4 releases

0.1.3	Oct 18, 2024
0.1.2	Aug 31, 2023
0.1.1	Aug 31, 2023
0.1.0	Aug 31, 2023

#1143 in Command line utilities

22 downloads per month

MIT license

5.5MB
3K SLoC

moccasin

A TUI feed reader for RSS, Atom, and (eventually) Podcasts. VIM keybindings. Ranger-inspired interface. Configurable.

tabs TUI in action

Installation

cargo install moccasin

NetBSD

If you are on NetBSD, a pre-compiled binary is available from the official repositories. To install it, simply run:

pkgin install moccasin

Or, if you prefer to build from source:

cd /usr/pkgsrc/news/moccasin
make install

Usage

Since "moccasin" is hard to spell and has too many letters, the executable is just called mcsn.

mcsn [OPTIONS]

Options

Command line arguments will override any values set in your config file for that session.

Short	Long	Args	Description
`-c`	`--config`	<PATH>	Set a custom config file
`-s`	`--color-scheme`	<COLOR_SCHEME>	Set a color scheme, either built-in or a path to a custom theme file
`-i`	`--interval`	<INTERVAL>	Set a custom refresh rate in seconds
`-t`	`--timeout`	<TIMEOUT>	Set a custom request timeout in seconds
`-n`	`--no-cache`		Do not cache feeds in local file-backed database
`-h`	`--help`		Print help
`-V`	`--version`		Print version

Config

On first boot, Moccasin will create both a database and a config file in your default config directory, which varies by platform:

Platform	Value	Example
Linux	`$HOME`/.config/moccasin/	/home/alice/.config/moccasin/
macOS	`$HOME`/Library/Application Support/com.rektsoft.moccasin/	/Users/Alice/Library/Application Support/com.rektsoft.moccasin/
Windows	`{FOLDERID_LocalAppData}`\rektsoft\moccasin\config	C:\Users\Alice\AppData\Local\rektsoft\moccasin\config

The moccasin.toml file in this directory can be edited to customize app behavior, add feeds in bulk, change the color scheme, etc. Most of these properties can be changed from within the application as well, which will write to this file. Configuration options are as follows:

`moccasin.toml`

Table	Field	Type	Default	Description
`[sources]`		Table
	`feeds`	Array	`[]`	URLs of Atom/RSS feeds you wish to see in-app.
`[preferences]`		Table
	`color_scheme`	Enum \| Table	`"default"`	Either a built-in color scheme name, one of `"default"` \| `"borland"` \| `"darcula"` \| `"focus"` \| `"jungle"` \| `"matrix"` \| `"redshift"` \| `"wyse"`, or a table of values described below.
	`sort_feeds`	Enum	`"a-z"`	Order in which to list feeds, one of `"a-z"` \| `"z-a"` \| `"newest"` \| `"oldest"` \| `"unread"` \| `"custom"`
	`cache_feeds`	Boolean	`true`	Whether or not to write feeds to a local database for faster startup and access. When `false`, the app will use an in-memory database.
	`refresh_interval`	Integer	`3600`	How often to refetch feeds, in seconds.
	`refresh_timeout`	Integer	`5`	How long to wait for each feed before aborting, in seconds.

Color Schemes

To create a custom color scheme, the color_scheme field can be declared as a table in which the keys are interface elements and the values are either a built-in ANSI color (which will inherit from your terminal emulator), a HEX color, or in InlineTable with fg and bg properties of the same type.

[preferences.color_scheme]
base = { fg = "white", bg = "#000080" }
status = { fg = "gray", bg = "#000080" }
border = "gray"
selection_active = { fg = "#000080", bg = "#fefd72" }
scrollbar = { fg = "white", bg = "gray" }

The built-in color names are

"white"
"black"
"red"
"green"
"yellow"
"blue"
"magenta"
"cyan"
"gray"
"lightred"
"lightgreen"
"lightyellow"
"lightblue"
"lightmagenta"
"lightcyan"
"lightblack" | "darkgray"

The styleable properties are all optional, inheriting sensible defaults. Available properties are as follows:

Field	Default	Description
`base`	terminal default	Base foreground and background colors
`overlay`	`base`	Modal overlays
`status`	`base`	The top menu bar and bottom status bar colors
`selection`	`~base`	Selected list item
`selection_active`	`selection`	Selected list item of active panel
`border`	`border_active`*	Border and titles around panels
`border_active`	`base`	Border and title of active panel
`scrollbar`	`base`	Thumb (`fg`) and track (`bg`) of scrollbars

* NOTE: it is important to define border when the style it inherits (either base or border_active) is defined as a hex color, otherwise it will be difficult to know which panel is currently active.

Keybinds

The application uses VIM-style keybinds, but arrow keys can also be used for navigation. At the moment, the app has a NORMAL mode and a COMMAND mode. In future, you should also be able to tag and group feeds and items in GROUP mode.

NORMAL mode

Keys	Description
`j`/`k`	Focus next/previous item
`h`/`l`	Focus previous/next panel
`Enter`	Select current item
`Esc`	Deselect current item/mode
`Tab`	Cycle tabs
`b`/`f`/`t`	View Browse/Favorites/Tags tab
`r`	Refresh all feeds
`o`	Open current feed/item in browser
`:`	Enter `COMMAND` mode
`,`	Open config file
`?`	Show keybinds

COMMAND mode

Command	Args	Description
`:a`, `:add`	<URL>	Add a feed
`:d`, `:delete`	[URL]	Delete feed for `URL`, or current feed if not supplied. Removes this entry from config file and cache.
`:s`, `:search`	<TEXT>	Search for a feed, item, or text content

License

Dependencies

~70MB
~1M SLoC