> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sublay.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Add follows and connections to your app with Sublay's social graph hooks

Sublay provides two distinct social relationship systems: **Follows** (one-directional) and **Connections** (mutual/bidirectional). You can use one or both depending on the social model your app needs.

<Note>
  **Requires the `follows` and/or `connections` bundles.** Follows need the `follows` bundle and connections need the `connections` bundle — install whichever you use. See [Bundles](/v8/bundles) to add them.
</Note>

## Follows

Follows are one-directional. A user can follow another user without requiring approval or reciprocation — similar to Twitter or Instagram's follow model.

## Connections

Connections are bidirectional and require mutual acceptance — similar to LinkedIn. One user sends a request; the other must accept before a connection is established. Connections go through several states: `none`, `pending-sent`, `pending-received`, `connected`, `declined-sent`, `declined-received`.

## Choosing Between Follows and Connections

| | Follows | Connections |
| - | - | - |
| **Direction** | One-way | Mutual |
| **Approval required** | No | Yes |
| **Use case** | Content feeds, creator audiences | Professional networks, friend systems |
| **State** | Following / not following | None → Pending → Connected / Declined |

## Blocking

User-to-user **blocking** severs interaction between two users across every Sublay surface (follows, connections, DMs, content, mentions, notifications, discovery, and profiles). Blocking is a trust & safety primitive that ships with the **moderation bundle**, not the follows/connections bundles — see [Moderation — Blocking](/v8/sdk/moderation/overview#blocking) for the full enforcement behavior and the [`useBlockManager`](/v8/sdk/relationships/use-block-manager) hook.

## In This Section

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="useFollowManager" href="/v8/sdk/relationships/use-follow-manager">
    High-level hook for toggling follow state on a profile
  </Card>

  <Card title="useConnectionManager" href="/v8/sdk/relationships/use-connection-manager">
    High-level hook that manages the full connection lifecycle
  </Card>

  <Card title="useBlockManager" href="/v8/sdk/relationships/use-block-manager">
    High-level hook for toggling block state on a profile
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Hooks

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="useFollowUser (+ more)" href="/v8/hooks/follows/use-follow-user">
    All individual follow hooks for custom UIs
  </Card>

  <Card title="useRequestConnection (+ more)" href="/v8/hooks/connections/use-request-connection">
    All individual connection hooks for custom UIs
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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