Content warning: This release introduces a redesigned Followers table that’s easier to navigate and customize—hide columns, change how many entries you see, or remove followers directly. Migrations are now simpler: just paste in a WebFinger ID or profile URL, and the plug
This release is mostly made up of behind-the-scenes improvements, but one update you’ll notice right away is the refreshed Followers table. It now looks and feels much more like the standard WordPress admin tables: you can customize it with screen options to hide columns or change how many followers are shown per page, and you can now delete individual followers using inline action links. We also polished the layout by increasing information density and improving the readability of date columns.
We’ve made migrations easier to kick off by automatically resolving account aliases and saving their ID form. That means you can now paste in WebFinger IDs, profile URLs, etc. and the plugin handles the rest, as long as it resolves to an ActivityPub profile.
This release also fixes a long-time annoyance: unfederated posts (like those published before the plugin was activated or imported later) will no longer be sent out to followers just because they were updated. For now, we use a simple cutoff for posts older than a month, which should cover the majority of those cases.
Coming Soon: Following Others!
Most of the work that went into this release is still invisible, hiding behind a feature flag in Advanced Settings (you can find it by opening Screen Options in the ActivityPub settings screen). There’s really no functionality around it yet, beyond following accounts from other instances, as we have yet to start processing incoming posts and adding the ability to interact with them. But if you just can’t wait to show your appreciation for other accounts by following them, go wild!
Behind the same feature flag, we’ve also added initial beta support for Fediverse Starter Kits. This lets new users follow a set of recommended accounts from a predefined list, following the format proposed by @dansup for Pixelfed. For now, only Actor objects are supporteded, but we’re hoping to expand that over time.
Full Changelog
Added
Added a first version of the Follow form, allowing users to follow other Actors by username or profile link.
Added initial support for Fediverse Starter Kits, allowing users to follow recommended accounts from a predefined list.
Ensure that all schedulers are registered during every plugin update.
Followers and Following list tables now support Columns and Pagination screen options.
The featured tags endpoint is now available again for all profiles, showing the most frequently used tags by each user.
The following endpoint now returns the actual list of users being followed.
Changed
Follower tables now look closer to what other tables in WordPress look like.
Improved Account-Aliases handling by internally normalizing input formats.
Minor performance improvement when querying posts of various types, by avoiding double queries.
Set older unfederated posts to local visibility by default.
Step counts for the Welcome checklist now only take into account steps that are added in the Welcome class.
Table actions are now faster by using the Custom Post Type ID instead of the remote user URI, thanks to the unified Actor Model.
The following tables now more closely match the appearance of other WordPress tables and can be filtered by status.
Fixed
Ensure correct visibility handling for Undo and Follow requests
Ensure that the Actor-ID is always a URL.
Fixed a bug in how follow requests were accepted to ensure they work correctly.
Fixed an issue where the number of followers shown didn’t always match the actual follower list.
Fixed a PHP error that prevented the Follower overview from loading.
Fixed missing avatar class so that CSS styles are correctly applied to ActivityPub avatars on the Dashboard.
Fixed potential errors when unrelated requests get caught in double-knocking callback.
Improved WebFinger fallback to better guess usernames from profile links.
Prevent WordPress from loading all admin notices twice on ActivityPub settings pages.
Removed follower dates to avoid confusion, as they may not have accurately reflected the actual follow time.
Stop purging Follow activities from the Outbox to allow proper Unfollow (Undo) handling.
Big thanks to everyone who contributed code, feedback, testing, or encouragement—this community helps make the fediverse more connected with every release. ❤️
Update to 7.1.0, try it out, and tell us what you think!
Content warning: Just when you thought things were settling down… boom 💥 — the ActivityPub plugin gets another big upgrade. Say hello to version 7.0.0, a release packed with new features, polish, and under-the-hood improvements to help your WordPress site federate smoothe
Just when you thought things were settling down… boom 💥 — the ActivityPub plugin gets another big upgrade. Say hello to version 7.0.0, a release packed with new features, polish, and under-the-hood improvements to help your WordPress site federate smoother, smarter, and more securely than ever.
Let’s dive into what’s new.
Following the Fediverse
We’ve added the initial building blocks for Following support — both sending and managing follow requests for remote actors. It’s not in the UI just yet (we’re rolling it out carefully), but that’s not far away. A big step toward richer, two-way federation. We’ll work with developers of third-party plugins — including those behind Friends and Event Bridge — to migrate their custom follow implementations to this new core feature. This collaboration helps ensure a consistent, reliable follow experience across the ecosystem.
This foundational support for following is also the first step toward a full-featured reader experience right inside WordPress — something we’re excited to keep building toward.
Refined Signature
This release brings support for RFC-9421-style HTTP signatures, both incoming and (optionally) outgoing. That’s a mouthful, but it basically means supporting the latest standard in how we verify and send activities — including a fallback to good old Draft Cavage when needed.
Added basic support for handling remote rejections of follow requests.
Added basic support for RFC-9421 style signatures for incoming activities.
Added initial Following support for Actors, hidden for now until plugins add support.
Added missing “Advanced Settings” details to Site Health debug information.
Added option to auto-approve reactions like likes and reposts.
Added support for namespaced attributes and the dcterms:subject field (FEP-b2b8), as a first step toward phasing out summary-based content warnings.
Added support for the WP Rest Cache plugin to help with caching REST API responses.
Documented support for FEP-844e.
Optional support for RFC-9421 style signatures for outgoing activities, including retry with Draft-Cavage-style signature.
Reactions block now supports customizing colors, borders, box-shadows, and typography.
Support for sending follow requests to remote actors is now in place, including outbox delivery and status updates—UI integration will follow later.
Changed
Comment feeds now show only comments by default, with a new type filter (e.g., like, all) to customize which reactions appear.
Consistent naming of Blog user in Block settings.
hs2019 signatures for incoming REST API requests now have their algorithm determined based on their public key.
Likes, comments, and reposts from the Fediverse now require either a name or preferredUsername to be set when the Discussion option require_name_email is set to true. It falls back to “Anonymous”, if not.
Management of public/private keys for Actors now lives in the Actors collection, in preparation for Signature improvements down the line.
Notification emails for new reactions received from the Fediverse now link to the moderation page instead of the edit page, preventing errors and making comment management smoother.
Plugins now have full control over which Settings tabs are shown in Settings > Activitypub.
Reworked follower structure to simplify handling and enable reuse for following mechanism.
Screen options in the Activitypub settings page are now filterable.
Setting the blog identifier to empty will no longer trigger an error message about it being the same as an existing user name.
Step completion tracking in the Welcome tab now even works when the number of steps gets reduced.
The image attachment setting is no longer saved to the database if it matches the default value.
The welcome page now links to the correct profile when Blog Only mode was selected in the profile mode step.
Unified retrieval of comment avatars and re-used core filters to give access to third-part plugins.
Fixed
Allow interaction redirect URLs that contain an ampersand.
Comments received from the Fediverse no longer show an Edit link in the comment list, despite not being editable.
Fixed an issue where links to remote likes and boosts could open raw JSON instead of a proper page.
Fixed a potential error when getting an Activitypub ID based on a user ID.
HTTP signatures using the hs2019 algorithm now get accepted without error.
Improved compatibility with older follower data.
Inbox requests that are missing an algorithm parameter in their signature no longer create a PHP warning.
Interaction attempts that pass a webfinger ID instead of a URL will work again.
Names containing HTML entities now get displayed correctly in the Reactions block’s list of users.
Prevent storage of empty or default post meta values.
The amount of avatars shown in the Reactions block no longer depends on the amount of likes, but is comment type agnostic.
The command-line interface extension, accidentally removed in a recent cleanup, has been restored.
The image attachment setting now correctly respects a value of 0, instead of falling back to the default.
The Welcome screen now loads with proper styling when shown as a fallback.
Using categories as hashtags has been removed to prevent conflicts with tags of the same name.
When verifying signatures on incoming requests, the digest header now gets checked as expected.
Huge thanks to everyone who contributed code, feedback, tests, or moral support. This community makes the fediverse feel a little more federated with every release. ❤️
Update now, test things out, and let us know how 7.0.0 works for you!
I pitched this idea to an ISP I was consulting for last year. A free “linktree” style homepage, available with select domain packages. This is my Fediverse version where the user can collect all their platforms together, in one place, as well as create one RSS feed for all their latest activity. #Loops #Pixelfed #PeerTube #Flipboard #WordPress #Mastodon #Fediverse #SocialWeb
Ghost’s @johnonolan and WordPress’s @pfefferle want to help blogs and long content thrive on the open social web. Meet “the longformers,” who chatted to @mike for the latest edition of Dot Social.
J'ai mon Mastodon qui est rempli de pouets militants ou politisés ou pro "quelque chose". Rien de mal en soi, mais ça me fatigue qu'à chaque fois que j'ouvre Mastodon, j'ai l'impression de rejoindre une grande manif virtuelle de gens pas contents.
Moi à la base je voulais surtout découvrir des #photographe qui aiment parler de leur métier ou des coulisses de leurs photos, des webmasters qui crisent sur #WordPress, des #freelance qui racontent leur dernière bourde pour un client, des illustrateurs qui expliquent comment ils arrivent à tel ou tel résultat visuel...
Si vous pouviez m'aider à renouveler mon feed ça serait génial 😁
Just a note saying how my #Fediverse experience has been made immeasurably richer for being able to take in and engage with carefully curated #Threads users, #BlueSky bridged users, #WordPress ActivityPub enabled blogs, Federated #Podcast episodes, #PixelFed photos, and Peertube videos. All from one Mastodon account. This works.
And I'm grateful for the moderation tools to mute, block and curate all of this, and the Mastodon lists to make them all digestable and not just info overload.
I’ve gone ahead and forked the #WordPress plugin we’re using for liveblogging. If anyone is interested in helping build this thing together, check it out:
I wonder if @dansup@mastodon.social could have an “anti-spam” assembly with the various software developers using #ActivityPub‽ We could also checkout what #WordPress is doing with Akismet too.
I wanted to like #PixelFed and I did, but then the main developer decided to join the silly bandwagon of people who want the #fediverse to be a walled garden where we'll all whither together instead of a fediverse striving with the rest of the world, so I guess it means I'm out. I was looking for a replacement, when I realized that, silly me, I have a website where I can post pics and, guess what? It's part of the fediverse too thanks to the amazing #ActivityPub plugin for #Wordpress!
At the State of the Word address this week, Matt Mullenweg was asked about support for the plugin, and he commented that less than 5,000 sites had installed it. So he wasn't sure how interested people are in it.
So... if you have a WP site, let's start installing that plugin and making more sites available via ActivityPub! 😀
what do we have to do to make the #ActivityPub plugin attractive to more #WordPress users? We are currently at 4000+ active users on WordPress.org + the WordPress.com users.
One of the things I love about the Fediverse is that it is growing in about 8 different directions and they all cohere.
From #Fedidb look at the top software undergirding the Fedi:
#Pixelfed, #WordPress, #Microblog #Peertube are all playing substantial roles...but are not "forks' of Mastodon but are entirely different apps, which benefit from Mastodon, and give value back to it. And are one Fediverse.
I love that a WordPress community collective formed to combat corporate interests
"WPCC aims to identify areas where the community is underrepresented or contribution is needed and fund Fellowships in those areas. The first fellowship they plan to fund is for an Accessibility contributor, who will dedicate 5-10 hours a week to work on the Make #WordPress #Accessibility Team and its existing accessibility initiatives."
"like WordPress, but it links into the Fediverse" - I would like to point out that #wordpress can also link into the #fediverse. With one simple plugin.
#Introduction I've been a front-end developer since 1999, when I was working in a nonprofit & was asked to write HTML & CSS from scratch; I fell in love with it. Now I co-own and co-run an intentionally-sized agency that exclusively serves nonprofits called https://DevCollaborative.com, we build sites in #Drupal & #WordPress & we care a lot about #a11y of content & code, as well as site longevity & sustainability. I live in the US New England, have too many pets, & am trying to learn acoustic guitar.
Hello! Does anyone have any good suggestions for setting up a comics website on Wordpress? I’d like to have a basic homepage that displays the most resent comic with navigation links below. No sidebars. Thank you in advance. #ComicsWebsiteHelp #WordpressHelp #wordpress
Hi there! I'm Clayton - a #UX designer, building #OpenSource #FOSS software in service of community and collective liberation. (Specializing in #Drupal and #WordPress)
I play #trombone in the soulful punk band, Elegant Everyone.
I tested several #wordpress plugins to #crosspost to #Mastodon: Autopost, Auto Share and Share on Mastodon. They all failed me. Autopost: creates an error (e.g. the fields for categories and tags don't load). Same for Auto Share. Share on Mastodon seems to work, but the 'post to mastodon' option is already marked when creating a new post. I don't want that. There are only few posts I want to cross-post on M. Do you know of a better solution?
We zoeken nog steeds sprekers! --- RT @WordCampNL Op 15/16 september 2022 vindt voor het eerst sinds 2016 weer een WordCamp Nederland plaats. Grijp je kans en meld je nu aan als spreker! Twijfel je nog? We geven je 5 redenen waarom het een goed idee is om je op te geven. #WordPress #WCNL2022
Do you publish #comics or #webcomics or #art on a #wordpress site? I do and I've got a phone/scroll friendly setup that is the result of a WHOLE lotta trial/error and doesn't use exotic plugins - so thought I'd describe my setup here in case its helpful. Please let me know any questions!
1 of 9 What makes #stringer different? Typically, a blogging platform is an extension of you and your thoughts in which you have complete control over what and how much you wish to share. Currently, with #wordpress being the most popular, we find ourselves working within a system that has a complicated admin area while dealing with freemium/subscription based plugins/integrations/themes to get where we want. In short, it's powerful but prohibitive in too many ways.
