You want your Mastodon followers to see the books you are reading and the reviews you write on Bookwyrm without manually copying links. Bookwyrm is a decentralized social network for book lovers that uses the same ActivityPub protocol as Mastodon. This article explains how federation between the two platforms works, what content actually syncs, and how to set up the connection so your reading activity appears in your Mastodon timeline.
Key Takeaways: Bookwyrm and Mastodon Federation
- ActivityPub protocol: Both Mastodon and Bookwyrm use the same decentralized protocol, enabling cross-platform follows and status boosts.
- Bookwyrm profile URL: You paste this URL into Mastodon’s search bar to find and follow a Bookwyrm user from Mastodon.
- Review and comment sync: Bookwyrm posts about books, reviews, and reading progress appear as regular statuses in Mastodon timelines.
How Bookwyrm and Mastodon Federation Works
Bookwyrm is a decentralized social network built on ActivityPub, the same protocol that powers Mastodon. Because both platforms implement ActivityPub, they can exchange messages, follows, and boosts across instances. This means a user on a Bookwyrm instance can follow a Mastodon user and vice versa, and each platform will receive status updates from the other.
When you post a book review, a reading progress update, or a comment about a book on Bookwyrm, your instance generates an ActivityPub activity object and sends it to all your followers. If those followers are on Mastodon, the activity appears as a regular status in their home timeline. The status includes the book title, cover image, and a link back to Bookwyrm.
The reverse also works. If you follow a Mastodon user from your Bookwyrm account, their toots appear in your Bookwyrm timeline. However, Mastodon statuses do not include book metadata unless the user manually includes a link. The sync is limited to text, images, and links — Bookwyrm-specific features like reading progress bars and rating stars do not render on Mastodon.
What Syncs Between Mastodon and Bookwyrm
Bookwyrm posts that sync to Mastodon include:
- Book reviews with star ratings and text
- Reading status updates: currently reading, finished, or abandoned
- Quotes from books with page numbers
- Comments on other users’ reviews
- Lists of books
Bookwyrm posts that do NOT sync to Mastodon:
- Private or direct messages
- Reading progress percentage or page numbers embedded in the UI
- Interactive elements like polls or custom emoji reactions
Steps to Connect Your Bookwyrm Account to Mastodon
- Get your Bookwyrm profile URL
Open your Bookwyrm instance in a browser. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner and select Profile. Copy the full URL from the address bar. The URL format is https://your-instance.domain/user/your-username. - Search for your Bookwyrm profile in Mastodon
Log in to your Mastodon account. Click the search icon or press Ctrl+F on Windows or Cmd+F on Mac. Paste your Bookwyrm profile URL into the search field and press Enter. Mastodon will look up the ActivityPub endpoint for your Bookwyrm account. - Follow your Bookwyrm account from Mastodon
When Mastodon displays the search result, click the Follow button next to your Bookwyrm username. Mastodon now follows your Bookwyrm account. Any public post you make on Bookwyrm will appear in your Mastodon home timeline. - Follow your Mastodon account from Bookwyrm
Copy your Mastodon profile URL from your Mastodon instance. On Bookwyrm, click the search icon in the top menu. Paste your Mastodon URL and press Enter. Click the Follow button on the search result. Your Mastodon toots will now appear in your Bookwyrm timeline.
Common Federation Issues Between Mastodon and Bookwyrm
Bookwyrm Posts Not Appearing in Mastodon Timeline
If you followed your Bookwyrm account from Mastodon but see no posts, check the privacy setting of your Bookwyrm post. Only public posts federate to other platforms. Posts set to Followers Only or Private will not appear on Mastodon. To fix this, go to your Bookwyrm post editor and ensure the visibility is set to Public before publishing.
Mastodon Toots Not Showing in Bookwyrm Timeline
Mastodon toots that are direct messages or followers-only will not appear in Bookwyrm. Only public toots federate. Additionally, if your Mastodon instance has been blocked by the Bookwyrm instance, no posts will sync. Check the moderation logs on both instances to see if a block exists. If you are the instance admin, you can remove the block from the instance moderation panel.
Book Cover Image Missing on Mastodon
Bookwyrm includes the book cover image as an attachment in the ActivityPub payload. If the image does not appear on Mastodon, the Mastodon instance may have blocked the image domain. Ask your Mastodon instance admin to add the Bookwyrm instance domain to the media whitelist. This setting is in Administration > Server Settings > Media.
| Item | Mastodon | Bookwyrm |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol | ActivityPub | ActivityPub |
| Post types federated | Public toots with text and images | Public reviews, reading updates, quotes, comments |
| Book-specific metadata | Not rendered | Full UI with ratings, progress bars, ISBN |
| Cross-platform follow | Yes, via profile URL search | Yes, via profile URL search |
| Media embedding | Images, videos, audio | Book covers, user-uploaded images |
Mastodon and Bookwyrm use the same ActivityPub protocol but render content differently. Book-specific UI elements on Bookwyrm appear as plain text on Mastodon. To maximize the visibility of your book activity, always set your Bookwyrm posts to Public. Consider adding a short note in your Mastodon profile bio that you are active on Bookwyrm, and include your Bookwyrm profile URL so other Mastodon users can follow you there directly.