TinyFeed

tinyfeed is a lightweight, self‑hosted feed aggregation tool written in Go. It consumes any number of RSS, Atom, or JSON‑feed URLs and outputs a single static HTML page that can be served by any web server. The project deliberately eschews databases, configuration files, and runtime dependencies in favor of a pure CLI that generates deterministic HTML. This design makes tinyfeed ideal for environments where simplicity and reproducibility are paramount, such as cron‑driven dashboards or static site generators.

Key Features

• Feed Parsing – Powered by the mature gofeed library, tinyfeed handles all common feed formats and auto‑detects encoding.
• Customizable Rendering – Developers can supply their own CSS or HTML templates; the CLI exposes placeholders for titles, dates, and content.
• Theming – The generated page automatically switches between dark and light modes based on the user’s system preference, using CSS media queries.
• Daemon Mode – A lightweight background process can be started to periodically regenerate the feed page, making it suitable for real‑time dashboards without a full web framework.
• Accessibility – The HTML output follows WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines: semantic tags, proper contrast ratios, and keyboard navigation support.

Technical Stack

• Language: Go (1.20+), compiled to a single binary.
• Parsing Library: github.com/mmcdole/gofeed – handles feed discovery, parsing, and error recovery.
• Template Engine: Go’s standard html/template package; developers can override the default template by providing a file path.
• Styling: Pure CSS; optional external stylesheets can be linked via the CLI.
• Build & Distribution: Uses Go modules; binaries are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. No external runtime is required.

Deployment & Infrastructure

• Self‑Hosting – The binary can be dropped onto any machine; no service manager is required, though tinyfeed supports systemd, openrc, and cron for scheduled runs.
• Containerization – A minimal Docker image is available on Docker Hub; the image contains only the binary and a lightweight scratch base, keeping attack surface minimal.
• Scalability – Because the output is static, scaling is achieved by serving the generated file via a CDN or load‑balanced web server. The generator itself scales linearly with CPU cores, as each feed is fetched concurrently.

Integration & Extensibility

• API – While tinyfeed has no HTTP API, its CLI accepts JSON payloads via stdin, enabling integration with CI/CD pipelines or serverless functions.
• Webhooks – Developers can hook the daemon mode into webhook triggers (e.g., a GitHub Actions workflow) to regenerate feeds on demand.
• Plugins – The project exposes a small hook for custom feed processors: by implementing the FeedProcessor interface, developers can inject transformations (e.g., Markdown rendering or profanity filtering) before the HTML is rendered.

Developer Experience

• Configuration – All options are exposed as command‑line flags; no hidden configuration files reduce friction.
• Documentation – The official site hosts comprehensive guides (installation, usage, customization) with examples and screenshots.
• Community – The repository has an active issue tracker, and contributors are encouraged to propose demos or theme extensions via pull requests.
• Licensing – BSD‑3‑Clause, allowing commercial use without attribution requirements.

Use Cases

1. Personal Dashboards – Generate a home‑screen RSS feed page that can be pinned to a browser or TV.
2. Team Knowledge Bases – Embed a static feed page into an internal wiki or Confluence space to surface relevant industry news.
3. Static Site Integration – Combine tinyfeed with static site generators (Hugo, Jekyll) to produce a unified site that includes dynamic content without server-side rendering.
4. CI‑Driven Reports – Use the daemon mode in CI pipelines to produce build status or security advisories as an HTML page that can be served from a CDN.

Advantages Over Alternatives

• Zero Runtime Dependencies – No database or server stack means fewer points of failure and easier compliance with security policies.
• Deterministic Output – The same input always yields the same HTML, simplifying caching and version control.
• Performance – Compiled Go binaries execute quickly; concurrent feed fetching reduces latency compared to single‑threaded alternatives.
• Licensing Flexibility – BSD license allows integration into proprietary products without copyleft obligations.

In summary, tinyfeed offers developers a minimal yet powerful tool for aggregating feeds into static web pages. Its Go‑centric design, combined with an emphasis on configurability and container friendliness, makes it a compelling choice for any project that needs reliable, lightweight feed rendering without the overhead of a full web application.