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LemmyNet

LemmyNet/lemmy

A federated, self-hostable link aggregator and forum in Rust, a decentralised alternative to Reddit that runs on the fediverse.

Open-source alternative to:Reddit

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What is it?

Lemmy is a link aggregator and discussion forum where users subscribe to communities, post links or text, vote, and comment, similar to Reddit or Hacker News. Unlike those sites, anyone can run their own server, and servers are federated over ActivityPub so a user on one instance can subscribe to communities and talk with users on any other instance in the fediverse.

Each server sets its own moderation policy, with site admins and community moderators who can sticky, lock, remove, and restore posts and comments, ban users, and keep public moderation logs. The project is written in Rust with the Actix web framework and Diesel for the database, and the web interface is built with Inferno and TypeScript. Docker and Ansible installation methods are provided, and the server runs on arm64 and Raspberry Pi hardware.

The interface supports light, dark, and solarized themes, RSS and Atom feeds, private messaging, email notifications, and NSFW community settings.

Key features

  • 01Federated via ActivityPub, so users on different servers can interact.
  • 02Community subscriptions, voting, threaded comments, and post types with title, text, or URL.
  • 03Per-server moderation with admins, community moderators, and public moderation logs.
  • 04Docker and Ansible deployment options, with arm64 and Raspberry Pi support.
  • 05RSS and Atom feeds, private messaging, and email notifications.

Use cases

  • Running a private or community-specific discussion forum on your own server.
  • Hosting a Reddit-style community that stays under your own moderation rules.
  • Participating in the fediverse with users on other Lemmy and ActivityPub-compatible servers.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Read the Lemmy administration docs for installation options

  2. 2

    Deploy with the Docker or Ansible guides linked in the docs

Things to know

  • Licensed under AGPL-3.0, a copyleft license that requires derivative network services to share their source code.
  • Self-hosting requires running your own server, so setup takes effort and the README only links to external docs for instructions.

Topics

#fediverse#activitypub#forum#link-aggregator#self-hosted#rust#social#chat#lemmy#reddit

FAQ

What is lemmy?
A federated, self-hostable link aggregator and forum in Rust, a decentralised alternative to Reddit that runs on the fediverse. Lemmy is a link aggregator and discussion forum where users subscribe to communities, post links or text, vote, and comment, similar to Reddit or Hacker News. Unlike those sites, anyone can run their own server, and servers are federated over ActivityPub so a user on one instance can subscribe to communities and talk with users on any other instance in the fediverse.
Is lemmy free to use? What license does it have?
lemmy is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is lemmy still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to lemmy was on Oct 21, 2026.
What can I use lemmy for?
Running a private or community-specific discussion forum on your own server. Hosting a Reddit-style community that stays under your own moderation rules. Participating in the fediverse with users on other Lemmy and ActivityPub-compatible servers.
How do I install lemmy?
Read the Lemmy administration docs for installation options Deploy with the Docker or Ansible guides linked in the docs
Where can I get lemmy?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy

Summary generated by AI from the project's README. GitHub stats refresh daily.

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