Yarn.social

Yarn.social is a decentralized social networking platform built around the Twtxt format (with optional extensions). It provides a self-hosted “pod” server (yarnd) with a web UI and API, designed to be privacy-first with no ads or tracking.

Key Features

• Twtxt-based microblogging (“twts”) with optional extensions (e.g., subjects and hashes for threads)
• Decentralized, pull-based model where users follow feeds across pods
• Web interface plus a built-in HTTP API for clients and integrations
• Command-line client (yarnc) for posting and interacting with a pod
• Supports single-user or multi-user pods with configurable registrations and profiles
• Media uploads supported when ffmpeg is available

Use Cases

• Run a small private social space for a team, family, or community
• Participate in the wider Twtxt/Yarn ecosystem while keeping data on your own pod
• Build alternative clients or tooling using the pod API

Limitations and Considerations

• Some features (e.g., media handling) require extra system dependencies such as ffmpeg
• Federation/discovery depends on external feeds and the pull-based follow model rather than push federation

Yarn.social fits users who want a lightweight, transparent social platform centered on plain-text feeds and user-controlled hosting. It works well both as a full pod server with accounts and as part of a broader Twtxt-compatible ecosystem.