Patchfoo & SSB

Patchfoo is a simple web client for Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB), written by cel. It uses HTML forms instead of client-side Javascript, making for a fast and low-power SSB experience. People who might enjoy this include folks on older computers, computers with small batteries, or people who just want a simple client that isn't very hard to hack on.

Install ssb-server

Scuttlebot (the ssb-server command) is the secure scuttlebut server program. This is what finds, syncs, and manages the feeds of other SSB users, and lets you write messages to the network.

Patchfoo depends on the ssb-server command being available. You can install this on your machine via npm

$ npm install --global scuttlebot

or by following the scuttlebot installation instructions.

Run ssb-server start to start your SSB peer.

Join the network

To join the SSB network, you will need a "pub server" invite code. Pub servers don't store your data, nor do they have any authority or lock-in capabilities.

You can remove pubs, add new pubs, or just sync with other peer directly, at any time.

Pub servers are like a "dumb pipe" that lets you find other peers in the network, making them ideal for new users who don't know any peers yet.

You can find an invite code from a pub here, or ask in #scuttlebutt on Freenode IRC.

Install ssb-npm

Many of patchfoo's javascript dependencies live on scuttlebutt itself, on a special ssb-based registry called ssb-npm.

You can follow the guide ssb-npm 101 to get the registry set up and running locally, as well installing the ssb-npm command.

Install patchfoo

As per the patchfoo README:

Standalone

git clone https://github.com/ssbc/patchfoo
cd patchfoo
ssb-npm install
npm start

As an ssb-server plugin

You'll need ssb-server start running in the background.

cd ~/.ssb/node_modules
git clone https://github.com/ssbc/patchfoo
cd patchfoo
ssb-npm install
ssb-server plugins.enable patchfoo
# restart ssb-server

Install extras

To most effectively render things, patchfoo needs the ssb-backlinks scuttlebot plugin:

ssb-server plugins.install ssb-backlinks --yes
ssb-server plugins.enable ssb-backlinks
# restart ssb-server

Open patchfoo

Direct your favourite web browser to http://localhost:8027.

Click on the 'public' tab. You should start to see messages as the sync process with the pub server works.

License

CC0