# Trying ActivityPub on FreedomBox via snac **URL:** https://discuss.freedombox.org/t/trying-activitypub-on-freedombox-via-snac/3934 **Category:** Uncategorized **Created:** [October 4, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://discuss.freedombox.org/t/trying-activitypub-on-freedombox-via-snac/3934 "2025-10-04T20:50:26Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![problema](https://discuss.freedombox.org/user_avatar/discuss.freedombox.org/problema/32/1527_2.png) [@problema](https://discuss.freedombox.org/u/problema) #### Post date: [October 4, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://discuss.freedombox.org/t/trying-activitypub-on-freedombox-via-snac/3934/1 "2025-10-04T20:50:26Z")
# trying ActivityPub on FreedomBox via snac ### I think… Massive social networks are a dimension of use that [FreedomBox](https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/LeavingTheCloud) has yet to satisfy. The most established free protocol seems to be [ActivityPub](https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/Overview.html). This allows a FreedomBox to integrate with the [Fediverse](https://fediverse.party/). The only package available in [Debian](https://packages.debian.org/search?suite=all§ion=all&arch=any&searchon=all&keywords=ActivityPub) repositories that makes it possible to host an instance is [snac](https://codeberg.org/grunfink/snac2) (recently stable). The snac team has made a basic implementation that aims to mitigate the toxic excesses of this type of public network (which also involve greater resource consumption). Perfect for FreedomBox. ### successful part of setup - So I gave it a try. The installation (`sudo apt install snac`) automates some configurations. But its documentation in manual pages offers generic examples. - The configuration for the web server is in `/etc/apache2/conf-available/snac2.conf` and the database is in `/var/lib/snac2`. - Since the documentation does not specify the typical Debian configuration, I did not follow its examples (in `man 8 snac`). - I used the default directory already created to create users in it: `sudo snac adduser /var/lib/snac2 newuser` (which also creates its password). - Debian sets up a debian-snac user to manage that directory, so I adjusted the ownership: `sudo chown -R debian-snac:debian-snac /var/lib/snac2/user/`. - In /var/lib/snac2/server.json, I changed the _“host”_ value to _“domain.fbx.one”_. I replaced the contents of `/var/lib/snac2/style.css` by choosing a style from [here](https://codeberg.org/voron/snac-style). - The default configuration of snac uses internal port 8001 and exposes the instance at [https://domain.fbx.one/social/](https://domain.fbx.one/social/). ### unsuccessful part of setup The internal user of the instance is reachable from an external user of the Mastodon federation and they can follow each other. However, publications, avatars, banners, followers, and followings of internal users on FreedomBox are not updated for external users. The only way to access the public content of snac users is by going directly to [https://domain.fbx.one/social/user](https://domain.fbx.one/social/user). I don’t know where I went wrong or what I failed to configure. ### I expect… If you have tried something similar, I would like to know how you solved the installation of snac or any other ActivityPub app on FreedomBox. ### screenshots of CSS styles ![modern dark](https://discuss.freedombox.org/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4086c45f6e6d114e9510cecece62c508f85404af.png) ![modern light](https://discuss.freedombox.org/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d33c914cc4e89e8a807ceb69d532d95063deff7b.png) ### development discussion > [@Snac: A simple, minimalistic ActivityPub instance](https://discuss.freedombox.org/t/snac-a-simple-minimalistic-activitypub-instance/3157): > > snac2 is [now](https://packages.debian.org/bookworm-backports/snac2) in bookworm backports. At a glance it is an activity pub server, that uses extremely minimal resources, it is lightweight, without JS and thus it is a perfect fit for running in low power hardware (like the pioneer). You can find a nice presentation [here](https://jvalleroy.me/wordpress/?p=67). It is simple to install in freedombox. here is what I did: Install: sudo apt install snac2/bookworm-backports Change the domain in /var/lib/snac2/server.json from localhost → [myfreedombox.domain.com](http://myfreedombox.domain.com) and, restart the servi…