stegodon

stegodon is an SSH-first federated blogging platform. Users connect via SSH to create notes in a terminal interface. Notes federate to the Fediverse via ActivityPub and are available through RSS feeds and a web interface.

Built with Go and Charm Tools.

Showtime

Features

• SSH-First TUI - Connect via SSH, authenticate with your public key, create notes in a beautiful terminal interface
• ActivityPub Federation - Follow/unfollow users, federate posts to Mastodon/Pleroma with HTTP signatures
• Relay Support - Subscribe to ActivityPub relays (FediBuzz, YUKIMOCHI) to discover content beyond direct follows
• Threading & Replies - Reply to posts, view threaded conversations with recursive reply counts
• Mentions - Tag users with @username@domain, autocomplete suggestions, highlighted in TUI/web
• Hashtags - Use #tags in your posts, highlighted in TUI and stored for discovery
• RSS Feeds - Per-user and aggregated feeds with full content
• Web Interface - Browse posts with terminal-themed design and SEO optimization
• Multi-User - Admin panel, user management, single-user mode, closed registration
• Markdown Links - Clickable links in TUI (OSC 8), web UI, and federation: [text](url)

Quick Start

Docker (Recommended):

# Create a directory for Stegodon
sudo mkdir -p /srv/stegodon
cd /srv/stegodon

# Download the docker-compose file
curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/deemkeen/stegodon/main/docker-compose.yml

# Edit the configuration to suit your server
nano docker-compose.yml

# Start Stegodon
docker compose up -d

Binary:

# Download the binary from GitHub Releases
chmod +x stegodon

# Check version
./stegodon -v

# Run
./stegodon

Connect via SSH:

ssh 127.0.0.1 -p 23232

On first login, choose your username. All data is stored in ~/.config/stegodon/ (or Docker volume).

See DOCKER.md for complete Docker deployment guide.

Navigation

• Tab - Cycle through views
• Shift+Tab - Cycle through views in reverse order
• Ctrl+N - Jump to notifications view
• Up/Down or j/k - Navigate lists
• Enter - Open thread view for posts with replies (or delete notification in notifications view)
• Esc - Return from thread view
• r - Reply to selected post
• l - Like/unlike selected post (federated)
• b - Boost/unboost selected post (federated)
• i - Toggle engagement info (show who liked/boosted)
• o - Toggle URL display for selected post (home timeline)
  • Press once: Show clickable URL
  • Press again or navigate: Show post content
  • Cmd+click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Linux) URL to open in local browser
• u - Edit note (in my posts)
• d - Delete note with confirmation
• a - Delete all notifications (in notifications view)
• Ctrl+S - Save/post note
• Ctrl+C or q - Quit

Configuration

Environment variables override embedded defaults:

# Basic settings
STEGODON_HOST=0.0.0.0             # Server IP (use 127.0.0.1 to prevent remote connections)
STEGODON_SSHPORT=23232            # SSH port
STEGODON_HTTPPORT=9999            # HTTP port

# ActivityPub federation
STEGODON_WITH_AP=true             # Enable federation
STEGODON_SSLDOMAIN=yourdomain.com # Your public domain (required for ActivityPub)

# Access control
STEGODON_SINGLE=true              # Single-user mode
STEGODON_CLOSED=true              # Closed registration
STEGODON_SSH_ONLY=true            # SSH-only mode (disables web UI)

# Customization
STEGODON_NODE_DESCRIPTION="My personal microblog server"  # NodeInfo description
STEGODON_MAX_CHARS=200            # Default is 150, max length is capped to 300 characters
STEGODON_SHOW_GLOBAL=true         # Show global timeline (local + all federated posts) in TUI and web

# Logging (Linux only)
STEGODON_WITH_JOURNALD=true       # Send logs to systemd journald

# Profiling (development/debugging)
STEGODON_WITH_PPROF=true          # Enable pprof profiler on localhost:6060

SSH-Only Mode:

When STEGODON_SSH_ONLY=true, the web UI is disabled but RSS feeds and ActivityPub still work. This mode:

• Disables web UI routes (no homepage, profile pages, or tag pages)
• Keeps RSS feeds and ActivityPub endpoints active
• Useful when you want federation and RSS but no public web interface
• TUI access via SSH remains fully functional

File locations:

• Config: ./config.yaml -> ~/.config/stegodon/config.yaml -> embedded defaults
• Database: ./database.db -> ~/.config/stegodon/database.db
• SSH key: ./.ssh/stegodonhostkey -> ~/.config/stegodon/.ssh/stegodonhostkey

Viewing logs (Linux with journald):

# Follow logs in real-time
journalctl -t stegodon -f

# View recent logs
journalctl -t stegodon --since "1 hour ago"

# View logs for a specific service
journalctl -u stegodon.service -f

Profiling (when STEGODON_WITH_PPROF=true):

# Access web UI
open http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/

# CPU profile (30 seconds)
go tool pprof http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/profile?seconds=30

# Heap profile
go tool pprof http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/heap

# Goroutine count
curl http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/goroutine?debug=1 | grep "goroutine profile"

ActivityPub Setup

1. Set STEGODON_WITH_AP=true and STEGODON_SSLDOMAIN=yourdomain.com
2. Make your server publicly accessible with HTTPS
3. Proxy HTTP port (9999) through nginx/caddy with TLS
4. Follow users: Go to the "Follow" view, enter username@domain.com

Your profile: https://yourdomain.com/users/<username>

Relay Subscriptions

Relays let you discover content from across the Fediverse without following individual users. Admin users can manage relays from the admin panel.

Supported relays:

• FediBuzz - Hashtag-based (e.g., relay.fedi.buzz/tag/music)
• YUKIMOCHI - Full firehose (e.g., relay.toot.yukimochi.jp)

Relay controls:

• a - Add relay (enter URL or domain)
• d - Unsubscribe from relay
• p - Pause/resume relay (paused relays log but don't save content)
• r - Retry failed subscription
• x - Delete all relay content from timeline

RSS Feeds

• Personal: http://localhost:9999/feed?username=<user>
• Aggregated: http://localhost:9999/feed
• Single note: http://localhost:9999/feed/<uuid>

Web UI

Browse posts through a terminal-themed web interface:

• Homepage: http://localhost:9999/ - View all posts from all users
• User profile: http://localhost:9999/users/<username> - View posts by a specific user
• Single post: http://localhost:9999/posts/<uuid> - View individual post with thread context

The web UI features:

• Terminal-style aesthetic matching the SSH TUI
• SEO optimized with proper meta tags
• Clickable Markdown links
• Responsive design
• RSS feed links for each user

Replace localhost:9999 with your domain when deployed publicly.

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/deemkeen/stegodon
cd stegodon
go build
./stegodon

Requirements:

• Go 1.25+
• Terminal with 24-bit color, 115x28 minimum
• OSC 8 support for clickable links (optional: Ghostty, iTerm2, Kitty)

Tech Stack

• SSH: wish
• TUI: bubbletea, lipgloss
• Web: gin
• Database: SQLite with WAL mode
• Federation: Custom ActivityPub implementation with HTTP signatures

CLI Mode

Stegodon supports non-interactive CLI commands for scripting and automation:

ssh -p 23232 localhost post "Hello world"
ssh -p 23232 localhost timeline -j
echo "Content" | ssh -p 23232 localhost post -

All commands support --json / -j for machine-readable output. See cli/CLI.md for full documentation.

Documentation

• cli/CLI.md - CLI mode commands and JSON output
• DATABASE.md - Database schema and tables
• FEDERATION.md - ActivityPub federation details
• DOCKER.md - Docker deployment guide

For detailed technical specifications covering the TUI architecture, ActivityPub federation, database schema, and all subsystems, see specs/overview.md.

License

MIT - See LICENSE file

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Open an issue or pull request on GitHub.