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Bluesky

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RegionUSA and Canada

Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.

Overview

Bluesky is a microblogging platform built on the open AT Protocol. Under the terms of service, the operator is Bluesky Social, PBC, and the law of the state of Delaware (USA) applies. The same document says the service runs on the "Authenticated Transfer Protocol ('AT Protocol'), a decentralized social networking protocol".

The company's FAQ describes Bluesky as a "social app designed so that it is not controlled by a single company", and its moderation as "three-part": automated filters, administrator actions and community labelling. The roles in the network are set out in the protocol glossary: DID is a permanent identifier, PDS is the server that holds an account's data, Relay is an event aggregator, AppView is the front-end application, Lexicon is the data and API schema.

Who's here

Every figure below is a claim made by the platform itself. In its 2025 transparency report Bluesky reports growth of "nearly 60% in 2025, from 25.94 million to 41.41 million users" and 1.41 billion posts over the year. In the Series B announcement the company already speaks of "more than 43 million users worldwide" and "roughly 20 billion public records" across the protocol network. These are registered accounts: the company gives no monthly active audience figure in these posts, and no breakdown by country or language either.

Getting started

Registration is by e-mail. Under the terms of use you must be "at least 13 years old" and meet the minimum age set by local law.

Your handle is issued by default on the platform's domain, but you can replace it with your own domain. The company's tutorial sets out the procedure: in settings, choose "I have my own domain", add an _atproto TXT record to your DNS with a value of the form did=did:plc:…, wait for it to propagate and press verify. The same post says this is "one form of verification on Bluesky" and that it is not mandatory.

The platform's help centre describes no separate business account with a different set of features.

What you can publish

The limits are set by the record schema. In the app.bsky.feed.post lexicon the text is given maxLength: 3000 bytes and maxGraphemes: 300, languages maxLength: 3, and tags 8 items of 64 graphemes each.

The images lexicon caps an embed at four pictures and the file size at 2,000,000 bytes (in the schema: "can be up to 2MB, the limit was previously 1MB"). Each image has its own alt text. The embed types, per the documentation: a quoted record, images, and an external website card.

Video, when the feature launched in September 2024, was capped at 60 seconds, the formats mp4, mpeg, webm, mov, and a quota of "25 videos / 10GB per day"; the same post noted that the limit may change.

What is forbidden is listed in the community guidelines: four principles — "Safety First", "Respect Others", "Be Authentic", "Follow the Rules" — and under them violence, harassment, deception, illegal activity, and harm to children and animals.

How to grow

The main mechanism is swappable feeds. The custom feeds announcement describes them as "brand new feeds that users can install for themselves", and the default Discover feed as a blend of "a global view of what is popular on the network with posts from the people you follow". In September 2025 the platform reported "more than 100,000 user-created algorithms".

Neither an ad manager nor built-in analytics for authors is described in the help centre or the blog posts we opened. In its 2026 roadmap the company names the gaps itself: "there are still no drafts".

Path to monetization

There are no creator payout programmes as of the verification date. Neither the 2025 report, nor the Series B announcement, nor the 2026 roadmap describes a partner programme, a paid subscription to an author, or a share of advertising revenue. Series B is $100 million of investment led by Bain Capital Crypto — that is, money for the company, not for authors.

The only confirmed money mechanic in the ecosystem is a technical one: the note on stackable moderation says that "nothing stops a moderation service from having paid subscribers". What can be paid for is a third-party labelling service, not an author's account.

Tools and automation

The API is open. The getting-started guide describes signing in through com.atproto.server.createSession, which issues an accessJwt and a refreshJwt, and names the SDKs: TypeScript (@atproto/api), Python (atproto) and the community-maintained atproto.dart.

The limits are published. Per the rate limits page, an account gets "5,000 points per hour and 35,000 points per day" (creating a record costs 3 points, updating 2, deleting 1), which works out to "1,666 records per hour and 11,666 records per day". The overall PDS limit is 3,000 requests per 5 minutes from one IP, createSession 30 per 5 minutes and 300 per day, and the maximum blob is 52,428,800 bytes (50MB).

Moderation is available as an API as well: the documentation explains that "labels are published by moderation services" and that labelers are "regular atproto accounts". The tool for running your own service is Ozone, open-sourced by the company in March 2024.

Limits and rules

The rules of the app and the rules of the protocol are two different things. The terms state it plainly: "because of the decentralized nature of the AT Protocol, we cannot control or force other services to treat your content in a particular way". Deleting something in the Bluesky app does not guarantee that it is deleted across the network.

The platform publishes the scale of its enforcement itself. For 2025, per the report: 9.97 million reports (+54% against 2024), 16.49 million labels, 2,446,334 items removed, 1,470 legal requests, of which 1,334 were found valid (90.7%). The community guidelines mention "age assurance processes (where applicable in certain regions)" — country differences exist, but the guidelines give no list of them.

Who it's for

Bluesky makes sense if what matters to you is account portability, your own domain instead of a handle, and wiring the platform into your own processes through an open API. Topic-based communities get value from custom feeds: they deliver reach without an advertising budget. The platform is not for anyone who needs income directly from it, an ad manager, or detailed built-in analytics. Long text is out too: 300 graphemes per record.

Tools for this platform

The list is built from the tools' own facts: every line is a tool's statement that it supports the platform, with the source named. A tool missing from the list only means we have no such statement.

Scheduling and publishing:

Automation:

Social listening:

Verified data

The checked data this deep dive rests on.

About the platform

the platform describes itself this way: "Social media as it should be. Find your community among millions of users, unleash your creativity, and have some fun again."

This is the platform's statement about itself, not an independent assessment

source, checked 2026-07-28

operator — Bluesky Social, PBC; the law of the state of Delaware, USA, applies

From the terms of service

source, checked 2026-07-28

the service runs on the AT Protocol — "a decentralized social networking protocol"

Wording of the agreement

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform describes its moderation as "three-part": automated filtering, manual administrator actions and community labelling

The platform's claim about itself

source, checked 2026-07-28

Who's here

the platform reports growth from 25.94 million to 41.41 million users over 2025 (nearly +60%)

The platform's claim; these are registered accounts, not MAU

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform reports more than 43 million users worldwide (March 2026)

The platform's claim in the Series B announcement

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform reports 1.41 billion posts created during 2025

The platform's claim

source, checked 2026-07-28

Account and access

minimum age — 13 years, and no lower than the minimum age set by local law

Direct wording of the agreement

source, checked 2026-07-28

the handle can be replaced with your own domain via an _atproto TXT record with the value did=did:plc:…

The platform calls this "one form of verification"

source, checked 2026-07-28

What you can publish

The limits are given separately by level. An attachment: "The PDS also applies a maximum size limit on individual blob uploads... The current limit is 52,428,800 bytes (50 MByte)". The number of videos per 24 hours: "Currently, you can upload 25 videos / 10 GB of video per day. We may tweak this limit", and moreover "You must verify your email before you can upload a video" — that is, the limit depends on the confirmation of the email. The number of records: "The limit is 5,000 points per hour and 35,000 points per day", where "CREATE 3 points, UPDATE 2 points, DELETE 1 point", from which "an account may create at most 1,666 records per hour and 11,666 records per day". The number of calls: "Overall API Requests (all endpoints) Rate limited by IP 3000 per 5 minutes", "com.atproto.server.createSession Measured per account 30 per 5 minutes, 300 per day". The platform stipulates: "All of the limits described here are likely to evolve over time"

the limits depend on the level (the storage instance, the video service, the app) and on the confirmation of the email; the network is an open one, and the platform writes directly that other instances may have different limits: "other providers in the network are likely to have different rate-limits"; the daily limit for video — https://bsky.social/about/blog/09-11-2024-video ; the robots.txt of bsky.app permits crawling ("User-Agent: * / Allow: /") and itself proposes using the protocol instead of crawling

source, checked 2026-08-04

Video. "Bluesky currently supports .mp4, .mpeg, .webm, and .mov video files", "Each post can contain one video". The platform names neither a codec, nor a resolution, nor a bit rate, nor a frame rate. The upload goes either the usual way (uploadBlob to one's own storage instance) or directly to the service instance video.bsky.app, and the limit on file size depends on the path: the general limit for an attachment of the storage instance is "52,428,800 bytes (50 MByte)" · the source is dated 2024-09-11

the formats are announced in a blog entry of 11 September 2024; the platform does not publish technical requirements for the video file; the order of the upload — https://docs.bsky.app/docs/tutorials/video ; the robots.txt of bsky.app permits crawling ("User-Agent: * / Allow: /") and itself proposes using the protocol instead of crawling

source, checked 2026-08-04

Images. Sources diverge: "Each post contains up to four images, and each image can have its own alt text and aspect ratio". The limit on the file size of a single image is named twice and differently on one and the same page: in the text — "Individual images are limited to 1,000,000 bytes in size", while in the code example on the same page the check stands at a number twice as large: "if len(img_bytes) > 2000000: raise Exception(f"image file size too large. 2000000 bytes maximum")" with the note "this size limit is specified in the app.bsky.embed.images lexicon". The formats are listed only through examples of types: image/png, image/webp. On top of that the general limit of the storage instance applies: "The current limit is 52,428,800 bytes (50 MByte)". The platform advises to "strip image metadata before uploading"

the source contradicts itself: in the text 1,000,000 bytes, in the code example on the same page 2,000,000 bytes with a reference to the same schema; the limit of the storage instance — https://docs.bsky.app/docs/advanced-guides/rate-limits ; the robots.txt of bsky.app permits crawling ("User-Agent: * / Allow: /") and itself proposes using the protocol instead of crawling

source, checked 2026-08-04

Sources diverge: The source contradicts itself. The blog entry about the launch of video (11 September 2024) says: "Videos can be up to 60 seconds long". A later blog entry (26 January 2026) proceeds from a different limit, three times as large: "three-minute videos aren't enough, videos should upload faster, four photos aren't enough" — that is, on the day of the check a limit of three minutes applies, and the old page about the launch has not been corrected

60 seconds is the launch page, three minutes is https://bsky.social/about/blog/01-26-2026-whats-next-at-bluesky ; the platform has no separate help centre page with the number in force, and both blog entries are its own; the robots.txt of bsky.app permits crawling ("User-Agent: * / Allow: /") and itself proposes using the protocol instead of crawling

source, checked 2026-08-04

Promotion

Control at Bluesky is taken out into the very essence of its arrangement. Word for word: "Our goal isn't to create every algorithm in-house, but to enable the developer community to bring new algorithms to users swiftly and effortlessly"; "Users will be able to find, share, and add algorithms to their clients. Our UX design allows users to swipe between favorite algorithms or view a multi-algorithm feed"; "As a user, you're given a few default feeds to start out with as you get settled into the app, but you can easily swap them out for one of the many feeds that others have created." On moderation: "There is also stackable moderation, allowing people to spin up independent moderation services, and giving users a choice in what moderation middleware they subscribe to" · the source is dated 2025-09-19

the second and the third quotations are from https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-27-2023-custom-feeds, the fourth from the post of 19 September 2025

source, checked 2026-08-05

Bluesky builds its position on this and directly calls the lack of transparency other platforms' trouble. Word for word: "Unfortunately, there's usually very little transparency into how things are selected or why content is being shown to you"; "The problem isn't “algorithms” — the problem is a lack of transparency and control around how algorithms are used to direct your attention"; "Instead of using a black box algorithm that leaves users guessing how posts are ranked or how to get to the “top” of an algorithm, we provide an open marketplace of feeds and let users choose which ones they want to use." At the same time the platform does not analyse its own Discover feed in the same detail

the position is stated clearly, but it concerns the arrangement rather than the disclosure of signals: Bluesky does not publish a list of the signals of its own feed

source, checked 2026-08-05

the platform reports more than 100,000 user-created algorithms (feeds) — September 2025

The platform's claim

source, checked 2026-07-28

The platform does not name ranking signals for a single feed — because, by its own words, it has no single feed. Word for word: "Instead of using a black box algorithm that leaves users guessing how posts are ranked or how to get to the “top” of an algorithm, we provide an open marketplace of feeds and let users choose which ones they want to use"; "In the Bluesky app, users have algorithmic choice — you can choose from a marketplace of over 100k algorithms, built by other users, giving you full control over what you see." And about the chronological feed: "A feed of content from the people you follow ordered only by time is also an algorithm (albeit a very simple one). This should be an option if you want"

the platform does not describe on its pages what the Discover feed takes into account. The second quotation is from https://bsky.social/about/blog/09-19-2025-building-healthier-social-media, the third from https://bsky.social/about/blog/3-30-2023-algorithmic-choice

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no separate document about ranking, but there are two posts in its own blog devoted precisely to the arrangement of the feeds: "Algorithmic choice" (https://bsky.social/about/blog/3-30-2023-algorithmic-choice, 30 March 2023) and "Algorithmic Choice with Custom Feeds" (https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-27-2023-custom-feeds, 27 July 2023). Both describe not ranking signals but the arrangement of the marketplace of feeds

the robots.txt of bsky.app and of bsky.social are fully open: "User-Agent: * Allow: /", with a request to keep a moderate rate of requests

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no direct promise to reduce distribution. In the community guidelines restrictions on an account and removal are named, not a reduction: "Accounts that engage in extreme or persistent toxic or disruptive behavior may face restrictions or removal." A ban on artificial boosting: "Do not artificially manipulate features or social signals to gain unearned reach or mislead users, including engagement metrics, follower counts, or other measures of community interest." In the post of 19 September 2025 a tightening is promised: "Going forward, we will more quickly escalate enforcement actions towards account restrictions"

the word "reach" occurs only in the ban on artificial boosting; the platform does not describe reduced distribution as a separate punishment. The guidelines came into force on 15 October 2025

source, checked 2026-08-05

There is no separate rule about reposting; there is a ban on appropriating other people's content. Word for word: "Intellectual property & Copyright: We protect creators' rights by prohibiting content theft and copyright violations. Do not infringe copyrights, steal content, remove attribution or watermarks, violate trademarks or patents, impersonate brands or businesses, or share unauthorized streams or downloads"

the platform writes nothing about reposting one's own content or about the influence of originality on distribution

source, checked 2026-08-05

How the money works here

What must be disclosed. Disclosure is obligatory, but the mechanism is not set: the section "Be Authentic" / "Trust & Transparency" says "Do not post undisclosed commercial content, sponsored material, or advertising without clearly identifying its commercial nature to other users". The platform offers no built-in label: the way of marking is left to the creator

the wording requires clarity, but the rules name neither marker words nor an interface label

source, checked 2026-08-04

Commercial content is allowed provided it is disclosed. Forbidden: "Do not create, share, or promote financial scams, phishing attempts, or fraudulent fundraising"; "Do not artificially manipulate features or social signals to gain unearned reach or mislead users, including engagement metrics, follower counts, or other measures of community interest". Trade in and advertising of restricted goods is forbidden: "Do not use Bluesky to unlawfully sell, advertise, provide services for, or facilitate commercial transactions for" controlled substances, medicines, weapons, stolen goods and counterfeits. Separately forbidden are "commercial practices targeting minors, such as prohibited advertising that targets underage users"

the rules give no definition of "commercial content" — the term is used without explanation

source, checked 2026-08-04

the platform notes that "nothing stops a moderation service from having paid subscribers"

Applies to a third-party labelling service, not to an author's account

source, checked 2026-07-28

Limits and restrictions

record length — no more than 300 graphemes and 3000 bytes (maxGraphemes 300, maxLength 3000)

From the app.bsky.feed.post lexicon in the official repository

source, checked 2026-07-28

a post's language array — up to 3 values; tags — up to 8, each up to 64 graphemes

From the app.bsky.feed.post lexicon

source, checked 2026-07-28

up to 4 images per record, file size — up to 2,000,000 bytes

The schema notes: the limit was previously 1MB

source, checked 2026-07-28

at the feature's launch video was capped at 60 seconds; formats mp4, mpeg, webm, mov; quota 25 videos / 10GB per day

2024 data; the platform noted the limit may change

source, checked 2026-07-28

per account: 5,000 points per hour and 35,000 per day (creating a record — 3 points), that is 1,666 records per hour and 11,666 per day

Official API rate limits page

source, checked 2026-07-28

overall PDS limit — 3,000 requests per 5 minutes from one IP; createSession — 30 per 5 minutes and 300 per day per account

Official API rate limits page

source, checked 2026-07-28

maximum size of an uploaded blob — 52,428,800 bytes (50MB)

Official API rate limits page

source, checked 2026-07-28

Named by a number, but not in records — in points. Word for word: "The limit is 5,000 points per hour and 35,000 points per day. Points are counted as: CREATE 3 points, UPDATE 2 points, DELETE 1 point". And a direct recalculation by the platform itself: "Under this system, an account may create at most 1,666 records per hour and 11,666 records per day. That means an account can like up to 1,666 records in one hour with no problem. We took the most active human users on the network into account when we set this threshold"

A record is any action with the store: a note, a like, and a follow. The recalculation of 35,000 points into 11,666 records was made by the platform itself, not by us. The proviso from the page: "All of the limits described here are likely to evolve over time"

source, checked 2026-08-04

Named by a number: "The limit is 5,000 points per hour", which, at a price of 3 points for the creation of a record, gives, by the platform's own recalculation, "at most 1,666 records per hour". Separately for calls: "Overall API Requests (all endpoints) — Rate limited by IP — 3000 per 5 minutes"

Bluesky is the only one of the thirteen platforms that publishes both the hourly and the daily limit as direct numbers together with the price of each action

source, checked 2026-08-04

Named by a number, by the instances of the network. The account's store (PDS): "Overall API Requests (all endpoints) — Rate limited by IP — 3000 per 5 minutes"; "com.atproto.identity.updateHandle — Measured per account — 10 per 5 minutes, 50 per day"; "com.atproto.server.createAccount — Measured per IP — 100 per 5 minutes"; "com.atproto.server.createSession — Measured per account — 30 per 5 minutes, 300 per day"; "com.atproto.server.deleteAccount — Measured per IP — 50 per 5 minutes"; "com.atproto.server.resetPassword — Measured per IP — 50 per 5 minutes". The size of an attachment: "The current limit is 52,428,800 bytes (50 MByte)". For the publicly available delivery: "These API services have generous rate-limits. Please contact us if you encounter rate-limiting"

The numbers are given by instance, not for the platform as a whole: Bluesky is an open network, and the documentation says directly: "other providers in the network are likely to have different rate-limits". The limits of a relay instance: 50 events per second, 2,600 per hour, 21,000 per 24 hours

source, checked 2026-08-04

Described directly. Word for word: "Many HTTP API services return rate limit headers on responses. Developers can use those to debug and understand the current limits, or even automate request throughput and backoff. Requests that cross a limit usually receive an HTTP 429 (“Too Many Requests”) response status code." A separate proviso: "Note that moderation systems and other application-specific limits may apply, or that services may degrade in some situations"

The punishment is technical — a 429 refusal with headers about what is left; the page does not provide for blocks of an account for tempo, that is referred to the decisions of moderation

source, checked 2026-08-04

Announced with a term. Word for word: "Appeals. If your account has been suspended, terminated, or otherwise restricted under these Terms, you may appeal the decision using the in-app appeal tool or by emailing moderation@blueskyweb.xyz. Appeals must be well-founded and include sufficient information or documentation for us to conduct a meaningful review. Appeals must be filed within two weeks of the account suspension, termination, or restriction you seek to appeal. Appeals that lack supporting detail or that are not filed within two weeks may not be eligible for reconsideration." Further: "We will notify you when we've reviewed your appeal and taken action". For the European Economic Area additional paths of appeal are provided

The only one of the thirteen platforms that names the term for filing a complaint by a number — two weeks. The community guidelines on bsky.social refer to this same procedure: "our appeals process gives you an opportunity to tell us if you think we have gotten something wrong"

source, checked 2026-08-04

There is no separate limit on follows: follows are counted by the same points as records. Word for word: "These limits shouldn't affect typical Bluesky users! They won't affect the majority of developers either. But they will affect prolific bots, such as the ones that follow every other account or like every post on the network." And a warning: "following other users and “liking” content both count as interactions in the Bluesky app, and bulk or spammy interactions are against the Community Guidelines"

Bluesky does not publish a maximum number of follows — in place of it there is a single counter of records: 1,666 per hour and 11,666 per 24 hours for all actions together. Mass follows are named a violation of the community guidelines, not an exceeding of a limit

source, checked 2026-08-04

Restrictions

the community guidelines are built on four principles: Safety First, Respect Others, Be Authentic, Follow the Rules

Official community guidelines

source, checked 2026-07-28

for 2025: 9.97 million reports (+54%), 16.49 million labels, 2,446,334 items removed

The platform's transparency report

source, checked 2026-07-28

Moderation

There is no ladder. The ToS verbatim: «We may suspend, restrict, or terminate your Account—or specific features of Bluesky—at any time, without prior notice» — the measures are discretionary, with no gradation by number of violations

The Community Guidelines refer on to the ToS: «our appeals process gives you an opportunity to tell us if you think we have gotten something wrong»

source, checked 2026-08-07

1,470 legal requests received during 2025, 1,334 found valid (90.7% acted on)

The platform's transparency report

source, checked 2026-07-28

the platform warns that it cannot force other AT Protocol services to treat content in a particular way

Deletion in the app does not guarantee deletion across the network

source, checked 2026-07-28

API access

official SDKs: TypeScript @atproto/api and Python atproto; atproto.dart is community-maintained

Developer getting-started guide

source, checked 2026-07-28

sign-in through com.atproto.server.createSession, which issues accessJwt and refreshJwt

Developer getting-started guide

source, checked 2026-07-28

labels are published by moderation services; a labeler is a regular atproto account with an app.bsky.labeler.service record

Documentation on moderation through the API

source, checked 2026-07-28

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