acct URI (Fediverse)

by

An acct URI looks like this: 

acct:joeblow@example.com

Typically an acct URI is used to turn an e-mail address or Fediverse ID into a URL / URI. (There are reasons why one might want to turn a pointer or identifier that isn' a URL / URI into a URL / URI.)

For example, this Fediverse ID: 

@reiver@changelog.ca

Gets turned into this acct URI: 

acct:reiver@changelog.ca

Fediverse Users

Most users of the Fediverse aren't aware of acct URIs. And really, they don't have to be aware of them!

Fediverse Programmers

But behind the scenes, acct URIs are used by Fediverse software.

Behind the scenes, a Fediverse ID is turned into a acct URI, and then that acct URI is used to in a request to WebFinger .

If you are a programmer / software engineer / software developer / etc, then you may need to be aware of acct URIs, and have some level of understanding of them.

Resolving

acct URI

Part of the process of resolving a Fediverse ID transfomrs a Fediverse ID into an acct URI. (And then using that acct URI version of the Fediverse ID makes a request to WebFinger.)

Here is an example of transforming a Fediverse ID into an acct URI: 


     at sign
       ↓
       @joeblow@example.com ← Fediverse ID

   acct:joeblow@example.com ← acct URI
       ↑
  no at sign

A client would then make a request to: 


https://example.com/.well-known/host-meta

To discover what the (template) URL for WebFinger is. And then, for example, if it is at: 


https://example.com/.well-known/webfinger?resource={uri}

Then make a request to: 


https://example.com/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:joeblow@example.com

This WebFinger implementation could accept whatever it wants. It doesn't have to restrict itself to what is specified by the IETF RFC-7565 (The 'acct' URI Scheme) specification. BUT —

See Also

For more information on acct URI see: