DOWNload FAVourites

downfav is a simple script to download your Mastodon favourites, either to the disk or into Joplin.

Running

Simply call downfav. On the first run, it will ask for your server and do the rounds into approving the app. After that, it will download every toot marked as Favourite to the disk.

Configuration

There is one single configuration file, downfav.toml which is read in the current directory¹.

The general format of this file is:

[favourite]
last = "<id>"

[mastodon]
base = "<server>"
client_id = "<id>"
client_secret = "<secret>"
redirect = "<oauth id>"
token = "<access token>"

[org]
location = "<some path>"

[joplin]
port = <port>
token = "<token>"
folder = "<folder>"

When you run downfav, it will ask for your server an ask to connect to your account. After that, the first two sections will be added.

By default, downfav stores favourites as Markdown files in a directory called data along the configuration file; this is called the Filesystem storage. Besides this storage, downfav have two more storages:

Joplin Storage

Joplin is an open source note taking application. To use Joplin as a storage for downfav, you need to enable the web clipper. On the same page, you'll find the port (usually is 41184) and the token. Along with that, you need to define a Folder where all the favourites will be stored, using its name.

Once you have this information, you can add the [joplin] section and the rest of the information.

Org Storage

Org-Mode is a format/plugin for Emacs that can keep notes, agenda, TODOs and a bunch more.

To enable Org mode, you need to add the [org] section and define the path where the notes will be kept. downfav will create one note per day, adding any new favourites in that note.

Resolution order

But what happens if I have Joplin and Org set up in my config file? Well, by default, downfav will pick Joplin and ignore Org. If you want to save on Org format, you must not have the Joplin section in your config.

And, to use the Filesystem storage, you should have no other configuration.

License

GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, Version 3.

Ideas

• Use clap for a full command line experience.
• Manage multiple accounts (as in downfav account add and maybe account and server?); use a single configuration file.
• Store the configuration file in a fixed path instead of the current directory.
• Add configuration for the
• Manage multiple storages for accounts (as in downfav storage add <account> <storage type>; if there are any options, they could follow the storage type and/or ask the user.)
• Move the Storage trait to the main Storage module.
• Better error handling in the main loop (currently, if there is an issue, the "last seen toot" will be still updated); the Storage trait must return Results; remove the functional/fluent loop in the main application and use a for.
• Since things can fail, all Storages must take this in account (filesystem will just override things, so it is no real issue; Joplin must check if the note already exists; Org must save the note in a temporary file and just move it in the end).
• Async?
• Proper word-wrapping for Markdown and Org Modes (links is pretty hard to wrap correctly, due the combination of title and link).

---

---

1. Why in the current directory? If you're using the filesystem storage, keeping all favourites in a single directory, we need to access the data directory to store things there. By forcing having in the current directory, we can be somewhat sure it won't keep adding data to whatever. Also, it helps if you have multiple accounts. On a related note, maybe we could add multiple accounts and fixed directory in the config file itself. ↩︎