git:20260903.a6a1fc3 to git:20260903.e492851

---

name: trend-mastodon

title: "Mastodon Trend Harvester Playbook"

license: Apache-2.0

compatibility: "Octoweb browser access. Signed-in session on the user's home instance recommended for federated timeline; logged-out works for instance trends pages and hashtag pages."

capabilities: octoweb memory-read memory-write

rules:

- session(trend) content(mastodon)

- session(trend) content(fediverse)

- match(\b(mastodon|fediverse|fedi)\s+(trend|trends|harvest|brief|post|toot)\b)

- match(\b(harvest|scan|analyze)\s+(mastodon|fediverse)\b)

---

## Overview

This skill carries the platform-specific mechanics the trend-harvesting agent needs to harvest Mastodon — current federation ranking signals, per-instance harvest URLs, scoring on boost paths, hashtag-following targeting, content-warning conventions, alt-text expectations, dead patterns, timing. The agent owns the shared DNA loop; this skill plugs the Mastodon parameters in.

## Mental model

Mastodon has no global feed and no algorithmic ranker — reach happens through boosts (its term for reposts) and through the hashtag-following feature. Each instance has its own local culture, content-moderation rules, and trends page. What you see depends on which instance you queried. Federation is slow — give posts 48–72h to develop boost chains. Marketing voice is detected and muted within seconds on tech instances. Image alt-text is expected — posts with images lacking alt-text get scolded and lose boost potential on dev/tech instances. Calibrate per instance.

## Rules

### Current ranking and amplification signals (2026)

| Signal | Effect |

|---|---|

| Boosts | Primary amplification mechanism (no algorithmic feed) |

| Boost-to-favourite ratio | >0.20 strong federation, >0.40 breaking through to other instances |

| Hashtag follows | Underused growth lever — users follow hashtags directly |

| Cross-instance reach | Same post appearing in 3+ instance trends pages = federation-viral |

| Image alt-text quality | Expected; lacking alt-text loses boost potential on dev/tech instances |

| External links in root | NOT suppressed — Mastodon treats links normally |

| Content warnings (CWs) | Required by culture on politics / NSFW / long-thread / hot-take; not on ordinary tech posts |

| Cross-post-from-X residue | Detected and muted |

### Harvest surfaces (run in parallel)

For the user's home instance:

| Surface | URL | Yields |

|---|---|---|

| Home trends | `https://<home-instance>/explore` | What the home instance's algorithm-light surface pushes |

| Home local | `https://<home-instance>/public/local` | Posts originating on the home instance (culture signal) |

| Federated timeline | `https://<home-instance>/public` | All federated posts the instance has seen |

| Home hashtag | `https://<home-instance>/tags/<tag>` | Federation-aware topic feed |

For 2–4 niche-relevant instances (for AI / agents / LLM / RAG / Codex / startup niche, common candidates include `hachyderm.io` for devs, `fosstodon.org` for FOSS, `mastodon.social` for general, `tech.lgbt`, `mas.to`):

| Surface | URL | Yields |

|---|---|---|

| Niche-instance trends | `https://<niche-instance>/explore` | Where dev/tech trends actually surface |

| Niche-instance local | `https://<niche-instance>/public/local` | Local culture of that instance |

| Niche-instance hashtag | `https://<niche-instance>/tags/<tag>` | Hashtag followers on tech-heavy instances |

Anchor profiles:

- `https://<instance>/@<handle>` — last 7 days per anchor

Run 5–8 in parallel. Mastodon paginates traditionally — usually one snapshot per tab surfaces enough posts.

### Scoring rubric (Mastodon-specific signals)

Virality axis 0–5:

- Boost-to-favourite ratio — primary federation signal

- Absolute boost count (>20 boosts in 48h on a <5k account = climbing the federation graph)

- Reply-thread depth — top-level replies that get replies

- Cross-instance reach — same post in 3+ instance trends pages = federation-viral

- Hashtag-follow surfacing — posts on hashtags with many followers reach more eyes; verify hashtag size at runtime

Niche-fit axis 0–5 — universal scale.

Do not score on view counts — Mastodon doesn't surface them.

### Hook taxonomy currently winning

1. Honest technical observation

2. Earnest question with specific context

3. First-person story with technical detail

4. Careful contrarian — backed by experience, not vibes

5. Receipt — image / chart / screenshot + 1–2 lines + thoughtful alt-text

6. Reasoned recommendation between two tools / approaches

7. Thoughtful pull-quote with brief commentary (a quote toot)

### Dead patterns

- "Follow for more!" / X-style growth-hack closing

- Hashtag stacks (>3 hashtags reads as spam faster than on X)

- Cross-post tells from X ("RT @...", "via Twitter")

- Marketing voice

- Images without alt-text

- "Birdsite" complaining (dead pattern as of 2024+)

- AI vocabulary in hook line

- Skipped CW on a politically charged or NSFW post

### Format and length

| Goal | Length (default cap 500) | Format |

|---|---|---|

| Quick take | 100–300 chars | Single |

| Thread | 3–6 self-replies, each substantive | Native — depth over chain length |

| Image post | 300–500 chars + 1–4 images with alt-text | Strong default |

| Long post | 1000–5000 chars on instances with raised caps | Sparingly — CW it |

### Hashtag prescription

For each recommended post, prescribe 1–3 hashtags:

- One niche-specific (e.g. `#LLM` `#RAG` `#AIAgents` `#Rust` `#FediVerse`)

- Optionally one community-cultural (e.g. `#TechHire`, `#100DaysOfX`)

- Optionally one timing-tied tag for live events

Verify hashtag size at runtime via `/tags/<tag>` — empty hashtag pages are dead tags. Recommend only tags with active recent posts.

### Content warning (CW) conventions

- Politics / NSFW / hot-take / very-long-thread → CW required

- Ordinary technical posts → no CW

- Skipped CW on politically charged content = quiet hide by reader defaults

- Misused CW on ordinary tech content = looks performative, kills boost potential

### Anchor accounts

Identify 5–10 niche-relevant accounts whose boost would amplify the user's post. Note follower band, instance, and recent boost behavior. Cross-instance anchors (e.g. a hachyderm.io anchor for a fosstodon post) drive federation reach faster than same-instance anchors.

### Timing

- Best windows (mixed timezone): Tue–Thu 8 AM–12 PM ET (catches Europe afternoon + US morning); second wind 4–7 PM ET

- Federation is slow — give posts 48–72h to develop

- Weekend mornings work for personal / technical writing

### Saturated-take detection

Mastodon's tech-niche saturated takes in 2026 cluster around: "ActivityPub vs AT-Proto," generic "Why I left X" posts (still common 3 years in), "FOSS ethics" debates, repeated "AI is theft" / "AI is fine" cycles. Verify saturation live.

## Examples

### Example 1: Full DNA + boost-path call

Bad — count without federation context:

```

@dev got 40 boosts on a post about RAG.

```

Good — federated handle, boost-path, alt-text quality noted:

```

@dev@hachyderm.io (3.8k followers) — 92⭐ / 47🔁 / 18💬

Boost-to-favourite ratio: 0.51 — federation breakout

Boost path: originated on hachyderm.io → boosted into fosstodon.org local trends within 6h → cross-surface in 2 other instance trends pages by 24h

Anchor @ml-anchor@fosstodon.org boosted at 5h mark, drove second-instance amplification

> Spent two weeks reading the actual RAG papers everyone cites. Three out of five contradict the benchmark methodology people quote them for.

Hook type: receipt-promise + named contrarian observation

Length: 217 chars

Format: single post + image (chart) with 3-line alt-text explaining the methodology gap

Hashtags: #LLM #RAG (2 — within limit, both with active follower coverage)

No CW (correctly — pure technical content)

DNA: technical-tone + first-person artifact + cross-instance anchor amplification

```

### Example 2: Alt-text rejection

```

@handle@instance — 200⭐ / 8🔁 (boost ratio 0.04, far below 0.20 floor)

Image attached: chart, no alt-text

Replies: 3 of 18 are alt-text scolds asking for description

Lesson: alt-text-less image posts get scolded into low boost-ratio. Always prescribe alt-text quality on image-attached recommendations.

```

## Checklist

Before returning the Mastodon section of the brief:

- [ ] Home instance + 2–4 niche-relevant instances queried

- [ ] Every cited post has full federated handle (`@user@instance.tld`), boost count, favourite count, reply count, URL, CW state

- [ ] Boost-to-favourite ratio computed and used as primary signal

- [ ] Boost path noted on every cited example (origin instance → instances it spread to)

- [ ] No score depends on view counts

- [ ] (Opt-in mode only) Hashtag prescriptions verified at runtime via `/tags/<tag>` — no dead tags

- [ ] (Opt-in mode only) CW prescribed for politics / NSFW / hot-take / long-thread; explicitly NOT for ordinary tech posts

- [ ] (Opt-in mode only) Alt-text quality requirement included for any image-attached recommendation

- [ ] Anchor-account boost-path list (5–10 accounts, instance noted, follower band) — research output: shows who currently amplifies, not who to target

- [ ] Dead-pattern list applied — no recommendation uses X-residue, hashtag stacks (>3), marketing voice, or skipped-CW patterns

- [ ] (Opt-in mode only) Instance-targeting plan included (primary home instance + 2–3 niche instances to escape into)

- [ ] All background tabs closed

## Composition / References

- Pairs with `social-mastodon` (content domain) for writing the actual post from the brief.

- Mastodon handles include the instance: always cite `@user@instance.tld` — never bare `@user`.

- Use the agent's universal output schema.