Follow activity") but it required extensive changes to some of the oldest code in the codebase: the inboxes and outboxes controllers. I refactored inbox and outbox side-effect processing into independent services, which made it possible to support side-effects like auto-approve follow (and also auto-follow back), without having to go through the controllers.
A more significant change for me personally was replacing the lightGallery image gallery (an external dependency) with my own implementation. It's not as slick, and not as full of features—I wrote it in two days—but it is fully free software, and that's important to me.
Added
- Add admin page for managing OAuth access tokens.
- Add support for auto-approve followers. (fixes #26)
- Add support for auto-follow back.
Fixed
- Prevent triggering actor refresh when user is anonymous.
Changed
- Replace "lightgallery" dependency with custom image viewer.
- Set OAuth access token expiry to 30 days (previously expired after 24 hours).
- Refactor inbox and outbox processing into dedicated processor services.
The OAuth changes set the groundwork for better support of the Mastodon API and the Fediverse clients that depend on it. Stay tuned!
just small circles 🕊
boosted
⁂ Article
Release v3.1.2 of Ktistec
I'm working on federation issues.
👻 Release v3.1.2 of Ktistec improves support for Lemmy and community servers like it that distribute content by wrapping it in Announce activities (FEP-1b12: Group federation support). Ktistec also supports the audience property, although support for that was removed from Lemmy earlier this year.
🎃 This release also adds support for delivering to shared inboxes, which are widely supported by other ActivityPub servers. Despite being federated, the Fediverse is not highly distributed, and this optimization can reduce outbound delivery traffic by 10-20x.
Added
- Support for the
Dislikeactivity. - Support for the
audienceproperty on activities and objects. - Support for delivery to shared inboxes.
- Support for full-width hash signs in hashtags (e.g. ＃日本語) commonly used in Japanese and other Asian languages.
Fixed
- Strip HTML from object summaries rather than escaping it.
- Properly unwrap Lemmy-style
Announceactivities.
Changed
- Destroy discarded drafts instead of deleting them.
Enjoy!
⁂ Article
Release v3.1.2 of Ktistec
I'm working on federation issues.
👻 Release v3.1.2 of Ktistec improves support for Lemmy and community servers like it that distribute content by wrapping it in Announce activities (FEP-1b12: Group federation support). Ktistec also supports the audience property, although support for that was removed from Lemmy earlier this year.
🎃 This release also adds support for delivering to shared inboxes, which are widely supported by other ActivityPub servers. Despite being federated, the Fediverse is not highly distributed, and this optimization can reduce outbound delivery traffic by 10-20x.
Added
- Support for the
Dislikeactivity. - Support for the
audienceproperty on activities and objects. - Support for delivery to shared inboxes.
- Support for full-width hash signs in hashtags (e.g. ＃日本語) commonly used in Japanese and other Asian languages.
Fixed
- Strip HTML from object summaries rather than escaping it.
- Properly unwrap Lemmy-style
Announceactivities.
Changed
- Destroy discarded drafts instead of deleting them.
Enjoy!
Box464
boosted
Release v3.1.0 of Ktistec
This release of Ktistec merges the main_3.x branch into the main branch.
Managing two branches, and two releases, was a lot of work. And sometimes changes were lost in the shuffle, like:
Added
- Add a small banner to highlight "offline" status.
- Support YAML MCP prompts and hot-reloading.
I have about a dozen more features and fixes that are ready for the next release, but to keep things simple, I'm doing the merge first, in its own commit.
Release v3.1.0 of Ktistec
This release of Ktistec merges the main_3.x branch into the main branch.
Managing two branches, and two releases, was a lot of work. And sometimes changes were lost in the shuffle, like:
Added
- Add a small banner to highlight "offline" status.
- Support YAML MCP prompts and hot-reloading.
I have about a dozen more features and fixes that are ready for the next release, but to keep things simple, I'm doing the merge first, in its own commit.
wondering what’s the easiest thing around that can quickly take a video and transcribe the audio? ideally in a way that I could add a “transcribe” button to #ktistec. i appreciate the benefits of video but it’s not the format i’m looking to consume most of the time.