What you need
- Multimeter for macOS 13 or later, $19.99 once.
- Your server and username, like
mastodon.socialandGargron.
Set it up
- Add a Web Address meter on your server with your username and the key path
followers_count:Web addresshttps://mastodon.social/api/v1/accounts/lookup?acct=Gargron - Refresh every 5 minutes.
Multimeter settings
In Customize This Meter… (from the meter’s menu):
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | Web Address |
| Web address | https://YOUR-SERVER/api/v1/accounts/lookup?acct=USERNAME |
| Key path | followers_count |
| Refresh every | 5 minutes |
| Label | MASTO |
| Face | XP Bar, Stack or Tally Marks |
Tested: Run on October 29, 2026: Gargron on mastodon.social 383,009; the fosstodon account on fosstodon.org 35,478.
More on this source, including every format it reads, in the Web Address guide.
Limits
- Ask your home server. Other servers may show a stale count for remote accounts.
Variations
Posts
Key path statuses_count.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No number found in the response | The key path doesn’t match the reply. | Run curl -s with the address and read the JSON. Dots walk into objects, numbers pick array items (items.0.count). |
| Couldn’t reach the address | No network, a typo in the host, or the service is down. | Open the address in your browser. Multimeter tries again at the next refresh. |
| The server answered 404 | The account isn’t on that server. | Use the server from your full handle, @user@server. |
Questions
Can it celebrate a milestone?
Set alerts to High values with critical at the milestone and turn on Notify me when it goes critical. The XP Bar face also levels up as the count grows.
Does it work for other fediverse software?
Many servers that implement the Mastodon API answer the same lookup. Check yours with curl first.