pixelfed: Share Photos Across the Fediverse

Overview

Pixelfed is a photo-sharing social network for photographers, casual sharers, and communities. It aims to help people find an audience for their images without algorithmic barriers, while connecting sharing across the fediverse through federation.

Use an existing Pixelfed instance to participate in the network, or run your own instance if you want to operate a photo-sharing service for a community. The project is written in PHP and its documentation recommends Docker Compose for running instances.

Key Features

• Share photos on a social network focused on visual content.
• Connect and share across the fediverse using federation.
• Discover an audience without algorithmic barriers, as described by the project.
• Run a self-hosted instance for an individual community or service.
• Use Docker Compose as the recommended deployment approach.
• Run with MySQL 9+ or MariaDB 11+; PostgreSQL 14+ is supported on a best-effort basis.
• Contribute to translations through the project's Crowdin localization project.

Use Cases

• Photographers who want to share creative work with an audience across federated services.
• Casual users looking for a photo-sharing community without algorithmic feed barriers.
• Community organizers who want to operate their own photo-sharing instance.
• Existing fediverse users who want a network centered on photos.

Getting Started

For deployment instructions, consult the official Pixelfed documentation. The project recommends Docker Compose for running instances. See the repository README for project details and links.

Alternatives

• Lychee: Lychee manages and shares photo libraries, but does not provide Pixelfed’s federated social network and community interactions.

Considerations

• Self-hosting means operating and maintaining a web service and its database; the repository recommends Docker Compose but does not provide a quick-start command here.
• MySQL 9+ and MariaDB 11+ are officially supported. PostgreSQL 14+ is best effort and not recommended, according to the project.
• Pixelfed is licensed under AGPL-3.0, which should be reviewed before redistributing modified versions or offering a modified service.
• The project states that contributions substantially generated by AI or large language models are not accepted.