rss-tui 0.6.5

A TUI RSS/Atom reader with vim-like controls and a local-first, offline-first focus. Fork of ckampfe/russ with additional features.
rss-tui-0.6.5 is not a library.

rss-tui

rss-tui [russ-tooey] is based on russ, which is a TUI RSS/Atom reader with vim-like controls, written in Rust.

This is a new repo from a personal fork of ckampfe/russ, with a few improvements.

crates.io Rust

rss-tui in all its text-based glory

install

From crates.io (recommended):

cargo install rss-tui

Note that on linux, you may need additional system dependencies as well, for example:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev

The binary will be installed as rss-tui. You can run it with:

rss-tui read

Note: At this time, only macOS and Linux are tested. If you are using this on Windows, reach out!

From this repository:

cargo install rss-tui --git https://github.com/shalloran/rss-tui

Note: This is a fork with some additional features. If you want the original, use: cargo install russ --git https://github.com/ckampfe/russ.

Note: If you want to force overwrite an existing installation, use: cargo install --force rss-tui (from crates.io) or cargo install --force --git https://github.com/shalloran/rss-tui rss-tui (from git)

Note that on its first run with no arguments, rss-tui read creates a SQLite database file called feeds.db to store RSS/Atom feeds in a location of its choosing. If you wish to override this, you can pass a path with the -d option, like rss-tui -d /your/database/location/my_feeds.db. If you use a custom database location, you will need to pass the -d option every time you invoke rss-tui. See the help with rss-tui -h for more information about where rss-tui will store the feeds.db database by default on your platform.

use

rss-tui is modal, like vim. If you read the following controls section and tinker a bit, you'll have no trouble using rss-tui.

There are two modes: normal mode and insert mode.

controls - normal mode

Some normal mode controls vary based on whether you are currently selecting a feed or an entry:

  • q/Esc - quit rss-tui
  • hjkl/arrows - move up/down/left/right between feeds and entries, scroll up/down on an entry
  • Enter - read selected entry
  • r - refresh the selected feed (when feeds selected) or mark entry as read/unread (when entries selected)
  • x - refresh all feeds
  • i/e - change to insert mode (when feeds selected)
  • e - email the current article (when viewing an entry; opens your default email client with the article title as subject and URL as body)
  • a - toggle between read/unread entries
  • c - copy the selected link to the clipboard (feed or entry)
  • o - open the selected link in your browser (feed or entry)
  • d - delete the selected feed (with confirmation; press d again to confirm, n to cancel)
  • E - export all feeds to an OPML file (saves to a timestamped file in your database directory)
  • ctrl-u/ctrl-d - scroll up/down a page at a time

controls - insert mode

  • Esc - go back to normal mode
  • Enter - subscribe to the feed you just typed in the input box
  • Del - delete the selected feed

help/options/config

rss-tui -h
A TUI RSS reader with vim-like controls and a local-first, offline-first focus

Usage: rss-tui <COMMAND>

Commands:
  read    Read your feeds
  import  Import feeds from an OPML document
  export  Export feeds to an OPML document
  help    Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version

read mode

rss-tui read -h
Read your feeds

Usage: rss-tui read [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -d, --database-path <DATABASE_PATH>
          Override where `rss-tui` stores and reads feeds. By default, the feeds database on Linux this will be at `XDG_DATA_HOME/rss-tui/feeds.db` or `$HOME/.local/share/rss-tui/feeds.db`. On MacOS it will be at `$HOME/Library/Application Support/rss-tui/feeds.db`. On Windows it will be at `{FOLDERID_LocalAppData}/rss-tui/data/feeds.db`
  -t, --tick-rate <TICK_RATE>
          time in ms between two ticks [default: 250]
  -f, --flash-display-duration-seconds <FLASH_DISPLAY_DURATION_SECONDS>
          number of seconds to show the flash message before clearing it [default: 4]
  -n, --network-timeout <NETWORK_TIMEOUT>
          RSS/Atom network request timeout in seconds [default: 5]
  -h, --help
          Print help

import OPML mode

rss-tui import -h
Import feeds from an OPML document

Usage: rss-tui import [OPTIONS] --opml-path <OPML_PATH>

Options:
  -d, --database-path <DATABASE_PATH>
          Override where `rss-tui` stores and reads feeds. By default, the feeds database on Linux this will be at `XDG_DATA_HOME/rss-tui/feeds.db` or `$HOME/.local/share/rss-tui/feeds.db`. On MacOS it will be at `$HOME/Library/Application Support/rss-tui/feeds.db`. On Windows it will be at `{FOLDERID_LocalAppData}/rss-tui/data/feeds.db`
  -o, --opml-path <OPML_PATH>

  -n, --network-timeout <NETWORK_TIMEOUT>
          RSS/Atom network request timeout in seconds [default: 5]
  -h, --help
          Print help

export OPML mode

rss-tui export -h
Export feeds to an OPML document

Usage: rss-tui export [OPTIONS] --opml-path <OPML_PATH>

Options:
  -d, --database-path <DATABASE_PATH>
          Override where `rss-tui` stores and reads feeds. By default, the feeds database on Linux this will be at `XDG_DATA_HOME/rss-tui/feeds.db` or `$HOME/.local/share/rss-tui/feeds.db`. On MacOS it will be at `$HOME/Library/Application Support/rss-tui/feeds.db`. On Windows it will be at `{FOLDERID_LocalAppData}/rss-tui/data/feeds.db`
  -o, --opml-path <OPML_PATH>
          Path where the OPML file will be written
  -h, --help
          Print help

You can also export from within the TUI by pressing E (capital E) in normal mode. This will create a timestamped OPML file in the same directory as your database.

design

rss-tui is a tui app that uses crossterm. rss-tui stores all application data in a SQLite database.

features/todo

This is not a roadmap, just a list of potential features.

my feature list

  • visual indicator for which feeds have new/unacknowledged entries (partially complete)
  • bug: text wrapping has been sorted
  • create a secure github -> crates.io publishing workflow
  • sync / online mode?
  • integration with ollama or LMStudio for local summarization

Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV) policy

rss-tui targets the latest stable version of the Rust compiler. Older Rust version may work, but we are not supporting them.

SQLite version

rss-tui compiles and bundles its own embedded SQLite via the Rusqlite project, which is version 3.45.1.

If you prefer to use the version of SQLite on your system, edit Cargo.toml to remove the "bundled" feature from the rusqlite dependency and recompile rss-tui.

contributing

The original project welcomes contributions. If you have an idea for something you would like to contribute to the original, open an issue on ckampfe/russ and they can address it!

For this fork, I'm happy to consider pull requests, but keep in mind this is primarily for my own use. If you want a feature that's more broadly useful, consider contributing to the upstream project instead.

license

See the license. SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later