Bluesky integration: import a profile's posts

Bluesky works the same way as the other social sources: one profile, one mix, a card per post. Two things set it apart. Accounts are identified by domain names, which move. And only the account's own posts come across, with reposts and replies left out.

Handles are domain names

On Bluesky a handle is a domain. tchop.bsky.social is a subdomain Bluesky hands out. press.example.com is a domain the account holder owns and pointed at their profile.

Both work as sources. The practical consequence is the second one: an account can change its handle at will, usually when an organisation moves from the default .bsky.social name to its own domain. That is a rebrand, and it breaks the integration.

When it happens the integration switches to Error. The fix is to open the settings and paste the new profile URL. The cards already in the mix are unaffected.

Worth doing on setup: if you are connecting your own organisation's account and a move to a branded handle is on the roadmap, do the move first and connect afterwards.

Getting the URL right

The setting wants the profile page:

https://bsky.app/profile/yourhandle.bsky.social

or, for a custom-domain account:

https://bsky.app/profile/press.example.com

What gets rejected:

• A single post URL. Those end in /post/<id>.

• A search URL.

• A bare handle without the bsky.app/profile/ prefix.

Profiles are the only source type so far. Bluesky's own strength is its custom feeds, and a starter pack is a ready-made list of accounts. Neither can be connected yet. Both are on the roadmap. Until they ship, a curated Bluesky feed has to be rebuilt as one integration per account in it.

Open the profile in a browser and copy what the address bar shows. That is always the correct form.

Original posts only

The integration imports what the account posts itself. It does not bring in:

• Reposts

• Replies

• Quote posts

There is no setting for this and it is not a limitation to work around. It is the behaviour you want. An account that reposts twenty things a day contributes twenty cards of other people's content to your feed, none of which you vetted, and each of which needs a licence you do not have.

Bluesky arrives pre-filtered to the account's own voice. If a reposted item matters enough to appear in your app, an editor adds it as a card and it gets the attention it deserves.

Bluesky or X, or both

Many newsrooms and communities now run both accounts and post the same thing to each. Connecting both means every post arrives twice, in two cards, and readers see the duplicate.

Three sensible setups:

• One network only. Connect the account you actually maintain. Simplest, and the right default.

• Both, into separate mixes. Useful when the two accounts serve genuinely different audiences and post different things.

• Both, into one mix, with auto-publish off. An editor sees the pair and publishes one. Only worth the effort if the accounts diverge often.

One practical difference between the two: the X integration can be told to include reposts and replies, and people turn it on and regret it. Bluesky gives you originals and nothing else, so the decision never comes up.

There is a second argument for Bluesky as the source over X: Bluesky profiles and posts are readable without an account. A card that links out lands on a readable page rather than a login prompt. If your audience includes people who never signed up to either network, that difference is visible to them.

Volume, once reposts are out of the picture

Original posts only takes most of the volume problem off the table. What remains is the account's own posting rate, and there is no filter by keyword, hashtag or engagement.

An account that writes fifteen original posts a day still dominates a shared mix. Two ways to handle it:

• Give a high-volume account its own mix, so it never crowds out curated content in the main feed.

• Pick the account, not the person. An organisation's account usually posts at a rate a feed can carry. A founder's personal account often does not.

If the mix already holds curated cards you care about, check Mixes for how ordering and pinning behave once an automated source starts adding to it.

Error states and what causes them

Error, and the profile still opens fine. The handle changed. Compare the handle in the address bar against the one saved in the integration.

Error, and the profile does not open at all. The account was deleted or deactivated. Delete the integration. The cards it created stay.

Nothing arrives, status Active. The account has not posted since the integration was created. Check the profile's newest post date before looking for a fault.

Only a few of the account's posts arrived on the first run. Backfill is capped by what you chose at creation, from 0 to 50, and it runs once. It cannot be re-run later.

A post looks empty as a card. A post that is mostly a link, a reply fragment or an image with no text has little for a card to show. Edit the card, or leave auto-publish off for that source and let an editor decide.

Bluesky questions

Can I include the account's reposts? No. Reposts, replies and quote posts are left out by design. Add anything worth carrying as its own card.

Do I need a Bluesky account to connect one? No. Public profiles are readable without an account, which is why this integration needs no login from you.

Can I connect a private or restricted account? No. Only what a logged-out visitor can see can be imported.

Can I connect a custom feed or a starter pack? Not yet. Profiles only, with feeds and starter packs planned. For now, connect the accounts individually.

Can I connect two Bluesky profiles to one mix? Yes, as two integrations pointing at the same mix. The same profile twice in the same mix is rejected.

How quickly do posts appear? Within about half an hour, the same interval as every other source.

Can I stop it for a while without losing the setup? Yes. Pause keeps the configuration and stops creating cards. It does not backfill what it missed when you resume.

What happens to the cards if I delete the integration? They stay in the mix and behave like any other card.

Setup checklist

Confirm the handle is the one the account intends to keep, decide whether this account or its X equivalent is your source, and check the account's original posting rate rather than its total activity, since reposts and replies will not arrive.

For mix, name, backfill and auto-publish, which work the same across all twelve source types, see How integrations work.