Photon

Jump to:

• Self-hosting
• Public Instances

A better, more intuitive way to use Lemmy, with a cleaner UI, more features, and snappier usage.

Screenshots

Photon's design philosophy is easy: all features must be intuitive and simple. If a feature can't be easily slipped in while making sense, it will not be added.

Self-hosting

Put Photon on your own domain for easier onboarding.

Running from image

# Use the env var PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL to set the default instance URL.
docker run -p 8080:3000 -e PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL=example.com ghcr.io/xyphyn/photon:latest

Running from repo

More unstable but latest features

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/Xyphyn/photon && cd photon

and run the docker container:

docker build -t photon .

# Use the env var PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL to set the default instance URL.
docker run -p 8080:3000 -it photon:latest

There you go, you now have an instance of Photon running.

Configuring default settings

The most common settings you'll use are PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL. Some selfhosters with PUBLIC_SSR_ENABLED set to true might want the instance url to be different for the server. You can use the PUBLIC_INTERNAL_INSTANCE variable for that.

PUBLIC_MIGRATE_COOKIE is useful if you want to switch Photon to your default frontend. It'll convert the logged in cookie from lemmy-ui to a Photon account. It will only work if you have PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL set, and it will login with that instance.

PUBLIC_SSR_ENABLED will have the initial load be rendered by the server, before the client router is loaded. This can lead to a faster feeling load initally, and will allow your instance to be better indexed by search bots, and allow users with JavaScript disabled to view Photon with a basic view.

These are the most important environment variables that you can change:

Variable	Values	Default Value
PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL	URL	lemmy.ml
PUBLIC_INTERNAL_INSTANCE	URL	Value of PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL
PUBLIC_LOCK_TO_INSTANCE	bool	true if PUBLIC_INSTANCE_URL is set
PUBLIC_FAVICON	URL	`/img/logo-background.svg
PUBLIC_SSR_ENABLED	bool	false
PUBLIC_MIGRATE_COOKIE	bool	false
PUBLIC_THEME	system|dark|light	system
PUBLIC_EXPANDABLE_IMAGES	bool	true
PUBLIC_MARK_READ_POSTS	bool	true
PUBLIC_DEFAULT_FEED_SORT	SortType	Active
PUBLIC_DEFAULT_FEED	ListingType	Local
PUBLIC_DEFAULT_COMMENT_SORT	CommentSortType	Hot
PUBLIC_HIDE_DELETED	bool	true
PUBLIC_HIDE_REMOVED	bool	true
PUBLIC_NSFW_BLUR	bool	true
PUBLIC_RANDOM_PLACEHOLDERS	bool	true
PUBLIC_REMOVE_CREDIT	bool	false

There are more options available that you can see at src/lib/settings.ts, by looking at the defaultSettings object.

The values for SortType, ListingType, and CommentSortType are defined by the lemmy-js-client library.

Listing Type

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-js-client/blob/main/src/types/ListingType.ts

• All
• Local
• Subscribed
• Moderator

Sort Type

(case sensitive)

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-js-client/blob/main/src/types/SortType.ts

• Active
• Hot
• New
• Old
• TopDay
• TopWeek
• TopMonth
• TopAll
• MostComments
• NewComments
• TopHour
• TopSixHour
• TopTwelveHour
• TopThreeMonths
• TopSixMonths
• TopNineMonths
• TopYear

Comment Sort Type

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-js-client/blob/main/src/types/CommentSortType.ts values:

• Hot
• Top
• New
• Old
• Controversial

Public Instances

Want your instance added here? Make a GitHub issue or make a PR! (this is for general purpose Photon instances.)

phtn.app is the official instance and will get updates instantly.

Instance	Location	Contact
phtn.app (Official)	🇺🇸 US West	photon@xylight.dev
ph.opnxng.com	🇸🇬 Singapore	about.opnxng.com
photon.thesanewriter.com	🇺🇸 US East	thesanewriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com
p.darrennathanael.com	🇺🇸 US East	noc@darrennathanael.com
p.lemmy.ohaa.xyz	🇦🇹 Austria	(???)
photon.zhenyapav.com (Has not updated since v1.9.2)	🇮🇸 Iceland	zhenyapav@zhenyapav.com
ph.buckodr.ink (Has not updated since v1.21.1)	🇺🇸 US East	admin@buckodr.ink
phtn.ngn.tf	🇹🇷 Turkey	services@ngn.tf

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