Webfinger
This service implements the WebFinger protocol, which allows remote services to discover local users.
Features
- Automatically find ActivityPub actors through their username
- Returns a 404 error if the actor doesn't exist
Dependencies
- ActivityPub ActorService
Install
$ npm install @semapps/webfinger --save
Usage
const { WebfingerService } = require('@semapps/webfinger');
module.exports = {
mixins: [WebfingerService],
settings: {
usersContainer: "http://localhost:3000/actors/",
domainName: "localhost" // Not necessary if it is the same as usersContainer
}
}
Optionally, you can configure the API routes with moleculer-web:
const { ApiGatewayService } = require('moleculer-web');
module.exports = {
mixins: [ApiGatewayService],
dependencies: ['webfinger'],
async started() {
[
...(await this.broker.call('webfinger.getApiRoutes')),
// Other routes here...
].forEach(route => this.addRoute(route));
}
}
Settings
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
usersContainer | String | required | Container where the actors can be found |
domainName | String | Domain name used for the user@domain webfinger identifier. If not set, the domain name will be guessed from the users' container. |
Discovering an user with Webfinger
In the Webfinger protocol, users are identified by their username and the domain name where they are hosted: username@domain. This is similar to email addresses, except services like Mastodon add a @ at the beginning.
To find an user, a simple GET is enough:
GET /.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:simon@localhost HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:3000
Accept: application/json
If the user exists locally, it will return a JSON like this:
{
"subject": "acct:simon@localhost",
"aliases": [
"http://localhost:3000/actors/simon"
],
"links": [
{
"rel": "self",
"type": "application/activity+json",
"href": "http://localhost:3000/actors/simon"
}
]
}