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BadgeFed: Early Decentralization Experiments + OpenBadges Export! - Second April 2025 Update

Hey Fediverse! 👋
Two weeks have passed and here we have another update from the BadgeFed burrow! Here's what's new, brewing, and how you can jump in if you're feeling adventurous.

Early Bits of Decentralization

We've started the very first steps toward decentralization! 🛰️ Right now, we're planning to add two more test instances to push federation further.

That said—there are still no controls for blocking, defederating, moderating, or deleting yet. So we're not opening it up publicly just yet (BadgeFed isn't ready for the wild west).

BUT—if you're comfortable around SQL and servers, don't mind losing data, and want to help us test the early messy bits, let us know! We'd love to have more fearless testers on board.

OpenBadges Export is Live! 🎉

Big milestone: you can now export your badges to OpenBadges format!

This is a huge step toward real portability. Right now, you can only export badges tied to profile URLs (think Mastodon profiles, etc.), not emails yet.

That means you can't directly import them into platforms like Badgr or Credly (unless they someday support URL-based verification).
We're going to push for that—because identity shouldn't be chained to an email address.

Also: we have zero interest in storing emails. Privacy first. Always.

UX/UI Improvements + Search 🔍

A few small but mighty improvements:

New search page! Now you can search your past badges easily.

Badges are now an attachment to a regular ActivityPub note, instead of a separate document type.

We tried doing a new document type, but... Mastodon just ignored it.

Like it or not, we need to be Mastodon-compatible to reach people. But attachments are a fine way to extend the ActivityPub spec.

Little things, but they add up to a smoother experience.

Follow Other Issuers! (and Bridgefed!)

Issuers can now follow other issuers!
We think this is a critical building block for decentralization. 🛠️

Plus, if you follow Bridgy Fed, it will bridge to Bluesky!

Lots of Other Nerdy Bits

Under the hood:

Tons of minor improvements and cleanups

More internal support for federating badges across different servers

Prepping groundwork for instance-level controls later

Wanna Test With Us? 🧪

If you're comfortable with:

Raw SQL

Servers crashing

Maybe losing everything 😅

...and want to help shape early decentralized BadgeFed, message us!

(Seriously, it'll be messy but fun.)

👉 GitHub Repo

Let's make federated badges a reality. 🚀

—Maho

You can read the article "BadgeFed: Early Decentralization Experiments + OpenBadges Export! - Second April 2025 Update" by @mapache here as well.
#activitypub #badgefed #fediverse #dotnet #decentralization #open-source #openbadges #identity #roadmap