ActivityPub for WordPress

Category: Changelog

  • 7.0.0 – I will follow you!

    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.

    Wapuu that "follows" a Mastodon, Pixelfed and Ghost mascot.

    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.

    Check out the blog post to learn more: HTTP Signature Upgrades Coming Soon

    Full Changelog

    Added

    • 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.

    Downloads

    Thank you!

    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!

  • 6.0.0 – New Kids on the Block

    Our latest release brings a lot of improvements — especially to our blocks!

    The Follow Me and Followers blocks now have a fresh design, better interactivity, and broader support for ActivityPub-enabled users.

    A screenshot of the new 'Follow Me' Block!

    The Reactions block and “Reply on the Fediverse” feature also now take advantage of the latest Block Editor features and are built on the Interactivity API for a smoother experience.

    We’ll follow up soon with a deeper dive into the new block features — stay tuned!

    Beyond blocks, publishing new blog posts now reliably sends a Create activity to the Fediverse, so your followers won’t miss a thing. We’ve also improved how hashtags and @-mentions appear when posts federate to Mastodon and other platforms.

    Under the hood, we’ve cleaned up and modernized the codebase — and the plugin now requires WordPress 6.5 to take full advantage of the latest WordPress features.

    Meanwhile, we’re kicking off a major rework of the Followers/Following system. Expect more enhancements to roll out over the next few weeks. Plus, we’ll be publishing a blog post with our roadmap plans in the coming days — exciting things ahead! 🚀

    Full Changelog

    Added

    • Enhanced markup of the “follow me” block, for a better Webmention and IndieWeb support.
    • The actor of the replied-to post is now included in cc or to based on the post’s visibility.

    Changed

    • “Reply on the Fediverse” now uses the Interactivity API for display on the frontend.
    • Bumped minimum required WordPress version to 6.5.
    • Default avatar and error handling for the reactions popover list.
    • Ensured that publishing a new blog post always sends a Create to the Fediverse.
    • Followers block has an updated design, new block variations, and uses the Interactivity API for display on the frontend.
    • Follow Me and Followers blocks can now list any user that is Activitypub-enabled, even if they have the Subscriber role.
    • Likes and Reposts for comments to a post are no longer attributed to the post itself.
    • New system to manage followers and followings more consistently using a unified actor type.
    • Re-enabled HTML support in excerpts and summaries to properly display hashtags and @-replies, now that Mastodon supports it.
    • Refactored to use CSS for effects instead of JavaScript, simplifying the code.
    • Refine the plugin’s handling and storage of remote actor data.
    • The Follow Me block now uses the latest Block Editor technology for display on the frontend.
    • The Reactions block now uses the latest Block Editor technology for display on the frontend.

    Removed

    • Cleaned up the codebase and removed deprecated functions.

    Fixed

    • Added forward compatibility for Editor Controls, fixing deprecated warnings in the Editor.
    • Avoid type mismatch when updating activitypub_content_warning meta values.
    • Default number of attachments now works correctly in block editor.
    • Fixed a bug in Site Health that caused a PHP warning and missing details for the WebFinger check.
    • Fixes a bug in WordPress 6.5 where the plugin settings in the Editor would fail to render, due to a backwards compatibility break.
    • Improved automated setup process for the Surge caching plugin.
    • Improved excerpt handling by removing shortcodes from summaries.

    Downloads

  • 5.9.0 – Easier Onboarding for Your Fediverse Experience

    Getting started with ActivityPub on WordPress just got a lot easier. A new guided onboarding experience is now part of the plugin, designed to help you configure key settings and understand how your site connects to the Fediverse—from the moment you activate it.

    Screenshot that shows the onboarding checklist.

    Whether you’re new to ActivityPub or just setting things up again, the onboarding flow helps you make informed choices around visibility, content formatting, and profile setup. It’s built to give you confidence that your content is reaching the right audiences in the right way.

    Screenshot that shows the new help tabs.

    Tailored for You

    The plugin now adapts its behavior based on the caching plugins you have installed. You’ll also find clearer guidance if you’re using Surge, and an option to fine-tune how your content is tailored for browsers versus Fediverse services.

    We’ve moved profile-related settings out of the welcome page and into new dashboard widgets, so they’re easier to find and update. And to make the learning curve smoother, the Help tab now includes a section explaining how ActivityPub works on the users page.

    Media, Previews, and Performance

    Beyond onboarding, this release adds support for audio and video attachments in ActivityPub embeds and previews. Posts shared to the Fediverse can now include up to four images, and you can choose how many to include on a per-post basis. Editor previews have also been improved—they now show media even if the post hasn’t been published yet.

    Screenshot that shows the preview feature.

    For performance, author profiles now return a smaller set of extra fields (up to 20) to avoid bloated responses, and invalid items in the Outbox are skipped gracefully instead of causing errors.

    Designed to Grow With You

    This update also brings better mobile support for settings pages, improved documentation, and more robust error handling for things like missing or misformatted Outbox requests. And for developers, several filters and hooks have been updated or deprecated to make future work smoother and more predictable.

    If you’ve been curious about joining the Fediverse or connecting your blog in a more structured way, now’s a great time to try it. Just activate the plugin and let the onboarding guide you through the rest.

    Tried the new onboarding? Let us know how it worked for you and what you’d like to see improved.

    Full Changelog

    Added

    • ActivityPub embeds now support audios, videos, and up to 4 images.
    • Added a check to make sure we only attempt to embed activity objects, when processing fallback embeds.
    • Add setting to enable or disable how content is tailored for browsers and Fediverse services.
    • Adjusted the plugin’s default behavior based on the caching plugins installed.
    • A guided onboarding flow after plugin activation to help users make key setup decisions and understand Fediverse concepts.
    • Author profiles will cap the amount of extra fields they return to 20, to avoid response size errors in clients.
    • Fediverse Preview in the Editor now also supports video and audio attachments.
    • Guidance for configuring Surge to support ActivityPub caching.
    • Help tab section explaining ActivityPub capabilities on the users page.
    • Profile sections have been moved from the Welcome page to new Dashboard widgets for easier access.
    • The ActivityPub blog news feed to WordPress dashboard.
    • The Outbox now skips invalid items instead of trying to process them for output and encountering an error.

    Changed

    • Batch processing jobs can now be scheduled with individual hooks.
    • Better error handling when other servers request Outbox items in the wrong format, and 404 pages now show correctly.
    • Fediverse Previews in the Block Editor now show media items, even if the post has not been published yet.
    • Hide interaction buttons in emails when the Classic Editor is used.
    • Improve compatibility with third-party caching plugins by sending a Vary header.
    • Much more comprehensive plugin documentation in the Help tab of ActivityPub Settings.
    • NodeInfo endpoint response now correctly formats localPosts values.
    • Reactions block heading now uses Core’s heading block with all its customization options.
    • Settings pages are now more mobile-friendly with more space and easier scrolling.
    • The number of images shared to the Fediverse can now be chosen on a per-post basis.
    • Updated default max attachment count to four, creating better-looking gallery grids for posts with 4 or more images.
    • Use a dedicated hook for the “Dismiss Welcome Page Welcome” link.
    • Use FEP-c180 schema for error responses.
    • Use Audio and Video type for Attachments, instead of the very generic Document type.

    Deprecated

    • Deprecated rest_activitypub_outbox_query filter in favor of activitypub_rest_outbox_query. Deprecated activitypub_outbox_post action in favor of activitypub_rest_outbox_post.

    Fixed

    • Broken avatars in the Reactions and Follower block are now replaced with the default avatar.
    • Email notifications for interactions with Brid.gy actors no longer trigger PHP Warnings.
    • Improved support for users from more Fediverse platforms in email notifications.
    • Improved the handling of Shares and Boosts.
    • Issue preventing “Receive reblogs (boosts)” setting from being properly saved.
    • Mention emails will no longer be sent for reply Activities.
    • Prevent accidental follower removal by resetting errors properly.
    • Properly remove retries schedules, with the invalidation of an Outbox-Item.
    • The blog profile can no longer be queried when the blog actor option is disabled.

    Downloads

  • V5.8.0 – If it’s on the Fediverse, you can embed it.

    This update introduces two exciting improvements: brand-new email templates and personalized notification settings.

    Emails now deliver much richer content—mentions and direct messages include the full post, and the refreshed design feels modern and refined. Additionally, new follower notifications feature a profile card, making it easier to see who’s interacting with your content.

    We’ve made several improvements around Embeds and Importing: Fediverse content embedding now has fallback support, so even if native oEmbed responses are unavailable, embeds will appear consistently. The Mastodon importer has also been significantly enhanced—it now imports all media types, supports user blocks, and automatically embeds replies in imported conversations, making transitions smoother and content richer.

    For Email Notifications, you’ll now receive alerts whenever someone mentions you in the Fediverse. Direct message notification emails have been upgraded with embedded message previews, and follower notification emails received a visual refresh with helpful meta details included.

    We’ve also refined User Interactions and Moderation by integrating WordPress’s disallowed list to prevent unwanted ActivityPub interactions. Notification preferences have become user-specific, allowing more personalized control over alerts and interactions.

    Additionally, we’ve improved Compatibility and Stability, including better support for Multisite Language Switcher, resolving PHP warnings during Mastodon import processes, enhancing user context handling in Global-Inbox actions, and ensuring reply links and popup modals are properly translated for logged-out visitors.

    Full Changelog

    Added

    • An option to receive notification emails when an Actor was mentioned in the Fediverse.
    • Enable direct linking to Help Tabs.
    • Fallback embed support for Fediverse content that lacks native oEmbed responses.
    • Support for all media types in the Mastodon Importer.

    Changed

    • Added WordPress disallowed list filtering to block unwanted ActivityPub interactions.
    • Mastodon imports now support blocks, with automatic reply embedding for conversations.
    • Tested and compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
    • Updated design of new follower notification email and added meta information.
    • Update DM email notification to include an embed display of the DM.
    • Updated notification settings to be user-specific for more personalization.

    Fixed

    • Add support for Multisite Language Switcher
    • Better check for an empty headers array key in the Signature class.
    • Include user context in Global-Inbox actions.
    • No more PHP warning when Mastodon Apps run out of posts to process.
    • Reply links and popup modals are now properly translated for logged-out visitors.

    Downloads