micropub-to-markdown

IndieWeb scripts for publishing using micropub to a static-site generator like Pelican. The scripts in this repo allow you to quickly setup a system where you can post directly to your static-site by using a mobile app like Indigenous, or using the included web form. You can also then syndicate your posts to Twitter or Mastodon via Brid.gy by using the included syndication form.

Uploaded images are automatically resized and stripped of metadata using the mogrify utility.

The markdown front matter is using the format used by Pelican, but can be easily changed by modifying the src/micropub.php file.

Installation

• Clone this repo to your hosting server
• At the top of each file in script and also src/micropub.php there is a config section that will need to be edited to match your server paths, user, etc. Modify as needed.
  • POSTS_ROOT is the directory where new posts and images are uploaded to by the web server, e.g. /home/user/posts/
  • CMS_ROOT is the root of your checked out site source code, e.g. /home/user/mysite/, and posts are assumed to be in a content subfolder, and the generated output in an output subfolder.
  • WEB_ROOT is where your static site is published and served from by the web server, e.g. /var/www/site
• Run scripts/setup.sh to install the needed dependencies and create the directory where the uploaded files are stored.
• Copy the files in src to the Pelican (or other generator) content folder.
• Generate and publish your blog. If setup correctly, you can call scripts/publish.sh which will check for any new uploaded posts, import them, resize images and strip them of metadata, commit everything into git, generate your site, and then publish it back into your web root.
• Run nohup scripts/service.sh & to watch for new uploads and trigger the publish routine.

Usage

Once installed, you can publish posts from your mobile device using Indigenous. Under accounts, set your post endpoint to https://yourdomain.com/micropub.php?key=yyourAPIkey.

You can also publish directly from your website by using a web browser, simply load the post-content generated page, fill in the form and submit. A few seconds later your post should appear on your site if everything is setup correctly.

Syndication

If you'd like to syndicate your content to Twitter/Mastodon/etc, load the syndicate-content generated page and paste in the URL of your post and click the relevant button. For this to work, there are some pre-requisites:

• You will need to have linked your Twitter/Mastodon account on Brid.gy
• Your generated posts should be tagged with IndieWeb microformats2, specifically for notes
• Your generated posts should have this somewhere in the content (which can be setup in your article template) to allow brid.gy to cross-post your article:

    <a href="https://brid.gy/publish/mastodon"></a>
    <a href="https://brid.gy/publish/twitter"></a>

Example

An example of a microblog using this: https://tobykurien.com/category/microblog/