Mastodon Secure Feed

Mastodon Secure Feed is a Python-based application that securely fetches the latest posts from a Mastodon account and serves them via an API. This application uses environment variables to securely store Mastodon credentials and cache data to minimize API calls.

Features

• Securely fetch and serve Mastodon posts
• Caching mechanism to reduce API calls
• Easily deployable with Gunicorn and Nginx
• Configurable via environment variables

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x
• Pip
• Virtualenv (optional but recommended)
• Gunicorn
• Nginx
• Certbot (for SSL certificates)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://git.vdm.dev/Llewellyn/mastodon-secure-feed.git
   cd mastodon-secure-feed
   

2. Create and activate a virtual environment (optional but recommended):

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate
   

3. Install the dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

4. Set up environment variables:

   Create a .env file in the project root with the following content:

   MASTODON_INSTANCE=https://joomla.social
   ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token_here
   

Running the Application

1. Run the Flask application locally:

   export FLASK_APP=src/app.py
   export FLASK_ENV=development
   flask run
   

Deploying with Gunicorn and Nginx

Step 4: Set Up Gunicorn

If the Flask app works as expected, you can now configure Gunicorn to serve your app. Create a simple Gunicorn config file or just run Gunicorn with the necessary parameters:

gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 src.app:app

Step 5: Create a Systemd Service File for Gunicorn

To keep Gunicorn running, create a systemd service file:

sudo systemctl edit --force --full mastodon_secure_feed.service

Paste in the following:

[Unit]
Description=Gunicorn instance to serve mastodon-secure-feed
After=network.target

[Service]
User=ubuntu
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/mastodon-secure-feed
Environment="PATH=/home/ubuntu/mastodon-secure-feed/venv/bin"
ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/mastodon-secure-feed/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:/home/ubuntu/mastodon-secure-feed/mastodon_secure_feed.sock -m 007 src.app:app

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start and enable the Gunicorn service:

sudo systemctl start mastodon_secure_feed
sudo systemctl enable mastodon_secure_feed

Step 6: Configure Nginx

Add a new server block to your Nginx configuration or edit an existing one:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Add this server block:

# HTTPS server block for yourdomain.com
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/ubuntu/mastodon-secure-feed/mastodon_secure_feed.sock;
    }

    # SSL configuration
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem;
}

# Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    }
}

Test the configuration and restart Nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Usage

1. Fetching Latest Posts:

   Make a GET request to the /statuses endpoint to fetch the latest cached posts:

   curl http://yourdomain.com/statuses?limit=4
   

   You can also specify the number of posts to fetch using the limit parameter (up to a maximum of 10):

   curl http://yourdomain.com/statuses?limit=4
   

2. Updating Cache via Webhook:

   Trigger a cache update by making a GET request to the /webhook endpoint:

   curl http://yourdomain.com/webhook
   

   You can also specify the number of posts to fetch using the limit parameter (up to a maximum of 10):

   curl http://yourdomain.com/webhook?limit=4
   

Using the JavaScript Widget to Display the API Result

To display the Mastodon feed on your website, you can use the mastodon-feed-display JavaScript widget. This widget fetches the latest posts from the mastodon-secure-feed API and displays them.

For more information and setup instructions, visit the mastodon-feed-display repository.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a new branch (git checkout -b feature-branch)
3. Make your changes
4. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add new feature')
5. Push to the branch (git push origin feature-branch)
6. Create a new Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.