- Category
- Social
- Rank
- No. 1079Tools index
Previous survey · No. 1072 ·
- Pricing
- Open Source
- Type
- APP
- Builder
- badlogic
- GitHub
- 20 stars
- Date
About
A polished BlueSky client by Mario Zechner (libgdx creator), built as a pretty good ATProto-native social app.
What it does
Skychat runs in the browser and connects to Bluesky accounts through the AT Protocol. It handles timelines, profiles, posts, replies, search, notifications, feeds, lists, moderation, and hashtag-focused live conversations. Public exploration can work without an account, while posting requires an account and app password.
Why it's ranked here
Skychat merits attention because it implements much more than a basic timeline wrapper. Direct protocol calls, firehose processing, feed polling, moderation controls, local preferences, and push notifications show substantial product depth. The main reservation is operational maturity: setup demands several external credentials, while source comments acknowledge polling and notification limitations.
What's good
The feature coverage is unusually concrete. Users can manage feeds and lists, search posts and people, control content filtering, add image alt text, and tune notification categories. Hashtag threads add a focused live-chat workflow. Credentials and preferences are stored on the device, and theme and pinch-zoom controls support personal use.
Tradeoffs
Self-hosting is not turnkey. Development requires Firebase credentials, a database password, an OpenAI API key, Docker services, and separate frontend and backend endpoints. Account passwords and sessions are persisted in browser storage. Feed updates rely partly on frequent polling, and source comments warn that long sleep periods may miss an efficient catch-up path.
How to use it well
Use Skychat as a full browser workspace for active Bluesky participation, especially feed discovery, moderation, notifications, and live hashtag threads. It best suits users comfortable supplying an app password and operators willing to manage its backend dependencies. It does not serve as a small reusable library or a simple command-line client.
Technical notes+
package.json defines a TypeScript npm application built with esbuild, Tailwind CSS, Lit, Express, PostgreSQL support, and separate site, worker, and server bundles. src/state.ts centralizes AT Protocol sessions, cached objects, polling, mutations, and notifications; src/streams.ts adds cursor pagination and optional polling. src/firehose.ts opens the repository subscription WebSocket and decodes CBOR and CAR blocks into posts. src/store.ts persists user credentials, sessions, settings, and hashtag threads through localStorage plus src/indexeddb.ts. src/service-worker.ts and src/push-notifications.ts implement Firebase background messaging and user-level notification filtering. README.md documents Docker-assisted development and distinct frontend, backend, and PostgreSQL endpoints.
Observed
- License
- MIT
- Primary language
- TypeScript
- Packaging
- npm project with build scripts for site, worker, server, and CSS bundles
- Interface
- Browser web application with an Express backend and WebSocket connections
- Development surface
- Docker-assisted local environment with frontend, backend, and PostgreSQL services
- Protocol integration
- Uses the AT Protocol API and decodes repository firehose events
- Client storage
- Persists user data and settings with localStorage and IndexedDB
- Push delivery
- Uses a service worker with Firebase messaging
Read from README.md, package.json, src/bsky.ts, src/i18n.ts, src/icons.ts, src/state.ts, src/store.ts, src/utils.ts, src/streams.ts, src/firehose.ts, src/indexeddb.ts, src/live-reload.ts, src/service-worker.ts, src/push-notifications.ts, src/pages/chat.ts.
What it can do
Browse BlueSky social media feed
BlueSky account credentials → Chronological timeline of posts and updates
Compose and publish posts to BlueSky
Text content and optional media → Published post on BlueSky platform
Follow and unfollow BlueSky users
User handle or profile → Updated following list and modified feed content
Like and repost BlueSky content
Selected posts from timeline → Engagement interactions on posts
Search BlueSky users and content
Search query text → Filtered list of matching users and posts
View user profiles and post history
BlueSky user handle → User profile information and chronological posts
Tags
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Editorially curated, with community endorsements as a secondary signal. Corrections welcome.