Bluesky Unveils Protocol Services and Jetstream v2 with Network Replay
The social network operator replaces legacy documentation hubs with a dedicated brand, launching Jetstream v2 to eliminate local backfilling requirements for developers.
Bluesky has launched Bluesky Protocol Services, a rebranded website and infrastructure hub for its public AT Protocol, replacing the previous docs.bsky.app domain. The launch centres on Jetstream v2, a significant update to the protocol’s streaming API that introduces 'Network Replay'. This feature enables developers to access historical network data via compressed archives without the need for local backfilling, utilising a stateless server approach that removes the requirement for per-consumer cursors.
The Network Replay capability allows developers to catch up from any point in the past and cut over to the live stream without a gap. By posting filters to planSnapshot, users can download sealed segments over plain HTTP before connecting to the live WebSocket. This approach supports sophisticated server-side slicing, enabling applications to run analyses over months of posts or recover from downtime using the same JSON shape as the live tail.
To ensure the service remains reliable and cost-effective given the bandwidth-intensive nature of serving archives, Bluesky now requires an API token for requests accessing compressed archives. The live tail stream remains open and unauthenticated, with the company confirming no plans to introduce authentication requirements for the live data feed. Existing v1 instances will continue to operate unchanged for the time being, with new v2 instances live at wss://jetstream.us-west.bsky.network and wss://jetstream.us-east.bsky.network.
Alongside the infrastructure update, Bluesky has released new TypeScript and Go SDKs for Jetstream. The TypeScript SDK is available via npm, while the Go SDK is part of the Jetstream project. These tools provide common glue for reconnecting, deduping, and cursor management, allowing developers to construct Jetstream objects and iterate over decoded, typed events.
The Bluesky TypeScript SDK has also been rebuilt on top of @atproto/lex, eliminating legacy code paths and providing full end-to-end typing from the protocol layer up through app.bsky records. The HTTP reference has been updated to include full request and response schemas for new network.bsky.jetstream.* methods, including planBackfill, listSegments, getSegment, and getBlock. The infrastructure remains open source and self-hostable.
