/FediRenderer

'FediRenderer' — a project for a much needed new tool for viewing User Backup Exports from Mastodon instances in the Fediverse.

Primary LanguageJavaScriptGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

FediRenderer - A much needed Mastodon tool


Long wished for, a way to view user data Backups

'FediRenderer' -- a project for a much needed new tool for viewing User Backup Exports from Mastodon instances in the Fediverse.

We have a first working version, but what is it ?

The basic idea is to be able to use the Backup Data Archive, which Mastodon instances offer to all users.

And which, until now, we had no way to access or use much at all.


Backgrounder

This is regarding the User Data backup files that mastodon can create. And which are mostly useless, since we didn't have ANY software so far capable of accessing and making useful to a user.

Eugen R. covered the project's legal obligation, by providing a copy of the user data as required by the European GDPR regulations.


FediRenderer Toot display from a backup archive

A couple of perfectly presented Toots, as viewed by FediRenderer - both have all the links live, a time stamp linked to the original instance's Toot URL, and a media attachment displayed.

This is a much needed and until now non-existent viewer utility for the Mastodon user data export files. I have dreamed about one, and never found it.

A young software engineer friend already sent me a first test version -- a working Fediverse Backup Archive Viewer.

This friend is not a Fediverse user, and the protocols and data formats were all new to him.


Original developer email brings a working version

And instructions on how to install and use it.

Hey R., I'm glad you found it useful. I fixed a couple bugs, here's the source if you want to play with it and add more features.

To run it you need node.js installed, and from the command line run npm install once inside that directory to install the library dependencies.

Then node run.js <yourExportedDirectory>

...where <yourExportedDirectory> is the path to your unzipped backup directory containing outbox.json.

Let me know if there are any issues with running it! I haven't tested it on Windows.

Detailed installation instructions for Windows users can be found on my Blog post for this.