Relays

This article is a draft! A lot of info might still be missing and the page might change at any time.

A relay is a piece of software that increases federation between instances that subscribe to that relay.
It is a great way for smaller instances to populate their federated timeline.

How to subscribe to a relay

Only instance admins can subscribe to a relay. In Mastodon you can do that by going to Settings > Administration > Relays. There you can enter the url of the relay - add "/inbox" at the end of it.
Then you just have to wait for your instance to be accepted by the relay owners.

List of ready to use Fediverse relays

• https://en.relay.friendi.ca
• https://federation.stream
• https://mastodon-relay.moew.science
• https://mastodon-relay.thedoodleproject.net
• https://relay.beckmeyer.us
• https://relay.chocoflan.net
• https://relay.fedi.agency
• https://relay.fedibird.com
• https://relay.homunyan.com
• https://relay.intahnet.co.uk
• https://relay.k3tan.com
• https://relay.libranet.de
• https://relay.minecloud.ro
• https://relay.social.tigwali.fr
• https://relay.toot.yukimochi.jp

Comparison of Fediverse relay software

relay name	source	works with
		diaspora*	Mastodon	Misskey	Pleroma
Activity relay	https://github.com/yukimochi/Activity-Relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
ActivityRelay	https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Pub relay	https://source.joinmastodon.org/mastodon/pub-relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Seattle relay	https://gitlab.com/jankysolutions/social.seattle.wa.us/relay	✖️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Social relay	https://github.com/jaywink/social-relay	✔️	✖️	✖️	✖️

How to install your own Fediverse relay for beginners

I'm going to write a guide on how to install Activity-Relay for beginners, but first I have to manage to install it myself.
Here is how far I've come

Create a server

To be written

Log in to your server

To be written

Install dependencies

Dependencies are apps you need to install before you can install the app you want.

1. sudo apt update
2. sudo apt install vim
   1. confirm with Y when asked
3. sudo apt install git
   1. confirm with Y when asked
4. sudo apt install docker
   1. confirm with Y when asked
5. sudo apt install docker-compose
   1. confirm with Y when asked
6. sudo apt install docker.io
   1. confirm with Y when asked
7. sudo apt install golang
   1. confirm with Y when asked

Install the relay with docker

Now you need to copy the app to your server

1. git clone https://github.com/yukimochi/Activity-Relay.git -b v1.0.0
2. vim config.yml
   1. make the file look like this.
3. openssl genrsa | tee actor.pem
4. chmod 600 actor.pem
5. cd /root/Activity-Relay
6. docker-compose build
   1. this will take a while and lots of red text will appear. Don't worry.
7. docker-compose up -d
8. docker-compose down