Tusk

A lightweight CLI client for Mastodon, written in Go.

Features

• Simple Authentication: OAuth flow with automatic browser launch and localhost callback
• Post Status: Post text directly, use your $EDITOR, or pipe from stdin
• Reply to Posts: Reply to specific posts or your last posted status
• Delete Posts: Delete posts with confirmation (or --force to skip)
• Content Warnings: Add spoiler text to your posts
• Visibility Control: Choose post visibility (public, unlisted, private, direct)
• Dry Run: Preview what would be posted without actually posting
• Secure Storage: SQLite-based storage in platform-appropriate directories

Installation

Build from source

make build

Install

make install

This will build a release binary and install it to ~/.local/bin/tusk.

Usage

Authentication

Authenticate with your Mastodon instance:

tusk auth

You'll be prompted for your instance domain (e.g., mastodon.social), and your browser will open for authorization.

Posting

Post a simple status (the post command is the default, so you can omit it):

tusk "Hello, Mastodon!"
# or
tusk post "Hello, Mastodon!"

Compose in your editor:

tusk -e

Pipe from stdin:

echo "Hello from the command line" | tusk
cat status.txt | tusk

Replies

Reply to a specific status:

tusk -r STATUS_ID "This is a reply"

Reply to your last posted status:

tusk -R "Adding to my previous thought..."

Interactive TUI to select which post to reply to:

tusk --reply-tui "This is my reply"

In reply-tui mode:

• Use arrow keys or j/k to navigate
• Press enter or space to select the post to reply to
• Press s to sync latest posts from Mastodon
• Press q to quit without selecting

Image Uploads

Attach an image to your post:

tusk -i /path/to/image.jpg --alt "Description of image" "Check out this photo!"

Features:

• HEIC Support: HEIC/HEIF images are automatically converted to JPG
• EXIF Stripping: All EXIF metadata is automatically removed for privacy
• Alt Text: You'll be prompted with a warning if you forget alt text (recommended for accessibility)
• Supported formats: JPG, PNG, HEIC/HEIF

Post without alt text (not recommended):

tusk -i photo.jpg "My photo"
# You'll get a warning and can choose to proceed or cancel

Visibility, Content Warnings, and Language

Post with custom visibility:

tusk -v unlisted "This won't show in public timeline"
tusk -v private "Only followers can see this"

Add a content warning:

tusk -w "politics" "Here's my take on..."

Specify the language of your post (using ISO 639 language codes):

tusk -l es "¡Hola mundo!"
tusk -l ja "こんにちは"
tusk -l fr "Bonjour le monde!"

Combine options:

tusk -v unlisted -w "food" "I made the best sandwich today!"
tusk -l de -v unlisted "Ein Post auf Deutsch"

Editing

Edit a specific status by ID:

tusk edit STATUS_ID "Updated text"

Edit your most recent post:

tusk edit --latest "Updated text"

Interactive TUI selection mode:

tusk edit --tui "Updated text"

Edit with $EDITOR:

tusk edit STATUS_ID -e
tusk edit --latest -e

Pipe content to edit:

echo "Updated content" | tusk edit STATUS_ID

Edit with all posting flags:

tusk edit STATUS_ID -v unlisted -w "updated cw" --lang es "Texto actualizado"
tusk edit --latest -i new_image.jpg --alt "New image description" "Updated with new image"

In edit TUI mode:

• Use arrow keys or j/k to navigate
• Press enter or space to select the post to edit
• Press s to sync latest posts from Mastodon
• Press q to quit

Deleting

Delete a specific status by ID (with confirmation):

tusk delete STATUS_ID

Delete your most recent post:

tusk delete --latest

Force delete without confirmation:

tusk delete STATUS_ID -f
tusk delete --latest -f

Interactive TUI selection mode:

tusk delete --tui

In delete TUI mode:

• Use arrow keys or j/k to navigate
• Press space to toggle selection
• Press s to sync latest posts from Mastodon
• Press d to delete selected posts (with confirmation)
• Press q to quit

Post History

Tusk maintains a stack of your posted statuses. When you delete a post, it's removed from the stack, and -R and delete --latest will then operate on the next most recent post.

View your latest post:

tusk latest

This shows the post that -R (reply to last) and delete --latest would operate on.

Sync your recent posts from Mastodon to local history:

tusk sync

Sync a specific number of posts (default is 50, max 100):

tusk sync -n 100

Clear the post history stack:

tusk clear

Skip confirmation:

tusk clear -f

Dry Run

Preview what would be posted:

tusk --dry-run "Test post"
tusk -R --dry-run -v unlisted "Reply test"

Logout

Revoke your access token and clear local data:

tusk logout

Data Storage

Tusk stores configuration and tokens in platform-appropriate locations:

• macOS: ~/.local/share/tusk/tusk.db
• Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/tusk/tusk.db or ~/.local/share/tusk/tusk.db
• Windows: %APPDATA%\tusk\tusk.db

Development

Running Tests

go test ./...

Building

Debug build:

make build

Release build (optimized):

make release

Project Structure

tusk/
├── main.go                 # Entry point
├── cmd/                    # Command implementations
│   ├── root.go
│   ├── auth.go
│   ├── post.go
│   └── logout.go
├── internal/
│   ├── config/            # SQLite storage
│   ├── mastodon/          # Mastodon API client
│   ├── oauth/             # OAuth flow handler
│   └── output/            # Pretty terminal output
└── Makefile

TODO

• Add media attachment support
• Add OS keychain integration for secure token storage
• Add multiple account support
• Add timeline viewing commands
• Add bookmarks/favorites
• Add search functionality

License

MIT