Bonfire Networks

P2P Platforms/Frameworks

Open-source, modular, federated social networking toolkit and framework for building custom digital communities and social applications with fine-grained governance

Federated Community Low capture risk
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Details

License AGPL / GPL-3.0
Dev Status Released
Owner Bonfire Networks (online collective) — led by Mayel de Borniol and team
Country International
Start Year 2020
Stack Elixir, modular extension architecture with context modules, LiveHandlers, Oban for job processing, Meili for search indexing
Funding NGI, Community, Donations
Last Investigated Mar 10, 2026

Use Case Domains

Communication Mutual Aid & Exchange Group Formation & Governance

Affordances

Protocol federation Consent-based audiences Composable groups Non-monetary exchange

P2P Platform Attributes

P2P Architecture Federated (ActivityPub server-to-server); not pure P2P; modular federation with MRF (Message Rewrite Facility) policies for content filtering
Development Tools Modular extensions system (mix-and-match Elixir extensions for social, coordination, economic features); GraphQL API; reusable ActivityPub library (activity_pub Hex package); LiveView + Surface UI framework; bonfire_ui_valueflows reusable components; comprehensive developer documentation
Deployment Options Self-hosting (Docker, NixOS, Guix); managed hosting services; multiple 'flavours' (social, coordination, community, cooperation) for different use cases
Authentication & Identity ActivityPub-based actor identities (WebFinger discovery); OAuth support; fine-grained Circles and Boundaries system for role-based access control (RBAC); per-user, per-circle permission definitions
Storage Model PostgreSQL database (local instance) + federated ActivityPub content; Meili search index for full-text search; Waffle for file/media management
Interoperability ActivityPub federation (compatible with Mastodon, PeerTube, Mobilizon, Pleroma, etc.); ValueFlows vocabulary for economic interoperability; ForgeFed participation planned; reusable ActivityPub library usable by other Elixir projects; MRF policies for federation filtering
Social Graph Yes (comprehensive social graph with Circles for grouping contacts, Boundaries for fine-grained permissions, follows, federated groups across instances, roles and governance; ValueFlows for economic relationships and reciprocal value flows)