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@thisismissem.social @divy.zone and I recently went through an exploration of how the browser can help you login to websites with atproto accounts. We recently presented to the FedID CG and here is a sneak peek in case you couldn't join! This is early but we'd love your input before we go too far!

First, the happy case scenario, logging in to a website with your atproto account, say lealeft.pub. This is a good end state prompt: one that shows every atproto account you are logged in to (most users would only have one) and allows the user to select one.

Here, leaflet.pub is able to accept both "listed IdPs" (in this case, bluesky, blacksky) as well as "registered IdPs" (in this case, elisabecket.com). The difference between the two is that while the former is enumerated/anticipated by the relying party, the latter is indicated by the user.

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The former is important because it allows the relying party to reuse the existing network effects of established IdPs. The latter is critical because in an open federation such as atproto it is impossible for the relying party to enumerate every atproto PDS that exists. But how?

By clicking on "Add another account" in the first prompt. When that happens, the browsers open an account selector, that allows you to add more accounts for "listed IdPs" but also to type your own (the same way you type an email address in an input box).

The mental model I have of this UX is a "search box": you get 0-state suggestions with "listed IdPs" but as you type the browser starts discoverying new IdPs that conform to a search constrain specified by the relying party. Here, the user is offered to add an account based on what they typed:

The "worse case scenario" is when a user is (a) not logged in to any of the "listed idps" and (b) has never "registered" any idp. In which case, they get the following, which I, personally, think is reasonable.

what would clicking on Bluesky or Blacksky in the list here do? I'm imagining it would show the user the same search bar but filter the search to only users on Bluesky's PDS or Blacksky's PDS, but idk, that feels superfluous maybe