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* README
=mastodon.el= is an Emacs client for the AcitivityPub social networks that
implement the Mastodon API. For info see https://joinmastodon.org/.
** Installation
Clone this repository and add the lisp directory to your load path.
Then, require it and go.
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/mastodon.el/lisp")
(require 'mastodon)
#+END_SRC
Or, with =use-package=:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(use-package mastodon
:ensure t)
#+END_SRC
The minimum Emacs version is now 27.1. But if you are running an older version
it shouldn't be very hard to get it working.
*** MELPA
Add =MELPA= to your archives:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/") t)
#+END_SRC
Update and install:
=M-x package-refresh-contents RET=
=M-x package-install RET mastodon RET=
*** Emoji
=mastodon-mode= will enable [[https://github.com/iqbalansari/emacs-emojify][Emojify]] if it is loaded in your Emacs environment, so
there's no need to write your own hook anymore. =emojify-mode= is not required.
*** Discover
=mastodon-mode= can provide a context menu for its keybindings if [[https://github.com/mickeynp/discover.el][Discover]] is
installed. It is not required.
if you have Discover, add the following to your Emacs init configuration:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(require 'mastodon-discover)
(with-eval-after-load 'mastodon (mastodon-discover))
#+END_SRC
Or, with =use-package=:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(use-package mastodon
:ensure t
:config
(mastodon-discover))
#+END_SRC
** Usage
*** Logging in to your instance
You need to set 2 variables in your init file to get started:
1. =mastodon-instance-url=
2. =mastodon-active-user=
(see their doc strings for details). For example If you want to post
toots as "example_user@social.instance.org", then put this in your init
file:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(setq mastodon-instance-url "https://social.instance.org"
mastodon-active-user "example_user")
#+END_SRC
Then *restart* Emacs and run =M-x mastodon=. Make sure you are connected
to internet before you do this. If you have multiple mastodon accounts
you can activate one at a time by changing those two variables and
restarting Emacs.
If you were using mastodon.el before 2FA was implemented and the above steps
do not work, delete the old file specified by =mastodon-client--token-file= and
restart Emacs and follow the steps again.
*** Timelines
=M-x mastodon=
Opens a =*mastodon-home*= buffer in the major mode and displays toots. If your
credentials are not yet saved, you will be prompted for email and password.
The app registration process will take place if your =mastodon-token-file= does
not contain =:client_id= and =:client_secret=.
**** Keybindings
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Key | Action |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Help* |
| =?= | Open context menu if =discover= is available |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Timeline actions* |
| =n= | Go to next item (toot, notification) |
| =p= | Go to previous item (toot, notification) |
| =M-n=/== | Go to the next interesting thing that has an action |
| =M-p=/== | Go to the previous interesting thing that has an action |
| =F= | Open federated timeline |
| =H= | Open home timeline |
| =L= | Open local timeline |
| =N= | Open notifications timeline |
| =@= | Open mentions-only notifications timeline |
| =u= | Update current timeline |
| =T= | Open thread for toot under =point= |
| =#= | Prompt for tag and open its timeline |
| =A= | Open author profile of toot under =point= |
| =P= | Open profile of user attached to toot under =point= |
| =O= | View own profile |
| =U= | update your profile bio note |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Other views* |
| =S= | search (posts, users, tags) (NB: only posts you have interacted with) |
| =I=, =c=, =d= | view, create, and delete filters |
| =R=, =a=, =j= | view/accept/reject follow requests |
| =G= | view follow suggestions |
| =V= | view your favourited toots |
| =K= | view bookmarked toots |
| =X= | view/edit/create/delete lists |
| =s= | view your scheduled toots |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Toot actions* |
| =t= | Compose a new toot |
| =c= | Toggle content warning content |
| =b= | Boost toot under =point= |
| =f= | Favourite toot under =point= |
| =k= | toggle bookmark of toot at point |
| =r= | Reply to toot under =point= |
| =v= | Vote on poll at point |
| =C= | copy url of toot at point |
| =C-RET= | play video/gif at point (requires =mpv=) |
| =e= | edit your toot at point |
| =E= | view edits of toot at point |
| =i= | (un)pin your toot at point |
| =d= | delete your toot at point, and reload current timeline |
| =D= | delete and redraft toot at point, preserving reply/CW/visibility |
| (=S-C-=) =W=, =M=, =B= | (un)follow, (un)mute, (un)block author of toot at point |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Profile view* |
| =C-c C-c= | cycle between statuses, followers, following, and statuses without boosts |
| | =mastodon-profile--account-account-to-list= (see lists view) |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Notifications view* |
| =a=, =j= | accept/reject follow request |
| =c= | clear notification at point |
| | see =mastodon-notifications--get-*= functions for filtered views |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | *Quitting* |
| =q= | Quit mastodon buffer, leave window open |
| =Q= | Quit mastodon buffer and kill window |
|----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
**** Toot byline legend
|---------------+------------------------|
| Marker | Meaning |
|---------------+------------------------|
| =(B)= | I boosted this toot |
| =(F)= | I favourited this toot |
| =(🔖)= (or (=K=)) | I bookmarked this toot |
|---------------+------------------------|
*** Composing toots
=M-x mastodon-toot= (or =t= from a mastodon.el buffer).
Pops a new buffer/window in =mastodon-toot= minor mode. Enter the
contents of your toot here. =C-c C-c= sends the toot. =C-c C-k= cancels.
Both actions kill the buffer and window.
Autocompletion of mentions and tags is provided by =completion-at-point-functions= (capf) backends. =mastodon-toot--enable-completion= is enabled by default. If you want to enable =company-mode= in the toot compose buffer, set =mastodon-toot--use-company-for-completion= to =t=. (=mastodon.el= used to run its own native company backends, but these have been removed in favour of capfs.)
Replies preserve visibility status/content warnings, and include boosters by default.
Server's max toot length, and attachment previews, are shown.
You can download and use your instance's custom emoji
(=mastodon-toot--download-custom-emoji=, =mastodon-toot--enable-custom-emoji=).
**** Keybindings
|---------+----------------------------------|
| Key | Action |
|---------+----------------------------------|
| =C-c C-c= | Send toot |
| =C-c C-k= | Cancel toot |
| =C-c C-w= | Add content warning |
| =C-c C-v= | Change toot visibility |
| =C-c C-n= | Add sensitive media/nsfw flag |
| =C-c C-a= | Upload attachment(s) |
| =C-c != | Remove all attachments |
| =C-c C-e= | Add emoji (if =emojify= installed) |
| =C-c C-p= | Create a poll |
| =C-c C-l= | Set toot language |
|---------+----------------------------------|
**** Draft toots
- Compose buffer text is saved as you type, kept in =mastodon-toot-current-toot-text=.
- =mastodon-toot--save-draft=: save the current toot as a draft.
- =mastodon-toot--open-draft-toot=: Open a compose buffer and insert one of your draft toots.
- =mastodon-toot--delete-draft-toot=: Delete a draft toot.
- =mastodon-toot--delete-all-drafts=: Delete all your drafts.
*** Other commands and account settings:
In addition to =mastodon=, the following three functions are autoloaded and should
work without first loading =mastodon.el=:
- =mastodon-toot=: Compose new toot
- =mastodon-notifications-get=: View all notifications
- =mastodon-url-lookup=: Attempt to load a URL in =mastodon.el=. URL may be at
point or provided in the minibuffer.
- =mastodon-tl--view-instance-description=: View information about the instance
that the author of the toot at point is on.
- =mastodon-tl--view-own-instance=: View information about your own instance.
- =mastodon-search--trending-tags=: View a list of trending hashtags on your
instance.
- =mastodon-tl--follow-tag=: Follow a tag (works like following a user)
- =mastodon-tl--unfollow-tag=: Unfollow a tag
- =mastodon-tl--list-followed-tags=: View a list of tags you're following.
- =mastodon-profile--update-display-name=: Update the display name for your
account.
- =mastodon-profile--update-user-profile-note=: Update your bio note.
- =mastodon-profile--update-meta-fields=: Update your metadata fields.
- =mastodon-profile--set-default-toot-visibility=: Set the default visibility
for your toots.
- =mastodon-profile--account-locked-toggle=: Toggle the locked status of your
account. Locked accounts have to manually approve follow requests.
- =mastodon-profile--account-discoverable-toggle=: Toggle the discoverable
status of your account. Non-discoverable accounts are not listed in the
profile directory.
- =mastodon-profile--account-bot-toggle=: Toggle whether your account is flagged
as a bot.
- =mastodon-profile--account-sensitive-toggle=: Toggle whether your posts are
marked as sensitive (nsfw) by default.
*** Customization
See =M-x customize-group RET mastodon= to view all customize options.
- Timeline options:
- Use proportional fonts
- Default number of posts displayed
- Timestamp format
- Relative timestamps
- Display user avatars
- Avatar image height
- Enable image caching
- Compose options:
- Completion style for mentions and tags
- Enable custom emoji
- Display toot being replied to
- Set default reply visibility
*** Alternative timeline layout
The incomparable Nicholas Rougier has written an alternative timeline layout for =mastodon.el=.
The repo is at https://github.com/rougier/mastodon-alt.
*** Live-updating timelines: =mastodon-async-mode=
(code taken from https://github.com/alexjgriffith/mastodon-future.el.)
Works for federated, local, and home timelines and for notifications. It's a
little touchy, one thing to avoid is trying to load a timeline more than once
at a time. It can go off the rails a bit, but it's still pretty cool. The
current maintainer of =mastodon.el= is unable to debug or improve this feature.
To enable, it, add =(require 'mastodon-async)= to your =init.el=. Then you can
view a timeline with one of the commands that begin with
=mastodon-async--stream-=.
*** Translating toots
You can translate toots with =mastodon-toot--translate-toot-text= (=a= in a timeline). At the moment
this requires [[https://codeberg.org/martianh/lingva.el][lingva.el]], a little interface I wrote to https://lingva.ml, to
be installed to work.
You could easily modify the simple function to use your Emacs translator of
choice (=libretrans.el= , =google-translate=, =babel=, =go-translate=, etc.), you just
need to fetch the toot's content with =(mastodon-tl--content toot)= and pass it
to your translator function as its text argument. Here's what
=mastodon-toot--translate-toot-text= looks like:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defun mastodon-toot--translate-toot-text ()
"Translate text of toot at point.
Uses `lingva.el'."
(interactive)
(let* ((toot (mastodon-tl--property 'toot-json)))
(if toot
(lingva-translate nil (mastodon-tl--content toot))
(message "No toot to translate?"))))
#+end_src
** Dependencies
Hard dependencies (should all install with =mastodon.el=):
- =request= (for uploading attachments), https://github.com/tkf/emacs-request
- =persist= for storing some settings across sessions
- =ts= for poll relative expiry times
Optional dependencies:
- =emojify= for inserting and viewing emojis
- =mpv= and =mpv.el= for viewing videos and gifs
- =lingva.el= for translating toots
** Network compatibility
=mastodon.el= should work with ActivityPub servers that implement the Mastodon API.
Apart from Mastodon itself, it is currently known to work with Pleroma and
Gotosocial. If you attempt to use =mastodon.el= with another server that
implements the Mastodon API and run into problems, feel free to open an issue.
** Contributing
PRs, issues, feature requests, and general feedback are very welcome!
*** Bug reports
1. =mastodon.el= has bugs, as well as lots of room for improvement.
2. I receive very little feedback, so if I don't run into the bug it often doesn't get fixed.
3. If you run into something that seems broken, first try running =mastodon.el=
in emacs with no init file (i.e. =emacs -q= (instructions and code for doing
this are [[https://codeberg.org/martianh/mastodon.el/issues/300][here]]) to see if it also happens independently of your own config
(it probably does).
4. Enable debug on error (=toggle-debug-on-error=), make the bug happen again,
and copy the backtrace that appears.
5. Open an issue here and explain what is going on. Provide your emacs version and what kind of server your account is on.
*** Fixes and features
1. Create an [[https://codeberg.org/martianh/mastodon.el/issues][issue]] detailing what you'd like to do.
2. Fork the repository and create a branch off of =develop=.
3. Run the tests and ensure that your code doesn't break any of them.
4. Create a pull request referencing the issue created in step 1.
*** Coding style
- This library uses an unconvential double dash (=--=) between file namespaces and function names, which contradicts normal Elisp style. This needs to be respected until the whole library is changed.
- Use =aggressive-indent-mode= or similar to keep your code indented.
- Single spaces end sentences in docstrings.
- There's no need for a blank line after the first docstring line (one is added automatically when documentation is displayed).
** Supporting =mastodon.el=
If you'd like to support continued development of =mastodon.el=, I accept
donations via paypal: [[https://paypal.me/martianh][paypal.me/martianh]]. If you would
prefer a different payment method, write to me at that address and I can
provide IBAN or other details.
I don't have a tech worker's income, so even a small tip would help out.
** Contributors
=mastodon.el= is the work of a number of people.
Some significant contributors are:
- https://github.com/jdenen [original author]
- http://atomized.org
- https://alexjgriffith.itch.io
- https://github.com/hdurer
- https://codeberg.org/Red_Starfish