Swarm/docs/activitypub/ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_INDEX.md

ActivityPub Testing - Complete Guide

This is the complete guide for testing ActivityPub federation in Solar Network.

📁 File Overview

File	Purpose	When to Use
setup-activitypub-test.sh	One-command setup of test environment	First time setup
test-activitypub.sh	Quick validation of basic functionality	After setup, before detailed tests
ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_QUICKSTART.md	Quick start reference	Getting started quickly
ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_GUIDE.md	Comprehensive testing scenarios	Full testing workflow
ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_QUICKREF.md	Command and query reference	Daily testing
ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_HELPER_API.md	Helper API for testing	Programmatic testing
ACTIVITYPUB_TEST_RESULTS_TEMPLATE.md	Track test results	During testing
ACTIVITYPUB_IMPLEMENTATION.md	Implementation details	Understanding the code
ACTIVITYPUB_SUMMARY.md	Feature summary	Reviewing what's implemented

🚀 Quick Start (5 Minutes)

1. Setup Test Environment

./setup-activitypub-test.sh

This will:

• ✅ Configure /etc/hosts
• ✅ Start Mastodon via Docker
• ✅ Create test Mastodon account
• ✅ Apply database migrations

2. Validate Setup

./test-activitypub.sh

This checks:

• ✅ WebFinger endpoint
• ✅ Actor profile
• ✅ Public keys
• ✅ Database tables

3. Start Solar Network

cd DysonNetwork.Sphere
dotnet run

4. Test Federation

1. Open http://mastodon.local:3001
2. Search for @solaruser@solar.local
3. Click Follow
4. Create a post in Solar Network
5. Verify it appears in Mastodon

📖 Recommended Reading Order

For First-Time Testing

1. Start Here: ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_QUICKSTART.md

   • Overview of the setup
   • Quick command reference
   • Common commands

2. Then: ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_GUIDE.md

   • Detailed test scenarios
   • Step-by-step instructions
   • Troubleshooting

3. Reference: ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_QUICKREF.md

   • Command snippets
   • Database queries
   • Response codes

During Testing

1. Track Progress: ACTIVITYPUB_TEST_RESULTS_TEMPLATE.md

   • Checklists for each test
   • Results tracking
   • Issue logging

2. Helper API: ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_HELPER_API.md

   • Manual testing endpoints
   • Debugging tools
   • Status monitoring

For Understanding

1. Implementation: ACTIVITYPUB_IMPLEMENTATION.md

   • Architecture details
   • Service descriptions
   • Data flow diagrams

2. Features: ACTIVITYPUB_SUMMARY.md

   • What's implemented
   • Model relationships
   • API endpoints

🔍 Test Scenarios Summary

Basic Functionality (All instances must pass)

• WebFinger discovery works
• Actor profile is valid JSON-LD
• Public key is present
• Outbox returns public posts
• Inbox accepts activities

Federation - Follow

• Remote user can follow local user
• Local user can follow remote user
• Accept activity is sent/received
• Relationship state is correct
• Unfollow works correctly

Federation - Content

• Local posts federate to remote instances
• Remote posts appear in local database
• Post content is preserved
• Timestamps are correct
• Attachments are handled
• Content warnings are respected

Federation - Interactions

• Likes federate correctly
• Likes appear in both instances
• Replies federate correctly
• Reply threading works
• Boosts/Announces work
• Undo activities work

Security

• HTTP signatures are verified
• Invalid signatures are rejected
• Keys are properly stored
• Private keys never exposed

🐛 Common Issues & Solutions

Issue: "Failed to verify signature"

Causes:

1. Signature header format is wrong
2. Public key doesn't match keyId
3. Date header is too old (>5 minutes)
4. Request body doesn't match digest

Solutions:

1. Check signature format: keyId="...",algorithm="...",headers="...",signature="..."
2. Verify keyId in actor profile
3. Ensure Date header is recent
4. Check body is exactly what was signed

Issue: "Target actor or inbox not found"

Causes:

1. Actor hasn't been fetched yet
2. Actor URL is incorrect
3. Remote instance is inaccessible

Solutions:

1. Manually fetch actor first
2. Verify actor URL is correct
3. Test accessibility with curl

Issue: Activities not arriving

Causes:

1. Network connectivity issue
2. Remote instance is down
3. Activity wasn't queued properly

Solutions:

1. Check network connectivity
2. Verify remote instance is running
3. Check fediverse_activities table for status

📊 Monitoring During Tests

Check Logs

# Solar Network ActivityPub logs
dotnet run --project DysonNetwork.Sphere 2>&1 | grep -i activitypub

# Mastodon federation logs
docker compose -f docker-compose.mastodon-test.yml logs -f web | grep -i federation

Monitor Database

# Watch activity table
watch -n 2 'psql -d dyson_network -c \
  "SELECT type, status, created_at FROM fediverse_activities ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 5;"'

Test Network

# Test connectivity between instances
curl -v http://mastodon.local:3001
curl -v http://solar.local:5000

# Test with traceroute (if available)
traceroute mastodon.local
traceroute solar.local

🎯 Success Criteria

Minimal Viable Federation

To consider ActivityPub implementation "working", all of these must pass:

• ✅ WebFinger returns actor links
• ✅ Actor profile has all required fields
• ✅ Follow relationships work bidirectionally
• ✅ Public posts federate to followers
• ✅ Incoming posts are stored correctly
• ✅ HTTP signatures are verified
• ✅ Basic interaction types work (Like, Reply)

Full Production Ready

For production, also need:

• ✅ Activity queue with retry logic
• ✅ Rate limiting on outgoing deliveries
• ✅ Monitoring and alerting
• ✅ Admin interface for federation management
• ✅ Content filtering and moderation
• ✅ Instance blocking capabilities
• ✅ Performance optimization for high volume

🔐 Security Checklist

During testing, verify:

• Private keys are never logged
• Private keys are never returned in API responses
• Only public keys are in actor profiles
• All incoming activities are signature-verified
• Invalid signatures are rejected with 401
• TLS is used in production
• Host header is verified against request URL

📈 Performance Metrics

Track these during testing:

Metric	Target	Actual
WebFinger response time	<500ms	___ ms
Actor fetch time	<1s	___ ms
Signature verification time	<100ms	___ ms
Activity processing time	<500ms	___ ms
Outgoing delivery success rate	>95%	___%
Outgoing delivery time	<5s	___ ms

🧪 Testing Checklist

Self-Hosted Instance Tests

Setup:

• Setup script completed
• Mast containers running
• Solar Network running
• /etc/hosts configured
• Database migrations applied

Basic Federation:

• WebFinger works
• Actor profile valid
• Public key present
• Outbox accessible

Follow Flow:

• Mastodon → Solar follow works
• Solar → Mastodon follow works
• Accept activity sent
• Relationship state correct

Content Flow:

• Solar posts appear in Mastodon
• Mastodon posts appear in Solar
• Content preserved correctly
• Timestamps correct

Interactions:

• Likes work both ways
• Replies work both ways
• Boosts work both ways
• Undo works

Security:

• HTTP signatures verified
• Invalid signatures rejected
• Keys properly managed

Real Instance Tests

Discovery:

• Domain publicly accessible
• WebFinger works from public internet
• Actor discoverable from public instances

Federation:

• Posts federate to public instances
• Follows work with public instances
• Interactions work with public instances

📝 Testing Notes

What Worked Well

1. ---

2. ---

3. ---

What Needs Improvement

1. ---

2. ---

3. ---

Bugs Found

#	Description	Severity	Status
1	_____________________	Low/Medium/High	☐ Open/☐ Fixed
2	_____________________	Low/Medium/High	☐ Open/☐ Fixed
3	_____________________	Low/Medium/High	☐ Open/☐ Fixed

🎓 Learning Resources

ActivityPub Specification

• W3C ActivityPub Recommendation
• ActivityStreams 2.0
• HTTP Signatures Draft

Implementation Guides

• Mastodon Federation Guide
• ActivityPub Testing Best Practices
• Federation Testing Checklist

Tools

• ActivityPub Playground
• FediTest
• JSONPath Online Evaluator

🔄 Next Steps After Testing

Phase 1: Fix Issues

• Address all bugs found during testing
• Improve error messages
• Add better logging

Phase 2: Enhance Features

• Implement activity queue
• Add retry logic
• Add rate limiting
• Implement instance blocking

Phase 3: Production Readiness

• Add monitoring and metrics
• Add admin interface
• Add content filtering
• Implement moderation tools

Phase 4: Additional Features

• Support more activity types
• Support media attachments
• Support polls
• Support custom emojis

📞 Getting Help

If you encounter issues:

1. Check logs: See the logs section above
2. Review troubleshooting: See ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_GUIDE.md Part 5
3. Check database queries: Use queries from ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_QUICKREF.md
4. Validate signatures: Use helper API in ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_HELPER_API.md

✨ Quick Test Commands

All-in-One Test Sequence

# 1. Setup
./setup-activitypub-test.sh

# 2. Validate
./test-activitypub.sh

# 3. Test WebFinger
curl "http://solar.local:5000/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:solaruser@solar.local"

# 4. Test Actor
curl -H "Accept: application/activity+json" \
  http://solar.local:5000/activitypub/actors/solaruser

# 5. Test Follow (from Mastodon UI)
# Open http://mastodon.local:3001 and follow @solaruser@solar.local

# 6. Check database
psql -d dyson_network -c "SELECT * FROM fediverse_relationships;"

# 7. Test Post (create in Solar Network UI)
# Should appear in http://mastodon.local:3001

# 8. Verify content
psql -d dyson_network -c "SELECT * FROM fediverse_contents;"

# 9. Test Like (like from Mastodon UI)
# Should appear in fediverse_reactions table

# 10. Check activities
psql -d dyson_network -c "SELECT type, status FROM fediverse_activities;"

🎉 Conclusion

You now have everything needed to test ActivityPub federation for Solar Network:

• ✅ Self-hosted test environment (Mastodon)
• ✅ Setup automation (setup script)
• ✅ Quick validation (test script)
• ✅ Comprehensive testing guide
• ✅ Helper API for programmatic testing
• ✅ Quick reference for daily use
• ✅ Results template for tracking progress

Recommended workflow:

1. Run setup-activitypub-test.sh
2. Run test-activitypub.sh for validation
3. Follow scenarios in ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_GUIDE.md
4. Use ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_HELPER_API.md for specific tests
5. Track results in ACTIVITYPUB_TEST_RESULTS_TEMPLATE.md
6. Reference ACTIVITYPUB_TESTING_QUICKREF.md for commands

Good luck with your federation testing! 🚀