Fcli

Fcli is an experimental command line Mastodon client. The goals of the project are:

• To experiment with 'algorithms' to manage post volumes. Currently the number of posts reviewed per session is limited to 50, and feedback (interesting / not interesting) is recorded for all posts which are reviewed. This is used to prioritise posts from accounts known to post a high percentage of high quality posts.

• To provide a 'workflow' based interface, i,e. posts are reviewed in order and next actions must be decided before moving on to the next post.

• To integrate into broader personal information management processes, in particular project and goal tracking, reading list management and next action tracking.

The software is currently at a very stage of development, but I am using it on a daily basis. Please let me know if you're interested in the project. See this post for more info on why I started the project and where I see it going.

Installation

Fcli is a python project, so you'll need a working python environment. Requirements are listed in requirements.txt in the usual way.

This guide is for installation on Linux (which I use) - you'll need to vary things (and probably also edit the code) to make it work on other platforms.

You'll need to register a Mastodon app at your instance. You can do this using curl with somethign like the following:

curl --form 'client_name=fcli' --form 'redirect_uris=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob' --form 'scopes=read write' https://<instance hostname>/api/v1/apps

The app also depends on Everdo (which I personally use for my own information management workflows). You'll need to configure it to expose a local API.

Configuration is via an INI file in {$HOME}/.config/fcli/config.ini:

[Mastodon]
Server = <instance hostname>
Username = <username>
ClientID = <client ID from app registration>
ClientSecret = <client secret from app registration>

[Everdo]
Key = <API key>

Finally, you'll need to create some directories to store state:

{$HOME}/.fcli/cache
{$HOME}/.fcli/outbox
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/actionable
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/actioned
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/boostable
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/boosted
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/interesting
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/not_interesting
{$HOME}/.fcli/processed/skipped
{$HOME}/.fcli/sent
{$HOME}/.fcli/staging

There are probably other things you need to do - my isntallation has evolved with the codebase, so let me know if you run into any problems.

Usage

Kick off the workflow using the default entry point:

python -m fcli-client

You'll be asked to authenticate via an OAuth 2.0 code. This step will also post the content of any files in {$HOME}/.fcli/outbox.

There are a few command line options you'll find if you look at the code but they're obsolete.