AT Protocol Developer Call Recap

(this was rendered from memory and discord chat, pls comment/DM me if you see mistakes etc, and thanks to @thisismissem.social for adding color here)

Topics Covered

Account Creation & Apps

The winning poll topic focused on where and how users should create accounts on AT Protocol when using apps.

The core problem: Asking non-technical users to research and select a PDS host creates friction that hurts top-of-funnel conversion. Most people don't know what a PDS is, let alone how to evaluate different hosting options.

Key resources shared:

Notable comments:

Custom Domains at Signup

Discussion of how apps could offer custom handle endings during the account creation flow. We talked about the fact that an app may want to do sign-up on selfhosted.social or another provider, but use their own branded handle domains. This, unfortunately, would require changes within the reference PDS implementation, so we talked about some other options.

Key resources:

Notable comments:

Lexicon Interoperability & standard.site

This discussion centered on how different apps can read each other's data when they use different lexicons — specifically for long-form content like blogs.

The problem: standard.site provides a way to think about common features across blogs and long-form posting apps (Leaflet, pckt, Offprint, Whitewind). However, the actual content field in records remains platform-specific, which would require a mapping layer for true interoperability.

Key resources:

How blento uses standard.site:

Open questions:

Sustainability & Funding for ATProto Apps

A candid conversation about how independent developers can sustain the infrastructure costs of running AT Protocol services.

The reality: "I think eventually there are going to have to be more paid levels of atproto apps. I know I can't logically continue to burn money to support the infra indefinitely." (evan.jarrett.net)

This is a problem that has historically really hampered the growth of the Fediverse, due to everything there pretty much being volunteer-based. We do need to find ways to make what we do sustainable.

Key resources:

Discussed approaches:

The human element: The discussion emphasized being realistic about what individuals can contribute. Sometimes people are in a position to help financially, sometimes they're not. The mutual aid framing from Blacksky resonated — we all have a duty of care to our communities.

Video & Blob Storage Limits

Quick discussion on the constraints around video on AT Protocol.

Current state:

Resources:

Predictions:

Staying Informed / Information Overload

Brief discussion on how to keep up with AT Protocol development when information is scattered across Discord, the discourse forum, Bluesky, GitHub, and Tangled.

Pain points:

Mentioned solutions:

Opportunity

Tangled (Git on ATProto)

Honest, but short, discussion about what's working and what's not with Tangled, the Git hosting platform built on AT Protocol.

Current limitations raised:

What's working:

Why not just use Tangled for everything yet:

Local Meetups & Community Building

Discussion of how AT Protocol developers can find each other IRL.

Key resource:

Feature request: Topic-based matching — once a threshold of people in an area are interested in a topic, coordinate to create an event (thisismissem.social)

Existing meetups mentioned:

Feeds for finding ATProto people:

Also, just talk with other people, majority of people in the AT Protocol ecosystem are happy to chat and are approachable, but be respectful of their time. They won't "solve" your problem for you, but can help guide or provide related information that might help you solve your problem. (If you want someone to solve your problem, hire them 😉)

Mental Health & Self-Care

The call closed with an earnest discussion about taking care of ourselves and each other. Emelia wanted to note that sometimes asking for help is hard, but necessary, and thanked everyone for the support they'd shown her when she needed it.

Key messages:

Resources for focus/productivity (especially for AuDHD folks):

Bryan Guffey's Rules of Engagement (shared from his Facebook, applicable everywhere):