Gomphotherium

Gomphotherium (/ˌɡɒmfəˈθɪəriəm/; "welded beast"), a command line Mastodon client.

Info

As I have left the Fediverse for now, this project is dormant and won't be updated any longer. It is however in a usable state and does everything a basic CLI/TUI client is supposed to do. I will however continue to accept PRs. If you're interested in actively maintaining it, feel free to ping me.

Description

Gomphotherium is a Mastodon client for the command line, offering a CLI as well as a TUI with a usage similar to rainbowstream. It is intended to be used at 80 characters width maximum, but ideally inside tmux as a sidebar-style program.

Installation

Download a binary from the releases page.

Or build it yourself (requires Go 1.16+):

make

User Manual

Authentication

To authenticate with your Mastodon instance, run the following command and follow the instructions:

gomphotherium authenticate https://YOUR-MASTODON-SERVER-URL-HERE.com

TUI

Launch the TUI with the following command:

gomphotherium tui

Note: If you haven't exported the required environment variables that were shown to you during the [Authentication][#authentication], please do so first or use the CLI flags (gomphotherium -h) instead.

Modes

The TUI can be operated in two modes: Normal and Command.

In Normal mode no interaction is possible apart from scrolling and refreshing the timeline and quitting Gomphotherium. The shortcuts can be looked up on the cheatsheet

In Command mode, the command input becomes available and scrolling the timeline is not possible anymore. Commands can then be issued to interact with the Mastodon instance.

Cheatsheet

Shortcuts

This is a list of supported keyboard shortcuts. The information in box brackets tells to which mode the shortcut applies.

: [normal]
Enter Command mode

Esc [command]
Leave Command mode

ArrowUp / k, ArrowDn / j [normal]
Scroll timeline in either direction by one line

PgUp / b, PgDn / f [normal]
Scroll timeline in either direction by one page

u, d [normal]
Scroll timeline in either direction by half a page

g, G [normal]
Scroll timeline to the very top/bottom

Ctrl + R [any]
Refresh timeline

Ctrl + Q [any]
Quit Gomphotherium

Commands

home
local
public
notifications
hashtag tag [local]
Switch between timelines

whois user
Switch to user profile and timeline

t content ...
toot content ...
Publish a new public toot

tp content ...
tootprivate content ...
Publish a new private toot

tu content ...
tootunlisted content ...
Publish a new unlisted toot

td content ...
tootdirect content ...
Publish a new direct toot

re toot-id content ...
reply toot-id content ...
Reply to a toot publicly

rep toot-id content ...
replyprivate toot-id content ...
Reply to a toot privately

reu toot-id content ...
replyunlisted toot-id content ...
Reply to a toot unlisted

red toot-id content ...
replydirect toot-id content ...
Reply to a toot directly

rt toot-id
retoot toot-id
boost toot-id
Boost a toot

ut toot-id
unretoot toot-id
unboost toot-id
Undo boosting a toot

fav toot-id
Fav a toot

unfav toot-id
Undo fav-ing a toot

open toot-id
Open toot in system browser

share toot-id
Copy toot URL to the clipboard

help
?
Show help page

quit
exit
bye
Quit Gomphotherium

Info: \

• content ... describes the text content of a toot, including inline shortcodes
• toot-id describes the toot ID (number) visible on the right side of each toot in the timeline

Inline Shortcodes

Inline shortcodes allow to add additional info to toots. They can be added anywhere in the toot content as they get filtered from the toot before publishing.

~!!
Mark toot as sensitive; one-time shortcode

~#[text ...]
Add content warning (spoiler) text to toot; one-time shortcode

~:[/path/to/file]
Add media by file path to toot; can be specified multiple times

Usage Examples

home
Switch to the home timeline

hashtag theStudio local
Switch to the hashtag timeline and search for the hashtag #theStudio on only the local instance

hashtag lol
Switch to the hashtag timeline and search for the hashtag #lol globally

whois [email protected]
Switch to the profile of [email protected] and list his toots

t Hello World!
Publish a new public toot that says Hello World!

tp Mondays are fine. It’s your life that sucks. ~#[Controversial joke]
Publish a new private toot that says Mondays are fine. It’s your life that sucks. with a content warning that says Controversial joke

tu Check out my mustache! ~:[/home/user/Photos/awesome_mustache.jpg] ~!!
Publish a new unlisted toot with a photo attached to it, that is flagged sensitive

re 11 I think so, @brain, but aren't we out of shaving cream?
Publicly reply to toot with ID 11 with I think so, @brain, but aren't we out of shaving cream?

rt 11
Retoot/boost toot with ID 11

help
Show this help

bye
Goodbye!

CLI

The CLI interface allows for exectuion of commands right from the terminal prompt. Not all commands are supported.

Usage Examples

gomphotherium cmd home
Render the home timeline

gomphotherium cmd t Hello World!
Publish a new public toot that says Hello World!