<![CDATA[I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not.]]>I think if there's one thing I'd say to developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. You have to keep track of too many variations. Use a JSON-LD library instead. For JavaScript, try activitystrea.ms:

https://github.com/jasnell/activitystrea.ms

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/topic/6775de5a-7c59-4308-b955-bbe565d85766/i-think-if-there-s-one-thing-i-d-say-to-activitypub-developers-it-s-this-it-seems-like-it-s-going-to-be-easier-to-just-parse-activity-streams-2.0-data-as-plain-json-but-it-s-not.RSS for NodeSat, 29 Aug 2026 06:30:22 GMTWed, 01 Apr 2026 23:17:56 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 01:17:59 GMT]]>@julian anyways, moved and shipped!

https://www.npmjs.com/package/activitystrea.ms

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116338136139093712https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116338136139093712Fri, 03 Apr 2026 01:17:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:06:04 GMT]]>@julian I already have access to the package. I'd been squatting in his GitHub namespace for too long anyway.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116337617420559136https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116337617420559136Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:06:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:32:01 GMT]]>@evan@cosocial.ca that seems odd, instead of transferring it to you or SWF 🤔

Did you get access to the npm package? Or perhaps you'll have to use a scoped package name.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://activitypub.space/post/1720https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://activitypub.space/post/1720Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:32:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:25:36 GMT]]>@evan James archived the repo today, assumably in response to this question. I'm going to keep working from my personal fork, and I'll use that to push to npm. I think I can update the info in package.json on the topic, too. A change that's been waiting too long.

@steve @trwnh @hongminhee @jasnell

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116337458337137589https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116337458337137589Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:25:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:59:43 GMT]]>@steve @trwnh @hongminhee ha! That was the notice that got me to become a maintainer. But I don't have the admin rights to change it!

@jasnell can you give admin rights on the activitystrea.ms repo so I can change the message and also push automatically?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116335705042185783https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116335705042185783Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:59:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:46:43 GMT]]>@julian @trwnh Your point isn't clear to me. Of course, people are free to use unmaintained software (even if I personally prefer to avoid software that's been deprecated and not maintained for years). However, in this case, the activitystrea.ms software *is* maintained although it describes itself otherwise.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.technoetic.com/users/steve/statuses/116335653917759429https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.technoetic.com/users/steve/statuses/116335653917759429Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:46:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:37:16 GMT]]>@steve@social.technoetic.com @trwnh@mastodon.social we shouldn't stop using software just because they're no longer maintained.

I believe request is no longer maintained, in favour of native node fetch, but good god would you look at those downloads.

1000013077.png

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://activitypub.space/post/1707https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://activitypub.space/post/1707Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:37:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:26:40 GMT]]>@evan @trwnh @hongminhee I think he was referring to the GitHub project description: "Activity Streams 2.0 for Node.js (this package is not actively maintained..."

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.technoetic.com/users/steve/statuses/116335339159549073https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://social.technoetic.com/users/steve/statuses/116335339159549073Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:26:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:22:03 GMT]]>@hongminhee Thanks for doing it!

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116335321037494532https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116335321037494532Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:22:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:01:23 GMT]]>@evan@cosocial.ca @trwnh@mastodon.social I'm maintaining the @fedify/vocab package which depends on the jsonld package from Digital Bazaar. It's written in 100% TypeScript, and has worked well on production services!

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://hollo.social/@hongminhee/019d4e48-b607-7523-a2a0-f1e0cf6b4670https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://hollo.social/@hongminhee/019d4e48-b607-7523-a2a0-f1e0cf6b4670Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:01:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:51:06 GMT]]>@trwnh "more actively maintained"?

The code is long-term but it was built by one author of AS2 and maintained by the other. It works well, and I use it in production systems all the time.

I'm pretty sure @hongminhee has made a similar package, although I'm not sure it's distributed independently.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116335199274721737https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116335199274721737Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:51:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I think if there's one thing I'd say to #ActivityPub developers, it's this: it seems like it's going to be easier to just parse Activity Streams 2.0 data as plain JSON, but it's not. on Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:02:35 GMT]]>@evan i would add that there are several other more actively maintained options, at least: https://json-ld.org/#developers

in the most basic case, expanding the document should make it unambiguous:

- all keys are normalized to full identifiers with exactly 1 possible representation instead of infinitely many
- all values are normalized to JSON
arrays of JSON objects
- those JSON objects explicitly say whether they have an id (Reference) or a value (Literal)

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/trwnh/statuses/116333828835838324https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/trwnh/statuses/116333828835838324Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:02:35 GMT