Bluesky Starter Packs: The Complete Guide to Creating One and Growing From It

If there’s one Bluesky feature that other platforms couldn’t copy fast enough, it’s starter packs. Threads cloned them. Mastodon cloned them. Even X took notes. And there’s a reason: they’re one of the most effective organic growth mechanisms any social network has shipped in years.

But here’s the thing — most people only ever use starter packs as a new user. Power users know the real move is creating and landing in them. Let’s get into both.

What Exactly Is a Starter Pack?

A starter pack is a shareable, curated collection of up to 150 accounts (minimum of about 7 to publish one) plus up to 3 custom feeds, bundled into a single link. Anyone who opens it can follow every account in the pack with one tap, or pick and choose.

Bluesky launched them in June 2024 to solve the cold-start problem — the “I just joined and my feed is empty” moment that kills most new social accounts. One friend sends one link, and a newcomer instantly has a living, breathing feed.

For growers, flip that around: being in a relevant starter pack means a steady drip of new, interested followers who opted in with one tap.

How to Create Your Own Starter Pack

  1. Go to your profile and open the Starter Packs tab
  2. Tap Create
  3. Name it something specific and searchable — “Indie Game Devs Who Actually Ship” beats “Cool People I Like”
  4. Add accounts (7 minimum, 150 max). Bluesky can auto-suggest from your network, or you can hand-pick
  5. Optionally attach up to 3 custom feeds that fit the theme
  6. Publish and share the link — on Bluesky, in your other socials, in your newsletter, wherever your niche hangs out

Bonus power move: you can add someone to one of your packs straight from the “…” menu on their profile. Great for curating as you browse.

You can edit packs after publishing, so prune dead accounts and add rising ones every month or two. A maintained pack keeps circulating; a stale one dies.

Why Creating a Pack Grows Your Account

This is the part people miss. The pack creator wins three ways:

  1. You’re the curator. Everyone who uses your pack follows the accounts in it — and your profile is attached to the thing that just fixed their feed. Curators get followed at a very high rate.
  2. The included accounts notice. Adding someone to a well-made pack is the single most flattering ping on Bluesky. Many will follow you, repost the pack, and share it with their followers. That’s distribution you didn’t pay for.
  3. It compounds. A good niche pack gets passed around for months. It’s an evergreen growth asset that works while you sleep.

How to Get Into Other People’s Starter Packs

You can’t apply, but you can absolutely engineer it:

  • Be findable in your niche. Pack creators search for accounts by topic. A clear bio with your niche keywords and consistent on-topic posting makes you an obvious pick.
  • Engage with curators. The people who make packs are usually the community connectors. Be genuinely useful in their replies and they’ll remember you when they update their pack.
  • Grow your engagement signals. Curators add accounts that look alive — recent posts, real conversations, healthy follower ratios. (If your ratio needs work, here’s how I clean mine up.)

Starter Packs + Automation: The Compounding Combo

Starter packs and follow automation solve the same problem from opposite ends — packs bring interested people to you, automation takes you to interested people. Together they compound:

  • A starter pack puts you in front of newcomers in your niche
  • Agent Sky follows established accounts in that same niche at a safe pace, and its Similarity AI keeps finding accounts that match your vibe
  • New followers from both channels boost your engagement signals
  • Better signals get you added to more packs — and the loop feeds itself

One practical tip for targeting: other people’s starter packs are a goldmine of pre-curated, niche-relevant accounts. When you find a pack in your space, those are exactly the kind of accounts worth following and engaging with — they’re verified-active and topically aligned by definition.

And with 41+ million registered users on Bluesky (per the platform’s own 2025 transparency report) and the network still growing, niches are filling in fast. The communities being curated into packs right now are the ones that will be established a year from now. Early curation is cheap influence.

Quick FAQ

How many accounts can a Bluesky starter pack hold? Up to 150 accounts, with a minimum of around 7 to publish. Plus up to 3 custom feeds.

Can I make more than one starter pack? Yes — make one per niche you’re part of. Specific beats general every time.

Do people get notified when I add them to a pack? They can see it, and pack adds tend to get noticed — that’s half the networking value of creating one.

What’s the fastest way to grow alongside a starter pack? Keep posting consistently, and let Agent Sky handle targeted following in the background. Packs build inbound discovery; automation builds outbound — you want both running. Here’s the full growth playbook.