> **For coding agents and LLMs:** This is one Social Fetch marketing page (markdown export). For API orientation start with [`/llms.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.txt); for auth and crawl rules use [`/agents.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/agents.txt); for every operation use [`/llms-endpoints.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms-endpoints.txt).

## This page

- **On-site (HTML):** <https://www.socialfetch.dev/platforms/lemmy/instances>
- **Markdown (.mdx) URL:** <https://www.socialfetch.dev/platforms/lemmy/instances.mdx>

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# Lemmy Federated Instances API

The domains one Lemmy instance federates with, or blocks, with enough state to see which are alive.

`GET /v1/lemmy/instances?source=fed.dyne.org` returns that instance's federation table in `data.instances`, each with `domain`, `software`, `version`, `firstSeenAt`, `updatedAt`, `lastFederatedAt`, `failCount`, `lastRetryAt` and `nextRetryAt`, plus `blocked` to say whether it came from the block list. `data.total` is the number of rows after the filters, and `data.page` pages them.

This is one instance's view of the network, not a network-wide directory. `software` keeps one kind of server and defaults to `lemmy`; `all` keeps every domain. `activeSince` keeps domains whose last successful delivery is at or after an ISO 8601 time. Set `blocked=true` to read the instance's block list instead. The table has no user counts, so the rows cannot be ranked by size.

## Request

- **Endpoint:** `GET /v1/lemmy/instances`
- **Credits:** 2 credits
Failed requests are free
- **Input:** by source and software
- **Full reference:** [docs](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api/v1/lemmy/instances/get)
- **Platform page:** [/platforms/lemmy](https://www.socialfetch.dev/platforms/lemmy)

## FAQ

### Is this a list of every Lemmy instance?

No. It is the federation table of the instance you name. Another instance can have seen a different set of domains, and the table has no user counts to rank them by size.

### What does activeSince filter on?

On the last successful delivery from that domain, or on its record update when an older version does not report a federation state. Domains with neither timestamp are left out.

### How do I read the block list?

Set blocked=true. The same rows come back with blocked: true, and total counts the filtered block list.

### How many credits does the directory cost?

Pricing is documented on the operation in the API registry (shown on this page). Confirm on every response with meta.creditsCharged: that field is the billing source of truth. Each paginated page is a separate billed request.