Grab a seat at our Bonfire: the revolutionary community platform

Source: Dev.to

This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum.

TL;DR

Bonfire’s motto is “Building blocks for communities.”
It aims to:

• Create digital spaces we actually control
• Reject billionaires, opaque algorithms, and “enshittification”
• Empower citizens to shape an open social web

We’ll be covering Bonfire extensively on The Fulcrum, and—as I mentioned in the first TPF of 2026—I have ambitious plans for it.

Disclaimer: This piece is based on my notes from Bonfire’s documentation, blog posts, and a hands‑on trial of the public playground instance. I’m a newcomer, not an admin, and the screenshots come from Bonfire’s own sites. The platform just hit its stable 1.0 release, so it’s still a work‑in‑progress (which makes it exciting!). Getting an instance up and running is still a bit tricky for non‑developers.

What Is Bonfire?

Bonfire is not just another generic federation framework. It’s a modular, federated social platform built for digital communities. Its design is intentionally “nebulous” to stay flexible and community‑first.

Core Characteristics

• Decentralized & federated (uses ActivityPub)
• Extremely modular – extensions add or replace functionality
• Community‑first governance, moderation, and privacy models
• Strong focus on maintenance, stability, and user testing (big‑tech‑free)

ActivityPub lets Bonfire talk to the wider Fediverse. The core is lightweight but scalable; extensions enable classic social networking, forums, project organization, and more. Instances can be invite‑only or open.

Unique Features

Circles, Boundaries, & (Upcoming) Groups

These concepts set Bonfire apart from other Fediverse platforms, enabling fine‑grained, local‑first community governance and stronger privacy/security.

Multiple Profiles per Account

You can have four distinct profiles (e.g., personal, work, project/community) that appear as separate identities, each with its own settings.

“Everything App” Potential

Bonfire can host personal blogs, forums, project boards, and more—making it a candidate for an all‑in‑one open‑web app.

Anarchic Flexibility

The platform is deliberately messy, offering unlimited customization potential for those willing to dive in.

The Tech Stack

Note: As a PHP‑centric front‑end developer, I’m still learning the Elixir ecosystem, but the overall architecture feels powerful and flexible.

Administration & Governance

Bonfire’s “firekeepers” (administrators) have extensive controls:

• Federation settings – decide how the instance talks to the rest of the Fediverse
• Circle management – sort admins, moderators, and users into circles with specific roles/permissions
• Block‑list import/export
• Live monitoring via the LiveDashboard

Extensions

Extensions dictate functionality and user experience. Developers can create custom extensions for features not provided out‑of‑the‑box. Existing extensions include:

• Boundaries (privacy controls)
• Posts, messages, maps
• Misinformation‑busting tools

Bonfire’s Mozaic initiative encourages organizations to build custom extensions that connect their own or third‑party apps to the Fediverse—ideally FOSS and privacy‑respecting.

Flavors (Pre‑configured Installations)

Bonfire will eventually ship six “Flavors” tailored to different use cases. Currently available:

The Social flavor supports both micro‑blogging and long‑form posts, with options for public/private visibility, content warnings, and granular privacy controls.

Getting Started

1. Read the docs – especially the Developer Setup, Elixir, and Hosting guides.
2. Choose a deployment method (Docker is the easiest for a quick trial).
3. Explore extensions – start with the built‑in ones, then experiment with custom modules.
4. Join the community – Bonfire’s own Fediverse instance is a great place to ask questions and share experiences.

Final Thoughts

Bonfire feels like the everything app of the open web: flexible, modular, and built for community ownership. It’s a little anarchic, a bit messy, but packed with unlimited potential.

We’ve fallen in love with the idea, and we’ll be helping bring this philosophy to life—for you and for the broader Fediverse.

Further Reading

I’ve linked many of Bonfire’s articles throughout the text (see the footnotes in the original version). Dive in and explore the platform in depth!

Happy building! 🚀

Bonfire Overview

Bonfire offers a suite of unique features—collaborative moderation, interchangeable “flavors,” and extensive user control—that set it apart from other Fediverse platforms such as Mastodon. The team is also developing native apps for Apple, Android, and (hopefully) F‑Droid to complement the web experience.

Boundaries

Boundaries are limits you place on yourself or other users to control what you’re comfortable with while using Bonfire. They govern how others interact with your content, posts, and activities.

• Key points
  • Combine one or more circles and grant specific roles to each circle.
  • Compatible with Mastodon quote authorizations and GoToSocial interaction controls.
  • Interoperable with other Fediverse services (Mastodon, PeerTube, Mobilizon, etc.) and protocol bridges to Bluesky and beyond.

“Boundaries takes things to the next level by enabling you to combine one or more circles and then grant specific roles to each circle.” – Bonfire documentation

Circles

• Definition – Lists of users you create based on levels of trust and intimacy.
• Permissions – Control what circle members can do.
• Shared Circles – Co‑managed circles that can include users from other Fediverse instances.
• Uses –
  • Follow all members automatically.
  • Serve as lists or sidebar‑feed filters.
  • Form the basis of custom feeds.

Roles

Roles assign a predefined set of permissions to users or circles, allowing (or preventing) specific actions.

• Purpose – Ensure that users or circles have appropriate access based on their relationship to you or the purpose of a boundary.
• Future work – The dev team is adding group functionality (see the “Groups” section below).

Groups (Upcoming Feature)

“Federated groups in Bonfire will be spaces where communities gather to organize, care, and coordinate across the Fediverse. They’ll live next to your personal feed, but with each group having a specific purpose: a study circle, a lab team, an activist collective, a project team, etc.”

• Planned capabilities – Posts, conversations, calendars, shared resources, and more.
• Portability & Interoperability – Groups will be portable across instances, avoiding lock‑in.

Feeds

Preset feeds

Custom feeds

• Users can create feeds for any context (e.g., a Circles feed).
• Sort and filter options include: content type, circle, date, engagement, source instance, etc.

Messages

• Privacy – Private but not encrypted (yet).
• Types – Individual or group messages.

Notifications (Optional)

• Follows
• Follow requests
• Mentions
• Boosts
• Likes
• Events, polls, group activities, etc.

Posts

• Support mentions, hashtags, and attachments.
• Interact with any ActivityPub‑compatible account (not limited to Bonfire).

Flagging & Labeling

• Built‑in flagging/labeling for misinformation and other concerns.

Search

• Searches across the entire Fediverse.

RSS Feeds

• Per‑profile RSS (public posts only).
• Follow‑feed presets: local, public, and custom.

Customization

Profile widgets

• Weather reports, etc.

Appearance

• 16 themes available.

Dashboard

• Add widgets, configure extensions, and create custom emojis.

Extensions

• Users can enable additional functionality via extensions.

Well‑Being Controls

• Mark all uploads as sensitive
• Blur all media
• Enable infinite scrolling
• Highlight notifications

Privacy & Safety Controls

• Enable/disable federation
• Limit direct messages
• Control discoverability
• Allow/disallow search indexing

Curated & Trending Topic Controls

• Show or hide topics
• Set the time window (number of days) and the number of topics displayed

Summary

Bonfire provides a highly customizable, privacy‑focused experience that goes far beyond what most Fediverse platforms offer. From Boundaries, Circles, and Roles to upcoming Federated Groups, the platform empowers users to shape their digital spaces without reliance on big‑tech algorithms or “enshittification.”

The extensive front‑end features are only the tip of the iceberg; the backend documentation reveals even more depth. As Bonfire continues to evolve, it holds the potential to revolutionize the Fediverse, offering a robust tool for local communities and a powerful antidote to surveillance capitalism, authoritarian control, and other threats to an open social web.

Support Bonfire

• Make a small financial donation like I do each month.
  Here’s a second option for doing so.

• Contribute your time and expertise.

• Build a Bonfire instance for a community!

If you’re interested, learn more from Bonfire’s articles and documentation that we linked to throughout this article.

Play with Bonfire

Watch the video of the Bonfire playground instance (social flavor, not federated, just for playing).
You can sign up here.

Join the Conversation

Let us know what you think on the Fediverse or via the comments below. As I said, I hope to write more articles on this revolutionary framework so we can continue our journey to un‑fuck the internet together.

Let’s start a big ass bonfire!