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Developer Guidelines

Developers who federate their apps or services on the AT Protocol must adhere to the Bluesky Developer Guidelines in order to communicate with Bluesky services:

  1. Don't spam. We trust that you will create a great app that will grow organically. Our definition of spam includes:
    1. Generating automated or bulk interactions, including any that would cause a notification to a user like a message, follow, like or reply
    2. Any method to automate generating followers or interactions, including account generation tools
    3. Spambots
  2. Apps with user-generated content or social networking features must include:
    1. A method to report illegal content
    2. A method for blocking forbidden content from being shared in the app
    3. A method for blocking abusive users from the app
  3. All services must have a method for deleting content a user has requested to be deleted.
  4. Developers must have a system for appropriately responding to all user reports of violations within their apps.
  5. Developers must maintain updated contact information accessible to the public including an email address that is regularly monitored.
  6. Developers should maintain reasonable security measures to protect against unauthorized access or disclosure of any end-user information or app data.
  7. Failure to respond appropriately to known violations of Bluesky Social's Terms of Service, Privacy Policy or Community Guidelines may result in suspension of access to services or features run on Bluesky's infrastructure. Developers should keep records of all reports of violations and their responses, and Bluesky may at any time request such data to ensure compliance with its policies.

You can find this policy listed on Bluesky's website here.

Community-Developed Apps​

We encourage developers to build their own apps for Bluesky!

Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol, and there are many AT Protocol apps that do not use the Bluesky name and are not primarily associated with Bluesky or Bluesky content. These apps are collectively called the Atmosphere. You can publish your own AT Protocol app at any time, with no involvement from Bluesky — we encourage it!

If you want to make an app that is specifically associated with Bluesky, we have some additional guidance, to both satisfy our trademark policies and to facilitate review on app marketplaces which may proactively flag trademark issues. Namely:

We consider uses that are purely descriptive and that lead with the third-party app name acceptable, like "[App Name] for Bluesky" or "[App Name] on Bluesky" etc. We consider uses of our name as part of the third party branding to be confusing, like "Bluesky-[App Name]."

If you, as a developer, run into an app marketplace rejection you believe is not valid, you should file an appeal citing these guidelines.