Self-host Photon
v2.4.3Fediverse web client for Lemmy and PieFed
- Stars
- 557
- Port
- 3000 (HTTP server)
ghcr.io/xyphyn/photon
What is Photon?
Photon is a web application for browsing the fediverse, compatible with Lemmy and PieFed instances. It provides a modern, responsive interface built with Svelte that includes features like multi-account switching, infinite scrolling, customizable themes, and support for nearly all Lemmy features. Users can self-host Photon as a frontend server for their own instance or as a standalone client connecting to any public instance. It can be deployed via Docker (ghcr.io/xyphyn/photon) or built natively with Bun or Node.js. The project is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and actively maintained with regular releases.
Should you self-host Photon?
Photon scores 54/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #16 of 85 in Feed Reader. It has 557 GitHub stars.
It shipped 9 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v2.4.3, came out on 30 July 2026. New versions land roughly every 3 weeks.
Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is AGPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Svelte.
Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is RSSHub (85/100, 46 702 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See Photon vs RSSHub side by side.
Features
- Configurable default settings
- Cookie migration from lemmy-ui
- Infinite scroll
- Lock to specific instance
- Multi-account switching
- Multi-language Support
- Recommended instances list
- Server-Side Rendering
Photon README
FAQ
I'm getting errors about header buffer size in NGINX!
Apply the fix from the linked GitHub issue comment or try using the Node server instead of the Bun server.
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