Config File Explained

The initial config file generated on the first run of Feed2Fedi is bare-bones and needs to be edited to make Feed2Fedi work for you. Below is a copy of the bare-bones config file.

   {
     "bot_post_visibility": "unlisted",
     "bot_post_media": true,
     "bot_post_image_selector": "img[src]",
     "bot_post_template": "{title}\n\n{link}",
     "bot_schedule_duration_delay": "PT5H10M",
     "icecream_enable": false,

     "cache_max_age": 30,
     "cache_db_path": "./cache.sqlite",

     "fedi_instance": "botsin.space",
     "fedi_access_token": "<redacted>",

     "feeds": [
       {
         "url": "http://feedparser.org/docs/examples/rss20.xml"
         "prefix": "Example",
         "max_attachments": 1
         "post_template": "{published} {title}\\n\\n{link}",
         "schedule_duration_delay": "PT5H10M",
         "filters":[
          {"check":"", "check_params", "action":"", "action_params":""}
         ],
         "max_age": "PT24h",
         "max_posts": 5,
         "tag_mappings": {
           "website_url": "websiteUrl",
           "categories": "tags"
         }
       }
     ]
   }

Variables starting with bot_

The variables starting with bot_ specify how Feed2Fedi makes posts on your Fediverse server:

  • bot_post_visibility = This specifies what kind of visibility Feed2Fedi uses for posts it makes. This can be set to public, unlisted, or private. A post visibility of direct is technically also available but does not make sense in the context of Feed2Fedi. By default Feed2Fedi will post statuses with a visibility of public

  • bot_post_media = This is a boolean and can be set to either True or False. This setting defaults to False

    • True - if set to True Feed2Fedi will attempt to upload any media linked in feed items to your fediverse account and add them to posts.
    • False - if set to False Feed2Fedi will just post the title and link of the feed item.

  • bot_post_image_selector = This is css-like selector that determine what images will be attached to post.

  • bot_post_template = This string defines template for posts. Available variables are: {title}, {content_html}, {content_markdown}, {content_plaintext}, {link}, {author}, {published}, {updated}. \n also available for a new line. {content_html} and {content_markdown} can work incorrectly with your instance This setting defaults to: {title}\n\n{link}

    Conditional Template Syntax: You can conditionally include text based on whether a variable has a value using {[prefix]variable[suffix]} syntax: - {[Title: ]title} → Shows "Title: ActualTitle" if title exists, otherwise shows nothing - {[ / by]author} → Shows " / by Author" if author exists - {author[ / by]} → Shows "Author / by" if author exists - {[ by ]author[.]} → Shows " by Author." if author exists

    The prefix and suffix are only shown when the variable has a non-empty value. This is useful for templates like DESCRIPTION [PUBLISHER{[ / by]author}] which shows "DESCRIPTION [PUBLISHER / by Author]" when author exists, or just "DESCRIPTION [PUBLISHER]" when author is empty.

    Additionally, custom tags from feeds can be made available in templates using the tag_mappings setting in feed configuration. - bot_schedule_duration_delay = This specifies if statuses should be scheduled for future posting. It needs to be set to an ISO 8601 time duration which is added to the current date and time when submitting the status to your fediverse server. If this field is missing (or set to "") statuses will be posted immediately. - icecream_enable = This is a development debug switch. It is optional and if not present defaults to False. If this is set to True Feed2Fedi will print out a lot of debugging information.

Variables starting with cache_

The variables starting with cache_ define some parameters used to attempt to avoid making duplicate posts.

  • cache_max_age = This value defines how long URLs of feed items posted to your Fediverse account will be cached. Duplicate checks are performed against the cached URLs. This value defaults to 30 days.
  • cache_db_path = This value defines the URL cache db file. The URL cache is stored in SQLite database at the location specified in this setting. This setting defaults to storing the URL cache in a SQLite database file stored in the current directory in a file called cache.sqlite

Variables starting with fedi_

The variables starting with fedi_ specifies the Fediverse account to post statuses to. The easiest way to complete this section is by running Feed2Fedi without these values and Feed2Fedi will ask you for them and update the config file as needed.

See Setting-up-Feed2Fedi for more details.

feeds section / Specifying RSS / Atom feeds / filters

You can filter out words to prevent their appearance in the Fediverse posts. The filter list consists of dictionaries (it can be zero). The structure is the same as in Feeds. Every dictionary contains mandatory keys check and action and optional keys check_params and action_params The check key defines what kind of checking is applied to every post. It can be:

  • any = is true for every post.
  • none = is false for every post
  • regex = is true if "content_html" matches the regular expression(s) defined in check_params
  • action = defines what action will be applied to the post(s) if "check" is true for them
  • none = do nothing
  • drop = the post won't be published
  • mark_cw = apply a content warning to the post. the cw text is the string in "action_params"
  • search_replace = "action_params" should be a dictionary with keys "search" and "replace". It will find the text that matches the regular expression defined in "search" and replace it with the text from "replace". It is possible to use "\number" for linking to an element of the line (see https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#index-26)

The fields described below are optional and override any values set on a bot level

  • schedule_duration_delay = This specifies if statuses should be scheduled for future posting. It needs to be set to an ISO 8601 time duration which is added to the current date and time when submitting the status to your fediverse server. If this field is missing (or set to "") the value of bot_schedule_duration_delay comes into effect.
  • post_template = This string defines template for posts. If this field is missing or set to "" the value of bot_post_template comes into effect. Available variables are: {title}, {content_html}, {content_markdown}, {content_plaintext}, {link}, {author}, {published}, {updated}. \n also available for a new line. {content_html} and {content_markdown} can work incorrectly with your instance
  • max_age = This specifies the maximum age of a feed item for it to be posted. This setting is optional. If it is set to a TimeDelta this will make Feed2Fedi check the pubDate of items and only consider posting items that are less than the TimeDelta old. If present this setting must be a TimeDelta and specified in ISO8601 format.
  • max_posts = This specifies how many feed items to post as statuses. This setting is optional. If it is specified (as an integer) it will cause Feed2Fedi to stop processing items from the particular feed after having posted max_posts number of items successfully.

  • tag_mappings = This optional setting allows you to extract custom or non-standard tags from RSS/Atom feeds and make them available in post templates. It is a dictionary that maps template variable names to feed tag names. For example, to use a custom websiteUrl tag from a feed as {website_url} in your template: json "tag_mappings": { "website_url": "websiteUrl" }

    Feed2Fedi handles different types of tag values: - Single values are converted to strings - Arrays of strings are joined with commas (e.g., multiple <category> tags become "CAT 1, CAT 2") - Arrays of dictionaries (like standard <category> tags in RSS) have their term values extracted and joined

    Note: Feed tag names are case-insensitive in the mapping (feedparser lowercases all tag names).

    For detailed information and examples, see Using Custom Tags.

Examples:

   {"check": "any", "action": "search_replace", "action_params": {"search": "apple", "replace": "orange"}}

string "apple" will be replaced with "orange" in all posts

   {"check": "any", "action": "search_replace", "action_params": {"search": "(@[a-z_-]+) ", "replace": "\1@twitter.com"}}

"@some_name" will be replaced with "some_name@twitter.com" in all posts.

   {"check": "regex", "check_params": ".puppy[- ]?kick.", "action": "mark_cw", "action_params": "Worst crime ever!"}

The content warning "Worst crime ever" will be added to all posts matching the puppy[- ]?kick. regular expression

   {"check": "regex", "check_params": ".puppy[- ]?kick.", "action": "drop"}

Posts matching the regular expression .puppy[- ]?kick. won't be published.

To make Feed2Fedi post items from RSS / Atom feed(s) need to change the feeds section in the config file.

Each individual feed is comprised of a url and optionally a prefix, max_attachments, tag_mappings, and other settings. The url is the link to the actually RSS / Atom feed. If provided, the prefix variable is a string that will be prefixed with each item posted from the feed. This variable defaults to an empty string if not provided. If provided, the max_attachments variable defines the maximum number of images / videos that will be uploaded with each feed item. This can be any positive integer number, including 0, or the string max. The value max will result in Feed2Fedi uploading up to the maximum number of images supported by your fediverse instance. This variable defaults to max If provided, the tag_mappings variable allows you to extract custom tags from the feed and make them available in post templates. See the description above for details on how to use this feature.