# blogtato
A CLI RSS/Atom feed reader inspired by Taskwarrior.
## Features
- Subscribe to RSS and Atom feeds
- Simple query language for filtering by feed, read status, and date, with
grouping and export
- Git-based sync across machines with conflict-free merge
([why git?](#design-philosophy))
- No accounts, no servers, no continuous network dependency
- Mark content as read
- Designed to be distraction free, minimalistic and work out of the box
## Install
```bash
cargo install blogtato
```
### Git sync
`git` based synchronization is entire optional. `blogtato` can work entirely
offline on a single device.
To set up git synchronization, create a private repo on your git host, then:
```bash
# On your first machine
blog clone user/repo
# From now on, sync fetches feeds and pushes/pulls from the remote
# with no remote repository, `blog sync` just pulls the latest posts from
# all feeds
blog sync
```
On your device(s), run the same `blog clone` to pull down your feeds and posts.
Don't worry about setting git sync up if you are just trying `blogtato` out:
you can run `blog clone user/repo` later and your existing feeds will be merged
with the remote automatically.
### Quick start
Once you set up your `git`-based sync, or if you decided to skip it, subscribe
to your favorite feeds using `blog feed add`:
```bash
blog feed add https://michael.stapelberg.ch
blog feed add https://www.justinmklam.com
```
You can import your subscriptions from other RSS readers
([Feedly](https://docs.feedly.com/article/52-how-can-i-export-my-sources-and-feeds-through-opml),
[Inoreader](https://www.inoreader.com/blog/2014/05/opml-subscriptions.html),
[NetNewsWire](https://netnewswire.com/help/mac/5.0/en/export-opml.html),
[FreshRSS](https://freshrss.github.io/FreshRSS/en/developers/OPML.html),
[Feeder](https://news.nononsenseapps.com/posts/2.5.0_opml/),
[Tiny Tiny RSS](https://tt-rss.org/docs/Installation-Guide.html#opml),
[Outlook](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/share-or-export-rss-feeds-5b514f38-8671-447c-8c25-7f02cc0833e0),
and others) using an OPML file:
```bash
blog feed import feeds.opml
```
Fetch and list latest posts:
```bash
blog sync
blog
```
Read whatever you found interesting by referring to its shorthand
```bash
blog df read
```
You can subscribe to `blogtato` releases to know when new features or fixes are
available:
```bash
blog feed add https://github.com/kantord/blogtato/releases.atom
```
## Usage examples
```bash
# Subscribe to a feed
blog feed add https://news.ycombinator.com/rss
# Fetch new posts and sync with git remote
blog sync
# Show posts (defaults to unread posts from the last 3 months, grouped by week)
blog
# Group by date, week, or feed
blog /d
blog /w
blog /f
# Combine groupings
blog /d /f
# Filter by feed shorthand
blog @hn
# Filter by read status
blog .unread
blog .read
blog .all
# Filter by date
blog 1w..
blog 3m..1m
blog /d 2w..1w
# Combine filters - list unread posts form HackerNews grouped by date
blog @hn .unread /d
# Open a post in the default browser
blog abc open
# Print a post URL (useful with CLI browsers)
blog abc read
w3m $(blog abc read)
# Mark a post as unread
blog abc unread
# Export matching posts as JSONL
blog .all export
blog @myblog export
blog 1w.. export
# List subscriptions
blog feed ls
# Remove a feed
blog feed rm https://news.ycombinator.com/rss
blog feed rm @hn
```
## Design philosophy
I built `blogtato` around the idea of subscription detox and simplicity. I just
wanted to use a simple and RSS reader that is not distracting, but can be
synced between different devices seamlessly without having to set up another
user account and paying another monthly subscription fee.
`blogtato` uses a simple database that stores data in JSONL files and syncs
them using `git`. From a performance standpoint, this is admittedly
sub-optimal, and an quite esoteric design. At the same time, if you are
comfortable with CLI tools you likely have access to a remote `git` host such
as GitHub, GitLab or a Forgejo instance: and that's all `blogtato` needs to be
able to keep data up to date on all of your devices. From a user perspective,
this just works with effectively zero configuration.
`blogtato`'s database uses a conflict-free design: even if you have diverging
changes between different devices, you will never have to manually resolve
conflicts. You can forget about `git` being there.
Network operations are always initiated by the user. There is no need for a
continuously running server. And all operations that don't strictly need
network access work offline.
It is my goal to keep the feature-set and the complexity of this project down,
so that it can be maintained with minimal effort and can be considered to be
"done".
## Naming
The naming is meant to symbolize simplicity and pragmatic silliness: I just
mashed the word "blog" together with the first word I could think of: potato.