Smithereen
an early-Facebook-style Fediverse server
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What is Smithereen?
Smithereen is server software that lets you participate in a decentralized social network called the fediverse. It is a universal tool for staying in touch with friends, classmates, neighbors, and coworkers. Unlike mainstream social media, Smithereen has no algorithmic feeds, no ads, no celebrities, no influencers, and no brands—just you and people you care about. Because it is part of the federated fediverse, no one can take it away from you.
Key features include profiles with lots of fields, walls for posting, public and private groups, public and private events, and photo albums with tagging. The UI is a meticulous reproduction of VKontakte's pre-2016-redesign layout, bringing back the early Facebook-style experience. Smithereen is fully compatible with Mastodon and other ActivityPub servers, with functionality that is a superset of Mastodon's. Its client API is mostly compatible with VK's as well.
Smithereen is for people who want a decentralized social network without corporate control, for communities wanting their own server, for schools or organizations wanting private social spaces, and for developers wanting to build ActivityPub-compatible apps. It can run on a Raspberry Pi or cheap VDS for a few users. The software is written in Java with minimal external dependencies (imgproxy, MySQL, and a web server).
Smithereen pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Smithereen is free and open-source server software. There is no paid tier—you can download and run your own Smithereen server at no cost. A temporary test account is available at try.smithereen.software without requiring a real email. You only pay for your own hosting infrastructure (VDS, Raspberry Pi, domain, etc.).
Smithereen pros
- No algorithmic feeds
- No ads whatsoever
- No celebrities or influencers
- No brands pushing content
- Fully decentralized fediverse participation
- Email-like user handles for federation
- Profiles with extensive fields
- Wall posting functionality
- Public and private groups
- Public and private events
- Photo albums with tagging
- VKontakte pre-2016 UI layout
- Full Mastodon ActivityPub compatibility
- Superset of Mastodon functionality
- Runs on Raspberry Pi or cheap VDS
Smithereen cons
- No global user search yet
- No educational institutions database
- Cannot attach videos to posts
- Cannot attach audios to posts
- Developed by a single person
- Requires MySQL database setup
- Requires imgproxy configuration
- Requires JDK 21 or higher
Frequently asked questions about Smithereen
What is Smithereen?
Smithereen is server software that lets you participate in a decentralized social network called the fediverse. It is a universal tool for staying in touch with friends, classmates, neighbors, and coworkers without algorithmic feeds, ads, celebrities, influencers, or brands.
How does federation work in Smithereen?
Like email, you can send and receive messages regardless of which server the other person uses. User handles look like email addresses (e.g., @[email protected]), where smithereen.social is the server where the account lives. All fediverse servers are independent and can communicate with each other.
What features does Smithereen have?
Smithereen has profiles with lots of fields, walls for posting, public and private groups, public and private events, and photo albums with tagging. The UI reproduces VKontakte's pre-2016-redesign layout meticulously.
Is Smithereen compatible with Mastodon?
Yes, Smithereen is fully compatible with Mastodon and other ActivityPub servers. Its functionality is a superset of Mastodon's, meaning it supports everything Mastodon does and more. The client API is mostly compatible with VK's as well.
What are the system requirements for running Smithereen?
Smithereen requires MySQL, Maven and JDK 21 or higher for building, imgproxy for image processing, and a web server for reverse proxying port 4567. It also uses libvips for image processing. A server for a few users can comfortably run on a Raspberry Pi or cheap VDS.
Can I try Smithereen before setting up my own server?
Yes, there is a temporary test account available at try.smithereen.software where anyone can try Smithereen without needing a real email address.
Does Smithereen support video or audio uploads?
Not yet. Currently you cannot attach videos or audios to your posts. The developer is willing to be patient here as it is being developed by a single person.
Is there global user search in Smithereen?
No, global user search is absent for now. This is very hard to do in a decentralized system without partially centralizing it, though the developer has ideas that need experimental validation.
Who develops Smithereen?
Smithereen was started in late 2019 by a single developer (Grishka) who wanted to bring back the early Facebook experience. The developer is also the official Mastodon Android developer.
Can I host Smithereen with S3 storage?
Yes, Smithereen supports S3-compatible object storage for user-uploaded media files. You set upload.backend=s3 in config.properties and configure region, endpoint, credentials, and bucket name. Note that S3 is not used for media file cache from other servers.