/RSStodon

A Python script to parse an RSS feed, generate a dynamic string, and send it to Mastodon.

Primary LanguagePythonGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

TwitteRSS

Parse an RSS Feed and Post Content to Twitter and Mastodon

Thank you to @foamyguy for help with the feedparser code.

Code usage

If you have not already, please complete the prerequisites below before running the script.

To use this example, from the directory containing the script file, simply run the following from command line:

python rss_to_toot.py

Note: If Python 2 is your default version, you may need to modify the command to begin with python3.

Prerequisites

  1. You must have Python 3 installed on your computer, along with the pip installer. If you have not already done so, search for the instructions specific to your computer hardware and operating system.

  2. Use pip to install the packages within the requirements.txt file. From within the same directory as the requirements.txt file, run the following:

    pip install -r requirements.txt

    Note: If Python 3 is not your default version, you may have to modify the command to begin with pip3.

  3. You must acquire API access for Mastodon. Please check the documentation for Mastodon for information on how to obtain the appropriate token.

    • For Mastodon, this means you should obtain the following:
      • Mastodon access token

  4. Once the key is obtained, it should be added to a keys.py file in the same directory as this script, as a string assigned to the following variable.

    • MASTODON_ACCESS_TOKEN

    For example, keys.py should contain something similar to the following:

    MASTODON_ACCESS_TOKEN = "yourmastodonaccesstokenhere"

  5. Create an empty file named string_cache.txt in the same directory from which you plan to run this script. The code checks for it and fails with instructions if you have not already done this before running the script.

  6. In the ** CUSTOMISATIONS ** section at the beginning of the code, update the variables to your desired settings or content. The customisable options are as follows:

    • Disable sending to Mastodon, by updating True shown on the following line to False. It defaults to True meaning sending is enabled by default. 
      SEND_TO_MASTODON = True
    • Update mastodon_server_url to your Mastodon server URL as a string. Defaults to "https://octodon.social". 
      mastodon_server_url = "https://octodon.social"
    • Update the feed URL to match the URL of the RSS feed you intend to parse. Defaults to the kattni.com blog RSS feed. 
      feed = feedparser.parse("https://kattni.com/feeds/all.atom.xml")

Once you've completed the steps above, you're ready to run the script!