I've been mucking about with the new claude.ai from anthropic, and thought I would ask it - here's what it said:
Yes, it is possible to set up a private Lemmy instance for use within a group of friends. Here are some steps to do this:
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Install Lemmy on a server you control. Lemmy is open source software written in Rust. You'll need a Linux server with Rust installed to run it.
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Configure the Lemmy config file. Set the following options:
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federated_timeline_enabled - false
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registration_open - false
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external_federation_enabled - false
This will disable public federated timelines and open registration.
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Create user accounts manually. As an admin, you can create accounts for each of your friends on the Lemmy admin interface.
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Consider enabling SSL. It's recommended to enable HTTPS encryption on your Lemmy instance. You can get a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt.
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Share the URL only with friends. Don't publish the URL publicly, only share with your intended friend group.
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Lock down the server access. Use firewall rules, VPN, or IP whitelisting to restrict access to the server.
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Keep Lemmy updated. Watch for security updates and upgrade Lemmy regularly to stay safe.
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Consider private federation. You could federate multiple private Lemmy instances to allow a broader reach while still keeping everything private.
That covers the basics! With those steps, you can have a private Lemmy server for your friend group to use.