AT Protocol
The AT Protocol at:// (Authenticated Transfer Protocol, or atproto) is a standard for public conversation and an open-source framework for building social apps.
It establishes a standard format for user identities, followings, and data on social apps, enabling interoperability and allowing users to move freely across them. It is a federated network with account portability.
Used by Bluesky. Frontpage and Smoke Signal (see below ).
In a sense, it brings Markdown files to the web, or as Make world.space said:
AT Protocol brings File Over App philosophy to the network. Read full article about A Social Filesystem at Overreacted.
Read Basic Concepts , Identity, Data repositories, Federation and more.
# Definitions: Lexicon
Fields (JSONs in your folder in your AT Proto identity) are called Lexicon. You can see the trendiest new Lexicon fields people are trying to standardize or create on UFO.
# Extracting data via the protocol
Besides the dedicated tools to Bluesky, here are the more related to extract and ATProto.
# File Browsers
- Check all data on at-proto with the handle -
Taproot - AT Protocol Explorer
- here my likes records:
- here my likes records:
# Web Applications
- Frontpage - HackerNews-style interface for Bluesky
- WhiteWind atproto blog: Hosting blog article on the Protocol
- Smoke Signal - RSVP management system using ATProto
-
ATProto Browser - Browse AT Protocol data
- Example user: atproto-browser.vercel.app/at/ssp.sh
- Source Code
- ! new: PDSls
- Bluesky Firehose 3D - 3D visualization of the firehose
- TUI Interface - Terminal-based interface
- Bluecast: Bluecast is a real-time audio streaming service that anyone with a Bluesky account can use this service.
- GitHub alternative on top of AT Proto: Tangled
-
Social Media Platform W: The European social network for verified humans
- Slogan: A social media platform made in Europe, for the world. Governed by European law, data hosted on European infrastructure, and designed for conversations among humans around the world.
- Hubble; A Public Mirror for the Whole Atmosphere
# Development Tools
- SDKs & Libraries:
- atproto (Python) - Official Python SDK with documentation
- bluesky-social-graph - Social graph visualization tool
- skeetstream - Stream posts to gzipped files
# Data Analysis & Processing
- Jetstream Tools:
- Jetstream Example - Guide to shrinking AT Proto Firehose
- Event Stream Documentation
- Jetstream GitHub - A simplified JSON event stream
- Related: Bluesky uses Jetstreams - See Eric’s comment
- Data Tools & Tutorials:
- atproto-data-tools - Scripts for AT Protocol data analysis
- David Gasquez - Exploring AT Protocol with Python - Tutorial by David Gasquez
- David’s Bluesky Post
- Followers Edge List Script - Generate followers edge list from hashtag search
- Save Firehose directly to Kafka: SQLFlow
- Dashboards
- Rill Dashboard on ATProto Data: A demo of Rill dashboards exploring BlueSky metrics. Check the deployed demo here.
- ClickHouse:
# Data Access & Querying
- DuckDB Resources:
-
Hive Catalog - Access via
https://hive.buz.dev/bluesky/catalogor viaselect * from read_parquet('https://hive.buz.dev/bluesky/jetstream/latest.parquet')by Jake Thomas - Skyfirehose - Query Jetstream with DuckDB
-
Hive Catalog - Access via
- Firehose Access:
Based on Jetstream: Shrinking the AT Proto Firehose by >99% · Jaz’s Blog, it’s better to access data through their Firehose protocol rather than REST APIs.
# Querying AT Proto with SQL: DuckDB
But there’s a browser for checking your content:
- Use-Case: Reading data via
at://(AT Protocol) with DuckDB
# Bsky Engagement Stats
Querying Bluesky with DuckDB and SQL
# Graph: Accounts within 5 hops
Interesting discovery: there are roughly 9,000 accounts within 5 hops of those I currently follow! 🚀 (I assume I didn’t mess up the data gathering) Powered by duckdb with the seamless
SQL / PGQ syntax supported in the DuckPGQ extension. Amazing what you can uncover with the right tools! Post by @dtenwolde.bsky.social — Bluesky
Check some stuff on Future of Web, and Bluesky
# Implement a DuckDB Community Extension
Just wapping the relevant macros to do the queries. pivot_table – DuckDB Community Extensions (by @a13x.bsky.social ) is a good example of an extension that just exposes a bunch of SQL macros, chsql – DuckDB Community Extensions is another cool one in that vibe. Post by @carlopi.bsky.social — Bluesky
# Further Reads
- Atmospheric Computing | Paul’s Dev Notes
- A Social Filesystem — overreacted
- AT Protocol for Agents by David Gasquez
Origin: Bluesky protocol