Bluesky API

Read, search, post, and monitor Bluesky (AT Protocol) accounts

Bluesky Skill

Interact with Bluesky via the AT Protocol API. Supports public reads, search, authenticated posting, and profile monitoring.

Configuration

Credentials can come from openclaw config or environment variables:

Source	Handle	App Password
Config	channels.bluesky.handle	channels.bluesky.appPassword
Env var	BSKY_HANDLE	BSKY_APP_PASSWORD

App passwords are created at: https://bsky.app/settings/app-passwords

Never use a main account password. Always use an app password.

---

1. Read — Fetch Recent Posts from a Profile

No auth required. Uses the public API.

API Endpoint

GET https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed?actor=<handle>&limit=<n>

• actor — Bluesky handle (e.g. alice.bsky.social) or DID
• limit — number of posts to return (1–100, default 50)

curl Example

curl -s "https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed?actor=alice.bsky.social&limit=5" | jq '.feed[] | {text: .post.record.text, createdAt: .post.record.createdAt, uri: .post.uri}'

Helper Script

./scripts/bsky-read.sh alice.bsky.social 5

Response Structure

The response JSON has a feed array. Each entry contains:

• .post.record.text — the post text
• .post.record.createdAt — ISO 8601 timestamp
• .post.uri — AT URI of the post
• .post.author.handle — author handle
• .post.author.displayName — author display name
• .post.likeCount, .post.repostCount, .post.replyCount — engagement counts

---

2. Search — Find Posts by Keyword

No auth required. Uses the public API.

API Endpoint

GET https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.searchPosts?q=<query>&limit=<n>

• q — search query (keywords, hashtags, phrases)
• limit — number of results (1–100, default 25)

curl Example

curl -s "https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.searchPosts?q=openclaw&limit=10" | jq '.posts[] | {text: .record.text, author: .author.handle, createdAt: .record.createdAt}'

Helper Script

./scripts/bsky-search.sh "openclaw" 10

Response Structure

The response JSON has a posts array. Each entry contains:

• .record.text — the post text
• .record.createdAt — ISO 8601 timestamp
• .author.handle — author handle
• .author.displayName — author display name
• .uri — AT URI of the post

---

3. Post — Create a New Post

Requires auth. Uses app password authentication.

Step 1: Authenticate

POST https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.server.createSession
Content-Type: application/json

{"identifier": "<handle>", "password": "<app_password>"}

This returns a session with accessJwt and did.

curl Example

# Always use env vars — never interpolate credentials directly into shell strings
SESSION=$(curl -s -X POST "https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.server.createSession" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n --arg h "$BSKY_HANDLE" --arg p "$BSKY_APP_PASSWORD" '{identifier: $h, password: $p}')")

ACCESS_TOKEN=$(echo "$SESSION" | jq -r '.accessJwt')
DID=$(echo "$SESSION" | jq -r '.did')

Step 2: Create the Post

POST https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.repo.createRecord
Authorization: Bearer <accessJwt>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "repo": "<did>",
  "collection": "app.bsky.feed.post",
  "record": {
    "$type": "app.bsky.feed.post",
    "text": "<post text>",
    "createdAt": "<ISO 8601 timestamp>"
  }
}

curl Example

curl -s -X POST "https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.repo.createRecord" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"repo\": \"${DID}\",
    \"collection\": \"app.bsky.feed.post\",
    \"record\": {
      \"\$type\": \"app.bsky.feed.post\",
      \"text\": \"Hello from OpenClaw!\",
      \"createdAt\": \"$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.000Z)\"
    }
  }"

Helper Script

# Pass app password via env var — never as a CLI argument (visible in ps/shell history)
BSKY_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx ./scripts/bsky-post.sh alice.bsky.social "Hello from OpenClaw!"

Post Length Limit

Bluesky posts have a 300-character limit (grapheme count). Check length before posting.

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4. Monitor — Check for New Posts Since Last Check

Use the read endpoint with a timestamp comparison to detect new posts. This is useful for heartbeat monitoring.

Approach

1. Fetch recent posts from the target profile.
2. Compare .post.record.createdAt against the last-known timestamp.
3. Any post with a createdAt newer than the stored timestamp is new.

curl Example

# Fetch the 10 most recent posts
FEED=$(curl -s "https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed?actor=alice.bsky.social&limit=10")

# Filter posts newer than a given timestamp
SINCE="2026-03-24T00:00:00.000Z"
echo "$FEED" | jq --arg since "$SINCE" '.feed[] | select(.post.record.createdAt > $since) | {text: .post.record.text, createdAt: .post.record.createdAt}'

Monitoring Loop Pattern

For heartbeat use, store the latest seen timestamp and compare on each check:

# Use a user-owned state dir, not world-readable /tmp
LAST_SEEN_FILE="${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/bsky-monitor-${HANDLE}.txt"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$LAST_SEEN_FILE")"
HANDLE="alice.bsky.social"

# Read last seen timestamp (or default to 24h ago)
if [ -f "$LAST_SEEN_FILE" ]; then
  SINCE=$(cat "$LAST_SEEN_FILE")
else
  SINCE=$(date -u -v-24H +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.000Z 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '24 hours ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.000Z)
fi

FEED=$(curl -s "https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed?actor=${HANDLE}&limit=20")
NEW_POSTS=$(echo "$FEED" | jq --arg since "$SINCE" '[.feed[] | select(.post.record.createdAt > $since)]')
COUNT=$(echo "$NEW_POSTS" | jq 'length')

if [ "$COUNT" -gt 0 ]; then
  echo "Found $COUNT new post(s) from $HANDLE since $SINCE"
  echo "$NEW_POSTS" | jq '.[] | {text: .post.record.text, createdAt: .post.record.createdAt}'
  # Update last seen to the most recent post timestamp
  echo "$NEW_POSTS" | jq -r '.[0].post.record.createdAt' > "$LAST_SEEN_FILE"
else
  echo "No new posts from $HANDLE since $SINCE"
fi

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Error Handling

HTTP Status	Meaning	Action
200	Success	Parse response
400	Bad request	Check parameters
401	Unauthorized	Re-authenticate (token may be expired)
404	Not found	Check handle/DID exists
429	Rate limited	Back off and retry after delay

Auth Token Expiry

Access tokens expire. If you get a 401, re-authenticate by calling createSession again. Do not cache tokens for more than a few minutes.

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Quick Reference

Operation	Auth?	Script
Read profile feed	No	./scripts/bsky-read.sh <handle> [limit]
Search posts	No	./scripts/bsky-search.sh <query> [limit]
Create post	Yes	./scripts/bsky-post.sh <handle> <app_password> <text>
Monitor new posts	No	Use read + timestamp filter (see section 4)