## Introduction
Photo sharing the way it should be. Pixelfed lets your casual shots and creative photography find their audience naturally, without algorithmic barriers. Join [millions](https://fedidb.com) of people sharing across the [fediverse](https://fediverse.info).
## AI-Generated Contributions
> **AI-generated contributions are not accepted.**
>
> Pull requests, patches, documentation, translations, issues, or other contributions that are substantially generated by generative AI or large language models will not be accepted.
>
> Contributors are expected to understand, author, and take responsibility for the work they submit. Tools such as linters, formatters, autocomplete, spellcheckers, and other non-generative development tools are unaffected by this policy.
## PHP Support
Notice: While older unsupported PHP versions might work, we recommend using the recommended version.
- PHP 8.5 (Recommended) - Our baseline for testing/Docker images.
- PHP 8.4 (Supported) - Active support ends _31 Dec 2026_.
Reference: https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php
## Database Support (Please report any regressions)
- MySQL 8+ is officially supported (Strict mode is not default).
- MariaDB 11+ is officially supported (Strict mode is default).
- PostgreSQL 14+ is best effort _as of writing_ (Not recommended).
Notice: We need to improve the ecosystem to test/validate the codebase to be database agnostic, but this will require considerable engineering effort. Thank you for your understanding.
## Official Documentation
- As of September 2026, we recommend using Docker compose to run your instances. Non-docker is obviously supported, but the Dockerfile will be maintained and updated with best practices and latest releases.
Documentation for Pixelfed can be found on the [Pixelfed documentation website](https://docs.pixelfed.org/).
## API/Developer Documentation
API and Developer documentation for Pixelfed can be found on the [Pixelfed Developers website](https://developers.pixelfed.org).
## License
Pixelfed is open-sourced software licensed under the AGPL license.
## Communication
The ways you can communicate on the project are below. Before interacting, please
read through the [Code Of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
- Matrix: [matrix.to/#/#pixeldev:matrix.org](https://matrix.to/#/#pixeldev:matrix.org)
- Mastodon: [@pixelfed@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@pixelfed)
- E-mail: [hello@pixelfed.org](mailto:hello@pixelfed.org)
## Pixelfed Sponsors
We would like to extend our thanks to the following sponsors for funding Pixelfed development. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please visit the Pixelfed [Patreon Page](https://www.patreon.com/dansup/overview)
- [NLnet Foundation](https://nlnet.nl) and [NGI0
Discovery](https://nlnet.nl/discovery/), part of the [Next Generation
Internet](https://ngi.eu) initiative.
This project is supported by:
## Host your own instance with these unofficial cloud providers
[](https://install-app.yunohost.org/?app=pixelfed) Pixelfed app for [YunoHost](https://yunohost.org "YunoHost"). See [the package source code](https://github.com/YunoHost-Apps/pixelfed_ynh "pixelfed_ynh repository on GitHub")
[](https://repocloud.io/details/Pixelfed/)
[](https://zop.dev/zopday/app/deploy?repo=https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed&port=8080&name=pixelfed&utm_source=github&utm_medium=one_click&utm_content=pixelfed)
[](https://pethost.dev/templates/pixelfed/)
