What is Akkoma?

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

Akkoma logo
	Akkoma
Website	akkoma.social
Official instance	mycrowd.ca
List of instances	fediverse.observer

Akkoma is a specialised and opinionated fork of Pleroma. It is faster-paced in development and aligns itself more closely with Misskey than Pleroma mainline.

Akkoma differentiates itself by focusing on user experience and expression as a first priority.

Also, unlike Pleroma which has assumed instances are small or single-user, Akkoma instead is treating each instance as a community in its own right.

To this end Akkoma has functionality that allows several self-governing communities (instances) to band together in a larger community of instances, where they can share a specific "bubble" timeline.

What does Akkoma feel like?

Screenshot of Akkoma using Pleroma-FE with Dracula theme

Screenshot of Akkoma using Pleroma-FE with LatteFoam theme

• Akkoma is a lot like Twitter and Mastodon.
• Akkoma will federate with all servers that implement ActivityPub, like Pleroma, Friendica, GNU Social, Hubzilla, Mastodon, Misskey, Calckey, Peertube and Pixelfed.
• Akkoma can be extensively themed (or "styled") by each user, and they can apply themes to their profiles and for their experience which differ from their instances default public theme/style
• You can use different front-ends.
  • The default is heavily modified version of Pleroma-FE
  • One of them is Mastodons Advanced View (in collaboration with Glitch-soc)
  • You can install your own front-ends

• Dynamic loading of content - this means that if replies are made as you are reading a conversation/thread, the new replies slot right in before your eyes without you having to reload the view or use a "back" button and then re-visit the conversation/thread to force a reload.
• Your content streams can have a tree-view for helping in visualizing conversations, threads and "who" replied to "whom" - this creates better context
• You can "re-focus" long threads/conversations on a specific post to see that particular thread of a conversation
• You can preview the message a post is a reply to, which creates better context
• You can preview replies to a post, which creates better context
• You can write short messages, add pictures, videos, audio, image/video/audio descriptions, content warnings and polls (with unlimited poll options).
• You can edit your posts
• You can quote your friends and those you follow
• You can @ other people on the Fediverse in your posts and send private messages.
• You can use free-text search with Elasticsearch, Meilisearch or directly in the database of your instance
• You can use hashtags and find posts based on hashtags.
• Messages can be written in multiple formats, as chosen by the user:
  • Plain text
  • Markdown
  • HTML
  • BBCode
  • Markdown-variant (MFM), with added support for special effects like bouncing text and sparkles.

• Messages can be translated with DeepL, ArgosTranslate or LibreTranslate (if the admin has configured translations)

What are some advantages over Twitter?

Comparison of microblogging services

	Twitter	Threads	Mastodon	Ecko	Pleroma	Akkoma	GNU Social	GoToSocial	Firefish	Misskey
character limit	280	500	500	admin decision						3000
feed	algorithmic	algorithmic	chronological
reach	far	far	familiar

No idea how to update that table, but Akkoma should be next to Pleroma as far as settings go.

With Akkoma you can post longer posts - usually 5,000 characters, though some instances have even larger character limits. There is no algorithm deciding what you get to see and what not, but the feed is chronological and based on who you follow and what the people you follow boost.

What are some advantages over Pleroma?

Akkoma adds features such as a Bubble timeline, local-only posting and compatibility with the Mastodon client API (and thus may be used with Mastodon mobile apps).

Akkoma is a faster-paced fork, it has a varied and potentially experimental feature set tailored specifically to the corner of the Fediverse inhabited by the project creator and contributors.

This should not be considered a one-for-one match with Pleroma; it is more opinionated in many ways, and has a smaller community (which is good or bad depending on your view)

For example, Akkoma has:

• Custom Emoji reactions (compatible with misskey)
• Misskey-flavoured markdown support
• Elasticsearch and Meilisearch support for search
• Mastodon frontend (Glitch-Soc and Fedibird flavours) support
• Automatic post translation via DeepL or LibreTranslate
• Quote-posting
• Local-only posting
• A multitude of heavy modifications to the Pleroma Frontend (Pleroma-FE)
• The "bubble" concept, in which instance administrators can choose closely-related instances to make a "community of communities", so to say
• Akkoma takes a more opinionated stance on issues like Domain blocks, which are enforced far more on Akkoma.

Further Reading

How do I get an account?
Getting started with your Fediverse account
Apps
Best practices
Akkoma - the advanced page on Akkoma