The Atmosphere

LinkRing is built on ATProto, the protocol that powers Bluesky. But it's not just "built on" it like how apps are "built on" AWS. Your data actually lives in the protocol itself, which makes some cool things possible.

What's a PDS?

PDS stands for Personal Data Server. Think of it as your own little corner of the internet where your stuff lives. When you use Bluesky, your posts, follows, and likes are stored on a PDS. When you use LinkRing, your link lists and webrings are stored on that same PDS.

You can move your PDS. Don't like where it's hosted? Move it somewhere else. Want to run your own? You can do that too. Your data comes with you because it's yours, not ours.

Right now, most people use Bluesky's free PDS hosting (bsky.social), but there are other hosts, and the self-hosting community is growing.

What's a Lexicon?

A lexicon is basically a schema that describes a type of data. Bluesky has lexicons for posts, likes, follows, blocks, lists, and more. LinkRing adds its own lexicons for link lists (lol.linkring.list) and webrings (lol.linkring.webring.ring).

Here's the neat part: anyone can read data from any lexicon. Your link lists aren't locked inside LinkRing. Any developer can write a tool that reads them, displays them differently, or does something new with them entirely. The data format is public and documented.

Want to see what's actually stored? Check out pdsls.dev and browse your own PDS. You'll see your Bluesky posts, your LinkRing lists, and anything else you've created with ATProto apps.

Why build it this way?

Most "link in bio" services store your data in their database. If they shut down, your links disappear. If they decide to charge more, you're stuck. If they get acquired and enshittified, too bad.

With ATProto, that can't happen. Your data exists independently of any single app. If someone makes a better site tomorrow, you could move your data over without a problem.

The web used to be like this, kind of. You had your own website, all your own (kind of annoying to maintain) files. Then we traded that for convenience and "free" services that were actually paid for with our attention and data. ATProto is an attempt to get some of that back without giving up the convenience.

I think that's pretty cool. More about why I built this →