diff --git a/shell/lemmyseeds.sh b/shell/lemmyseeds.sh
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+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Create a Lemmy-specific JSON import file snippet with the top 50 communties
+# from the top 25 instances as reported by https://lemmyverse.net data. Can be
+# used to populate a new Lemmy instance with popular lemmyverse communities.
+#
+# Requires: curl, jq, sed, head, networking/internet
+#
+# Use of the resulting file:
+#  1. create a new user as desired
+#  2. Export user settings to lemmy_export.json
+#  3. Run this script to create the output file
+#  4. Use 'jq' to merge the files, e.g.:
+#
+#    jq '.followed_communities = $inputs' lemmy_export.json \
+#      --slurpfile inputs lemmyseeds_20250703_0734.json > lemmy_import.json
+#
+# NOTE: user imports adhere to Instance Blocks in place; if setting up a new
+#       instance, configure instance blocks first before importing this data
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+_VERSION=0.1
+
+## settings
+
+# number of top scoring instances to query
+_INUM=25
+# number of top communities on each instance
+_CNUM=50
+# which view of communitiy data to use
+_CTYPE="TopAll"
+
+# output
+_DTS=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M)
+_OUT="./lemmyseeds_${_DTS}.json"
+
+# current Lemmy API version
+_API="v3"
+
+# raw JSON of instances with popularity scores
+_LEMMS="https://data.lemmyverse.net/data/instance.min.json"
+
+## code
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2026
+_INSTS=$(curl -sf "${_LEMMS}" | jq 'sort_by(.score) | reverse | .[] | .base' | head -"${_INUM}" | sed 's/\"//'g)
+
+# if curl fails, -f emits empty string / errno 22
+if [[ ! -v _INSTS ]]; then
+  echo "Failed to download from data.lemmyverse.net"
+  exit 22
+else
+  echo "Lemmyverse data downloaded, working..."
+fi
+
+# build the API calls, top 50
+_URLS=()
+for _inst in ${_INSTS}; do
+  _link="https://${_inst}/api/${_API}/community/list?type_=Local&sort=${_CTYPE}&limit=${_CNUM}"
+  _URLS+=("${_link}")
+done
+
+# get absolute URLs to communities, used in Profile Import
+_COMMS=()
+for _url in "${_URLS[@]}"; do
+  echo "Querying: ${_url}"
+  _comm=$(curl -sf "${_url}" | jq '.communities[].community.actor_id')
+  if [[ -n "${_comm}" ]]; then
+    _COMMS+=("${_comm}")
+  fi
+done
+
+# build the JSON jq-friendly merge object
+_PRE="{\n  \"followed_communities\": [\n"
+_MID=""
+_POST="\n  ]\n}"
+_SEEN=0
+# shellcheck disable=SC2068
+for _xxx in ${_COMMS[@]}; do
+  if [[ ${_SEEN} -eq 1 ]]; then
+    _MID+=",\n"
+  fi
+  _SEEN=1
+  _MID+="    ${_xxx//$'\n'/}"
+done
+echo -e "${_PRE}${_MID}${_POST}" > "${_OUT}"
+echo "Created: ${_OUT}"
+
+exit 0