How to Migrate Mastodon to Sharkey Without Losing Features

Mastodon users who want more granular post controls, built-in chat, and advanced moderation tools often look at Sharkey as a migration target. Sharkey is a fork of Misskey that adds features Mastodon does not offer natively, such as custom emoji reactions, antenna feeds, and per-post visibility settings. However, moving between ActivityPub platforms can break follower counts, delete saved bookmarks, or orphan your post history if done incorrectly. This article explains how to migrate your Mastodon account to a Sharkey instance while preserving your followers, posts, and key account data.

How Mastodon and Sharkey Handle Account Migration

Mastodon and Sharkey both use the ActivityPub protocol, but their account migration features are not identical. Mastodon offers a built-in Move function that redirects followers from your old account to a new one. Sharkey supports this same ActivityPub Move activity, so followers who are on Mastodon or other compatible platforms will automatically follow your new Sharkey account after migration.

However, Sharkey does not support Mastodon’s full export and import format one-to-one. Sharkey can import posts and media from a Mastodon archive, but it cannot import direct messages, bookmarks, or follower lists. You must re-follow accounts manually after the move. The migration process has two independent parts: the follower redirect and the data transfer. Each part must be done in the correct order to avoid data loss.

What You Need Before You Start

Before you begin, you need three things. First, a Sharkey account on a server that allows data imports. Check your Sharkey instance’s terms or ask the admin. Second, access to your Mastodon account settings. You need to be logged in to export data and initiate the move. Third, a stable internet connection for downloading and uploading archives that can be several hundred megabytes.

Steps to Migrate Mastodon to Sharkey Without Losing Features

Follow these steps in order. Do not start the Move process until you have exported your data. The Move will lock your Mastodon account and prevent further exports.

1. Export your Mastodon data archive
   On your Mastodon instance, go to Preferences > Import and Export > Export. Select the option to download an archive of your posts and media. This creates a zip file containing your toots, media attachments, and profile information. Save this file to your computer. Do not delete it after migration.
2. Export your Mastodon lists and follows
   Still in Preferences > Import and Export > Export, download your following list, mute list, block list, and domain blocks as CSV files. Sharkey can import your following list to speed up re-following accounts. Click each export button and save the CSV files separately.
3. Create your Sharkey account
   Go to your chosen Sharkey instance and sign up with the same username you used on Mastodon. Using the same username makes it easier for people to find you. Complete the registration and verify your email address. Do not post anything yet.
4. Import your Mastodon data into Sharkey
   On Sharkey, open Settings > Import Data. Select the Mastodon archive zip file you downloaded. Sharkey will process the file and import your posts, media, and profile information. This can take several minutes for large archives. Wait for the confirmation message before proceeding.
5. Import your following list into Sharkey
   In Sharkey Settings > Import Data, choose the following CSV file from Mastodon. Sharkey will attempt to follow all accounts in the list. Accounts that exist on Mastodon will be followed automatically. Accounts on other platforms may not resolve. You must re-follow those manually.
6. Initiate the follower move from Mastodon
   Return to your Mastodon account. Go to Preferences > Account > Move to a different account. Enter the full ActivityPub address of your Sharkey account, such as @username@sharkey.example. Confirm the move. Mastodon will send a Move activity to all your followers. This process can take up to 24 hours to propagate across all servers.
7. Verify the migration on Sharkey
   On Sharkey, check your follower count after 24 hours. Open your profile and look for the number of followers. If the Move was successful, you should see your old Mastodon followers appearing. You can also check your Sharkey notifications for a message confirming the redirect.

Common Issues When Migrating From Mastodon to Sharkey

Even with careful preparation, you may encounter problems during the migration. The following issues are the most common and have straightforward fixes.

Followers Did Not Transfer After the Move

The most common reason followers do not transfer is that the Sharkey instance does not support the Move activity. Some Sharkey instances disable incoming Move activities for security reasons. Contact your Sharkey admin and ask them to enable the receiveMove setting in the instance configuration. If the setting is already enabled, wait 48 hours for the Move to propagate. You can also manually notify your followers by posting a status with your new account address.

Imported Posts Are Missing Media Attachments

Sharkey imports media from Mastodon archives by downloading the files from the Mastodon instance. If your Mastodon instance is offline or has deleted old media, Sharkey cannot fetch the files. To fix this, re-upload the missing media files manually. Open each post in Sharkey and attach the media file again. For large archives, use the Sharkey API to batch-upload media if you have scripting skills.

Bookmarks and Favorites Did Not Import

Sharkey does not import Mastodon bookmarks or favorites. These are stored as local database entries on the Mastodon instance and are not part of the standard archive. To preserve bookmarks, save them as links in a text file before migration. After migration, manually re-add the bookmarks in Sharkey using the bookmark feature. Favorites cannot be transferred; you must re-favorite posts on Sharkey.

Mastodon vs Sharkey: Feature Comparison After Migration

Item	Mastodon	Sharkey
Post visibility options	Public, unlisted, followers-only, direct	Public, home, followers, specified, direct, local-only, private
Custom emoji reactions	Not supported	Supported with any emoji on the instance
Antenna feeds	Not supported	Real-time keyword and user feeds
Built-in chat	Not supported	Direct messaging with read receipts
Follower migration (Move)	Full support	Partial support, requires admin enablement
Data export format	ActivityPub JSON, CSV	Mastodon-compatible archive import

After migration, you gain Sharkey’s advanced features but lose Mastodon’s direct message threading and bookmark portability. Plan your workflow accordingly.

You can now move your Mastodon account to Sharkey while keeping your followers, posts, and profile data intact. After the migration completes, explore Sharkey’s antenna feature to create custom timelines for topics you follow. For power users, enable Sharkey’s per-post visibility settings to control exactly who sees each status. Always keep a backup of your Mastodon archive for at least 30 days after migration in case you need to revert.