Hubzilla Timeline and History

15 Years of Innovation

Hubzilla and its predecessors are pioneers of the fediverse, bringing cutting-edge features and innovation to decentralized social media. This includes tireless work from fediverse pioneer Mike Macgirvin, Hubzilla head developer Mario Vavti, as well as many many other contributors.

This is a team effort, with lots of contributors, both from within and without Hubzilla. Special thanks to other platforms, such as (streams), Forte, and others who collaborate, innovate, and cross-pollinate.

2025

Improved PHP 8.4 Support.
New Hubzilla website created.

2024

Conversation Containers and related specifications are submitted as Fediverse Enhancement Proposals (FEPs), special thanks to silverpill.
Implementation of Conversation Containers over ActivityPub, which helps backfill threaded conversations so you see the entire conversation, as well as provide additional moderation tools.

2023

Hubzilla Association established.

2019

Re-implemented the Zot Protocol to use ActivityStreams2 content, and turned magic-auth into OpenWebAuth based on old, but still viable standards.

2018

ActivityPub spec finalised.

2017

Mastodon converts to ActivityPub.
Demonstrated e-commerce in the fediverse.
First ever demonstration of ActivityPub posts and comments federating (NextCloud made these claims, but used ActivityStreams and not actually ActivityPub).

2016

Private groups
Mastodon arrives in the fediverse.
Provided (sanitised) inline SVG support over the fediverse, allowing quick doodles and drawings in posts/comments.

2015

Renamed from Red Matrix to Hubzilla.
Implemented dynamic groups. ("Send this post to male German connections only" or "only send to folks who are using the Diaspora protocol")

2014

Browser-to-browser encryption arrives in the fediverse. E2EE framework completed. We don't provide E2EE ourselves because we're not at the endpoint.

2013

Renamed from Red to Red Matrix.
Turned all file storage into access controlled WebDAV nodes so you could upload private media through drag-drop from any device.

2012

Created the Zot Protocol (as part of Red) to encrypt all fediverse communications over the wire and expose as little meta-data as possible, while fully supporting nomadic identity.
Work begins on Red. This rewrite uses Free Friendica and Friendica Red as a base and is considered to be a fork of the MIT licensed version of Friendika and Friendica.
Federated/connected the fediverse and WordPress (posts and comments in both directions).

2011

Friendika was renamed Friendica, and Free Friendika was renamed Friendica Red (or just Red).*
The Friendika project split into two, with an MIT Licensed version and an AGPL licensed version. The MIT licensed version was briefly called Free Friendika, and the AGPL version continued to use the name Friendika.*
Started work on fediverse nomadic identity after nearly half the known network suddenly vanished in the space of a week when some high profile large sites shut down with little or no warning and with no migration ability. Migration is half the solution - it is still subject to unannounced shutdowns.
Brought Facebook (unwillingly) into the fediverse. Shout-out to Tobias for helping with Twitter.

2010

Renamed from Mistpark to Friendika.
Federated with all the things - including "connections" with RSS and email, Diaspora, Status.Net, and cross-posting to lots of open providers via plugins.
Provided access controlled assets and services in the fediverse - including media
Created single sign-on across decentralised fediverse nodes (providing fully decentralised access control)
Brought circles/aspects to the fediverse. (Before Diaspora or Google+).
Brought quoted posts to the fediverse.
Brought comment controls to the fediverse.
Brought directory services to the fediverse.
Brought the concepts of permission and consent to the fediverse.
Brought DMs and groups to the fediverse. (Prior to this they did not federate).
Launched as Mistpark.

Events are listed in reverse chronological order.

*There were a lot of name changes in 2010 and 2011. We have included a simplified version of events to make it easier to follow.