:skull360: We've successfully upgraded our Mastodon server to v4.6.0-alpha.3+mementomods-2026-01-24, along with Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-4.

This update includes today's latest daily build with 107 new commits from upstream since alpha.2 (2026-01-11).

What's new in Mastodon core - These are the changes Mastodon Team have introduced us in the latest nightly version we are running:

🔒 Security
- Updated lodash to v4.17.23 (security fix)
- Multiple security patches merged from upstream

✨ New Features
- Collections: "My collections" page, featured collections, collection endpoints
- Profile redesign (in Mastodon core theme only): verified badges, account name tyling, profile fields redesign
- New UI components: Callout, Toggle, MiniCard, form fields

🎨 Theming system
- New file-based theme system with data-color scheme and data-contrast attributes
- High-contrast styles added to common stylesheet
- Updated embedded styling and error pages for new theme infrastructure

🐛 Bug Fixes
- Fixed quote cache invalidation
- Fixed cross-server conversation tracking
- Fixed keyboard navigation in media modal
- Fixed directory showing load more button incorrectly
- Fixed quote approval policy being reset on status update
- Fixed delivery worker error counting
- Fixed isDarkMode utility

🔧 Other updates
- Bumped to v4.5.5
- Removed deprecated ImageMagick usage
- Updated Node.js to 24.13
- Various dependency updates and translations

🐦‍⬛ Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-4:
- Migrated to new file-based theme system
- Added semantic token overrides for light theme
- Fixed missing search icon in dark theme
- Release: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/releases/tag/4.0.0-alpha.0-4

Check out the source code of our fork: https://github.com/mementomori-social

Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-4 is still a work in progress in the nightly branch. It's not 100% ready, but it's stable with today's Mastodon alpha.3.

As always, if you notice anything unusual or buggy, please reach out to me or any of the admins. Enjoy your time here, and feel free to message me with any questions or thoughts. :bunhdheart:

#MementomoriSocial #Mastodon #MastoAdmin #MastodonBirdUI #BirdUI

:skull360: We've successfully upgraded our Mastodon server to v4.6.0-alpha.3+mementomods-2026-01-24, along with Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-4.

This update includes today's latest daily build with 107 new commits from upstream since alpha.2 (2026-01-11).

What's new in Mastodon core - These are the changes Mastodon Team have introduced us in the latest nightly version we are running:

🔒 Security
- Updated lodash to v4.17.23 (security fix)
- Multiple security patches merged from upstream

✨ New Features
- Collections: "My collections" page, featured collections, collection endpoints
- Profile redesign (in Mastodon core theme only): verified badges, account name tyling, profile fields redesign
- New UI components: Callout, Toggle, MiniCard, form fields

🎨 Theming system
- New file-based theme system with data-color scheme and data-contrast attributes
- High-contrast styles added to common stylesheet
- Updated embedded styling and error pages for new theme infrastructure

🐛 Bug Fixes
- Fixed quote cache invalidation
- Fixed cross-server conversation tracking
- Fixed keyboard navigation in media modal
- Fixed directory showing load more button incorrectly
- Fixed quote approval policy being reset on status update
- Fixed delivery worker error counting
- Fixed isDarkMode utility

🔧 Other updates
- Bumped to v4.5.5
- Removed deprecated ImageMagick usage
- Updated Node.js to 24.13
- Various dependency updates and translations

🐦‍⬛ Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-4:
- Migrated to new file-based theme system
- Added semantic token overrides for light theme
- Fixed missing search icon in dark theme
- Release: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/releases/tag/4.0.0-alpha.0-4

Check out the source code of our fork: https://github.com/mementomori-social

Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-4 is still a work in progress in the nightly branch. It's not 100% ready, but it's stable with today's Mastodon alpha.3.

As always, if you notice anything unusual or buggy, please reach out to me or any of the admins. Enjoy your time here, and feel free to message me with any questions or thoughts. :bunhdheart:

#MementomoriSocial #Mastodon #MastoAdmin #MastodonBirdUI #BirdUI

A major update is coming soon for my Mastodon instance and for Mastodon Bird UI. Here's how the system is changing from the old version (pre-v4.6.0-alpha.3):

Old system:

- The HTML used a data-user-theme="mastodon-bird-ui-dark" attribute.
- Mastodon Bird UI used selectors like html[data-user-theme="mastodon-bird-ui-dark"] to apply styles only when that theme was active.
- Multiple themes could exist in one stylesheet, applied conditionally through these selectors.

New system (v4.6.0-alpha.3):

- The data-user-theme attribute no longer exists.
- The theme is now defined by which stylesheet file is loaded through themes.yml.
- If your stylesheet is loaded, your styles automatically apply.
- The only HTML attributes now are: data-color-scheme="dark|light|auto" for the user's color preference and data-contrast="normal|high" for the user's contrast preference

What this means for Mastodon Bird UI:
- Bird UI currently wraps everything in selectors like html[data-user-theme="mastodon-bird-ui-dark"] to apply styles only when that theme is selected.
- In the new system, these selectors must be removed entirely. If the Mastodon Bird UI stylesheet is loaded, its styles should apply directly. The loaded file itself now determines the active theme.

https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/issues/177#issuecomment-3795167051

#MastodonBirdUI #CSS #MastoAdmin #OpenSource #BuildInPublic #BirdUI #Mastodon

A major update is coming soon for my Mastodon instance and for Mastodon Bird UI. Here's how the system is changing from the old version (pre-v4.6.0-alpha.3):

Old system:

- The HTML used a data-user-theme="mastodon-bird-ui-dark" attribute.
- Mastodon Bird UI used selectors like html[data-user-theme="mastodon-bird-ui-dark"] to apply styles only when that theme was active.
- Multiple themes could exist in one stylesheet, applied conditionally through these selectors.

New system (v4.6.0-alpha.3):

- The data-user-theme attribute no longer exists.
- The theme is now defined by which stylesheet file is loaded through themes.yml.
- If your stylesheet is loaded, your styles automatically apply.
- The only HTML attributes now are: data-color-scheme="dark|light|auto" for the user's color preference and data-contrast="normal|high" for the user's contrast preference

What this means for Mastodon Bird UI:
- Bird UI currently wraps everything in selectors like html[data-user-theme="mastodon-bird-ui-dark"] to apply styles only when that theme is selected.
- In the new system, these selectors must be removed entirely. If the Mastodon Bird UI stylesheet is loaded, its styles should apply directly. The loaded file itself now determines the active theme.

https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/issues/177#issuecomment-3795167051

#MastodonBirdUI #CSS #MastoAdmin #OpenSource #BuildInPublic #BirdUI #Mastodon

Pre-released Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-3: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/releases/tag/4.0.0-alpha.0-3

tl;dr: It now includes a build system and is much lighter than the previous versions. Only compatible with Mastodon 4.6.0 alpha versions.

#MastodonBirdUI #BirdUI #OpenSource #Mastodon #MastoAdmin

Pre-released Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0-alpha.0-3: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/releases/tag/4.0.0-alpha.0-3

tl;dr: It now includes a build system and is much lighter than the previous versions. Only compatible with Mastodon 4.6.0 alpha versions.

#MastodonBirdUI #BirdUI #OpenSource #Mastodon #MastoAdmin

@caterpillar Thanks! It's used by a few hundred instances now, most notably Vivaldi's.

After leaving Twitter, I just wanted to bring back that 2019 feel. Some UI and UX patterns have already been proven to work, and it's great (unlike Twitter was) Mastodon is open source so I can customize it.

I've also submitted some suggestions to the core, since the only thing I'm still missing is the compose box, the rest I've built into my fork.

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/27102
https://help.mementomori.social/mementomori.social/instance-features
https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-social-latest-update-built-in-translate-and-themes/

#BirdUI #MastodonBirdUI #MastoAdmin

If you're using the nightly or alpha version of Mastodon (from the main Git branch), the only functional Mastodon Bird UI version is under the branch dev-build-system-css-theme-tokens. There's no release or release candidate yet. While the modularization work is still in progress, the theme is already functional and much lighter thanks to the new build system.
https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/tree/dev-build-system-css-theme-tokens

#MastodonBirdUI #MastoAdmin #BirdUI

Mastodon Bird UI support for Mastodon v4.6.0 with CSS properties is coming soon. The theme will also be modularized using SCSS partials to match Mastodon's new style infrastructure.

The build process will include npm scripts and Parcel, making the theme ultra-portable for any Mastodon instance, whether added through the Custom CSS textarea or directly by a Mastodon admin.

I'll also create a simple bash script for Mastodon admins to enable the theme as a selectable option more easily than the current fork-and-cut method.

This is no easy feat, but definitely worth it.

GitHub: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui

Progress in the nightly branch.

#MastodonBirdUI #CSS #OpenSource #MastoAdmin #Theming #BirdUI #Mastodon #BuildInPublic

@mellifluousbox

In my own opinion I think all instances should use #mastodonbirdui , but I know that is all personal preference.

Also better onboarding for sure

RE: https://mementomori.social/@rolle/115679600302861278

I'm having a bit of scope creep here. I've also been dealing with a migraine, work stress, and lack of time.

On top of implementing CSS tokens, Parcel, and CSS modularization, I'm refactoring everything to add support for installing the ultra-accessible variation for others too, not just users of my Mastodon fork.

Mastodon Bird UI 4.0.0 for Mastodon 4.6.0 is going to be awesome. I'm hoping to see even more instances adopting it. I'll continue supporting the Custom CSS-only approach for masto.host users and others without filesystem access, while also making life easier for Mastodon admins.

Hang tight, I'll get there soon.

Source: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/tree/dev-build-system-css-theme-tokens

#BuildInPublic #MastodonBirdUI #BirdUI #CSS #MastoAdmin #CustomCSS #WebDev #OpenSource

@andreklein Thank you! I've heard that quite a lot, though there are other great themes out there too, like @nileane's wonderful Tangerine UI. I originally built this in early 2023 as a quick experiment (you can read the post here: https://mementomori.social/@rolle/109984108360395822), and at first, I didn't plan for it to become a full-fledged theme. I just wanted my Mastodon instance to look more polished, minimal, and reminiscent of how Twitter looked in 2019.

I didn't have time to contribute to Mastodon's core since it was filled with hardcoded colors, so I spent a week creating my own theme. It kind of escalated from there, and before I knew it, I had built a full theme framework that I was developing on daily basis.

Mastodon Bird UI is now quite widely used - most notably it's one of the themes of the @Vivaldi browser's Mastodon instance: https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-social-latest-update-built-in-translate-and-themes/

You can see a list of instances using Mastodon Bird UI here: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui?tab=readme-ov-file#list-of-instances-that-use-mastodon-bird-ui

The upcoming Mastodon UI system refactor will make it even easier to port themes, and I hope it brings great things to the community!

#MastoAdmin #MastodonBirdUI

Mastodon Bird UI support for Mastodon v4.6.0 with CSS properties is coming soon. The theme will also be modularized using SCSS partials to match Mastodon's new style infrastructure.

The build process will include npm scripts and Parcel, making the theme ultra-portable for any Mastodon instance, whether added through the Custom CSS textarea or directly by a Mastodon admin.

I'll also create a simple bash script for Mastodon admins to enable the theme as a selectable option more easily than the current fork-and-cut method.

This is no easy feat, but definitely worth it.

GitHub: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui

Progress in the nightly branch.

#MastodonBirdUI #CSS #OpenSource #MastoAdmin #Theming #BirdUI #Mastodon #BuildInPublic

Mastodon Bird UI support for Mastodon v4.6.0 with CSS properties is coming soon. The theme will also be modularized using SCSS partials to match Mastodon's new style infrastructure.

The build process will include npm scripts and Parcel, making the theme ultra-portable for any Mastodon instance, whether added through the Custom CSS textarea or directly by a Mastodon admin.

I'll also create a simple bash script for Mastodon admins to enable the theme as a selectable option more easily than the current fork-and-cut method.

This is no easy feat, but definitely worth it.

GitHub: https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui

Progress in the nightly branch.

#MastodonBirdUI #CSS #OpenSource #MastoAdmin #Theming #BirdUI #Mastodon #BuildInPublic

Made progress on issue 172 today, but the rest of the evening goes to playing Fortnite with my son. And that's fine by me, loving our win streak. First things first.

https://github.com/ronilaukkarinen/mastodon-bird-ui/issues/172

#MementoMoriSocial #MastoAdmin #MastodonBirdUI