Fediverse Enhancement Proposals (FEPs)

Fediverse Enhancement Proposals (FEPs) are documents that provide information to the Fediverse community. They propose new features, document best practices, and improve interoperability across the diverse services and communities that form the Fediverse.

What is a FEP?

A FEP can:

• Propose a new feature or extension
• Document implementation best practices
• Describe interoperability requirements
• Define vocabulary extensions

FEP Repository

The official FEP repository is hosted on Codeberg:

• Repository: codeberg.org/fediverse/fep
• Discussion: SocialHub Forum
• Web View: fep.swf.pub

Key FEPs

Core Process

FEP	Title	Status
FEP-a4ed	The Fediverse Enhancement Proposal Process	FINAL
FEP-67ff	FEDERATION.md	FINAL
FEP-d9ad	Test Cases for FEPs	DRAFT

Federation & Discovery

FEP	Title	Status
FEP-d556	Server-Level Actor Discovery Using WebFinger	FINAL
FEP-f1d5	NodeInfo in Fediverse Software	FINAL
FEP-8fcf	Followers Collection Synchronization	FINAL
FEP-ae0c	Fediverse Relay Protocols	FINAL

Groups & Collections

FEP	Title	Status
FEP-1b12	Group Federation	FINAL
FEP-400e	Publicly-appendable ActivityPub Collections	FINAL
FEP-e232	Object Links	FINAL

Security

FEP	Title	Status
FEP-521a	Representing Actor's Public Keys	FINAL

FEP Identifiers

FEP identifiers are computed from the proposal title using the first 4 hex digits of the SHA-256 hash:

# Generate a FEP identifier
echo -n "The Fediverse Enhancement Proposal Process" | sha256sum | cut -c1-4
# Output: a4ed

This ensures unique, deterministic identifiers while avoiding manual numbering conflicts.

Creating a FEP

1. Draft Your Proposal

Create a markdown file following this template:

---
slug: "xxxx"
authors: Your Name <your@email.example>
status: DRAFT
dateReceived: 2024-01-15
discussionsTo: https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/your-topic
---

# FEP-xxxx: Your Proposal Title

## Summary

Brief description of what this FEP proposes.

## Requirements

The key words "MUST", "SHOULD", "MAY" are to be interpreted as
described in RFC 2119.

## Proposal

Detailed description of the proposal...

## Security Considerations

Security implications of this proposal...

## Implementations

List of implementations supporting this FEP...

## References

- [Reference 1](https://example.com)

2. Submit a Pull Request

# Fork the repository
git clone https://codeberg.org/your-username/fep
cd fep

# Create your FEP directory
mkdir fep/xxxx
cp template.md fep/xxxx/fep-xxxx.md

# Submit pull request
git add .
git commit -m "Add FEP-xxxx: Your Proposal Title"
git push origin main

3. Discussion Period

Once submitted:

1. Create a discussion topic on SocialHub
2. Engage with community feedback
3. Update the FEP based on discussions

4. Finalization

After sufficient discussion and implementation:

1. Request status change to FINAL
2. Facilitators review and merge
3. FEP becomes a stable specification

FEP Governance

Facilitators

The FEP process is managed by facilitators listed in FACILITATORS.md. Their role is:

• Merge pull requests
• Create tracking issues
• Remain neutral on proposals
• Ensure process compliance

DoOcracy

The FEP community operates as a "DoOcracy":

Pick up any task you want, and steer it to completion.

This means anyone can:

• Propose new FEPs
• Review and comment on proposals
• Implement FEPs in their software
• Help maintain the process

Reading FEPs

Understanding Status

• DRAFT: Work in progress, may change significantly
• FINAL: Stable specification, suitable for implementation
• WITHDRAWN: No longer maintained (may be replaced)

Implementation Notes

When implementing a FEP:

// Check if an activity uses a FEP extension
function supportsFEP(object, fepId) {
  const context = object['@context'];

  if (Array.isArray(context)) {
    return context.some(ctx =>
      typeof ctx === 'object' && ctx.fep === `https://w3id.org/fep/${fepId}`
    );
  }

  return false;
}

// Example: Check for FEP-e232 Object Links
if (supportsFEP(activity, 'e232')) {
  // Process object links according to FEP-e232
}

Notable Draft FEPs

These drafts are actively being developed:

FEP	Title	Description
FEP-c390	Identity Proofs	Cryptographic identity verification
FEP-4adb	Dereferencing identifiers with webfinger	Enhanced actor discovery
FEP-e3e9	Conversation Threads	Improved reply threading
FEP-8b32	Object Integrity Proofs	Content authenticity

Relationship to Standards

FEPs bridge the gap between W3C specifications and implementation-specific extensions, providing community-driven standards.

Resources

• FEP Repository
• SocialHub Forum
• FEP Process (FEP-a4ed)
• Social Web Foundation

Next Steps

• SocialCG - W3C Community Group
• Events - Fediverse conferences
• Resources - Developer resources