README.md

Masto Feed Bot

Masto Feed Bot is a GitHub Action that posts RSS feeds to Mastodon via GitHub Actions workflows.

Usage

1. Go to https://${YOUR_INSTANCE}/settings/applications/new and add a new application.

   • Name it whatever you want.
   • The redirect URI is not important, so you can use urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob.
   • The only permission required is write:statuses.
   • Save it, click on the application link, and grab the access token.

2. Create a new GitHub repository.

3. Go to your repository settings at https://github.com/${YOUR_REPO}/settings/secrets/actions/new, and add a new secret with the value of the access token.

4. Add a file named .github/workflows/mastofeedbot.yml with the following content:

   name: FeedBot
   on:
     schedule:
       # This will run every five minutes. Alter it using https://crontab.guru/.
       - cron: '*/5 * * * *'  
   jobs:
     rss-to-mastodon:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
         - name: Generate cache key
           uses: actions/github-script@v6
           id: generate-key
           with:
             script: |
               core.setOutput('cache-key', new Date().valueOf())
         - name: Retrieve cache
           uses: actions/cache@v3
           with:
             path: ${{ github.workspace }}/mastofeedbot
             key: feed-cache-${{ steps.generate-key.outputs.cache-key }}
             restore-keys: feed-cache-
         - name: GitHub
           uses: 'joschi/mastofeedbot@v1'
           with:
             # This is the RSS feed you want to publish
             rss-feed: https://www.githubstatus.com/history.rss
             # Template of status posted to Mastodon (Handlebars)
             template: |
               {{item.title}}
               
               {{item.link}}
             # Visibility of the posted status (public | unlisted | private | direct)
             status-visibility: public
             # Mark Mastodon status as sensitive content
             sensitive: false
             # This is your instance address
             api-endpoint: https://mastodon.social
             # This is the secret you created earlier
             api-token: ${{ secrets.MASTODON_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
             # This is a path to the cache file, using the above cache path
             cache-file: ${{ github.workspace }}/mastofeedbot/cache.json
             # The maximum number of posts created on the first run
             initial-post-limit: 10

5. Commit and publish your changes.

Status template

The status template (status-template) is using Handlebars as template engine.

The action is passing in an instance of FeedData (field feedData) and the current FeedEntry (field item) into the template:

export interface FeedEntry {
  link?: string;
  title?: string;
  description?: string;
  published?: Date;
}

export interface FeedData {
  link?: string;
  title?: string;
  description?: string;
  generator?: string;
  language?: string;
  published?: Date;
  entries?: Array<FeedEntry>;
}