The Complete Guide to Bluesky AT Protocol: 4 Free Tools for Developers

#bluesky #api #javascript #opensource

Bluesky has grown from 10M to 41M users in one year (+302%). Built on the AT Protocol, it is the only major social network with a completely open, free API — no API keys, no rate limits on public data, no approval process.

Here are 4 free tools I built for working with Bluesky data, plus code examples you can use right now.

Why Bluesky for Developers?

Open protocol — public.api.bsky.app is free and open
No auth for public data — profiles, posts, feeds are all accessible without login
Decentralized — data is portable, not locked to one platform
Growing fast — 41M+ users and counting
JSON API — clean, structured responses

The AT Protocol Basics

Every Bluesky user has a DID (Decentralized Identifier) and a handle (like a username). The flow:

Handle → DID → Profile/Posts/Feed

Step 1: Resolve Handle to DID

const res = await fetch(
  `https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/com.atproto.identity.resolveHandle?handle=bsky.app`
);
const { did } = await res.json();
// did: \"did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur\"

Step 2: Get Profile

const profile = await fetch(
  `https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.actor.getProfile?actor=${did}`
).then(r => r.json());

console.log(profile.displayName);    // \"Bluesky\"
console.log(profile.followersCount); // 32,420,172
console.log(profile.postsCount);     // 725

Step 3: Get Posts (Feed)

const feed = await fetch(
  `https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed?actor=${did}&limit=50`
).then(r => r.json());

for (const item of feed.feed) {
  const post = item.post;
  console.log(post.record.text);
  console.log(`Likes: ${post.likeCount}, Reposts: ${post.repostCount}`);
}

4 Free Bluesky Tools

1. Bluesky Scraper

The main tool. Enter handles → get full profiles + posts with engagement data. Supports pagination for 1000+ posts per profile.

Try it free

2. Bluesky Feed Monitor

Track engagement metrics over time. See which posts get the most likes, reposts, and replies.

Great for brand monitoring and content strategy

3. Bluesky Hashtag Tracker

Discover trending hashtags and topics. Monitor specific hashtags for volume and engagement.

Perfect for trend analysis and content research

4. Bluesky Profile Batch

Look up 100+ profiles at once. Get follower counts, bio, avatar, DID for bulk analysis.

Ideal for influencer research and migration tracking

Use Cases

Brand monitoring — track mentions of your brand on Bluesky
Influencer research — find and analyze top Bluesky creators
Migration analysis — track which Twitter/X users moved to Bluesky
AI training data — build NLP datasets from public conversations
Sentiment analysis — analyze public opinion on trending topics
Content research — discover what topics get the most engagement

Post Search (Requires Auth)

For searching posts by keyword, you need a Bluesky App Password:

Go to Bluesky Settings → App Passwords
Create a new password
Use it with the search endpoint:

// Login
const session = await fetch(\"https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.server.createSession\", {
  method: \"POST\",
  headers: { \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ identifier: \"your.handle\", password: \"app-password\" })
}).then(r => r.json());

// Search
const results = await fetch(
  `https://bsky.social/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.searchPosts?q=javascript&limit=25`,
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${session.accessJwt}` } }
).then(r => r.json());