We held Atproto Amsterdam on Thursday March 5, 2026 at the Internet Archive Europe. This post is a look back at that event, followed by some notes looking forward. I want to make sure the overall info was noted for the historical record and the benefit of future organizers. And also as a call to action for future Atproto community activities in the Netherlands.
While various folks had rapped about the idea of getting together, this post from prompted a (of course) reply which kicked things off:
@thealexlichter.com given that you liked my last two posts, we are on the same PDS, and we are in the same city, what about having dinner some day next week? :) Are there other npmx-adjacent people in Amsterdam? 😄 @matteogabriele.bsky.social?
We talked details in the thread, and talked to Internet Archive Europe about hosting, boom, we had a date and a venue.
We had registration at both the IAE Luma as a Dweb node event, and on Smoke Signal, and I posted both to Bluesky. The Luma was required for IAE access. The Smoke Signal was optional, but also for people to be notified of future events which might not be at IAE or even in Amsterdam, so no guaranteed notification via the original Luma.
Bsky announcement post: https://bsky.app/profile/burrito.space/post/3mg2pvdgncc26
IAE Luma listing: https://luma.com/1bsf9tj3
The response was a Dutch two-thumbs-up:
Around ten people attended. Most were on the technical side. Some came from faraway parts of the Netherlands, some from Amsterdam and surrounding areas.
A cool thing happened where from IAE had posted a flyer on the window of the space, and we got a walk-in who was a programmer who goes by on their way to/from work. She saw the flyer in the morning and was Atproto curious already, and joined after work!
The event was intentionally casual, with no real agenda aside from getting to know each other and chatting. It was BYO snacks/drinks, folks brought some takeaway dinner and some beers.
I did have a couple of meta-goals: to understand what folks wanted out of an Atproto meetup, and some thoughts on location. The two questions were generally answered: People wanted talks, not just casual meetup. People liked the idea of it moving around, not just being in Amsterdam.
Posts from the event (Psst: if you were there, send me your posts and I'll add them here!)
- dietrich2mo
Atproto Amsterdam happened! We solved private data AND payments, and also digital credentials trust chains and also moderation and games too. Wait, no we just had a great three hours of chatting about atproto (mostly). Thanks @internetarchive.eu for hosting us!
What's next?
I'm leaving the Netherlands in June, so am hoping someone else picks up the torch.
Internet Archive seems keen to host more, and are a lovely group of people. Someone said WAAG might be open to hosting.
I'll be at RustWeek in Utrecht later this month, maybe we could do an Atproto happy hour or BOF of the Rust x Atproto intersection of people.
was interested in doing another meetup in May.
I've set up a space here for general Atproto + NL connection: https://roomy.space/did:plc:op4w4mdswyb2mk3veh3g7zdg
I'll post this Leaflet to Bluesky, and then link that thread here for bidirectionality.
Je bent aan het einde van het begin aangekomen!
-dietrich