https://github.com/cleverdevil/dwell

CMS for creating personal websites for the IndieWeb, powered by DuckDB and JSON
https://github.com/cleverdevil/dwell

Last synced: 9 months ago
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CMS for creating personal websites for the IndieWeb, powered by DuckDB and JSON

Host: GitHub
URL: https://github.com/cleverdevil/dwell
Owner: cleverdevil
License: mit
Created: 2024-01-05T01:10:55.000Z (over 2 years ago)
Default Branch: main
Last Pushed: 2025-03-15T23:32:01.000Z (about 1 year ago)
Last Synced: 2025-03-25T07:42:56.510Z (about 1 year ago)
Language: HTML
Size: 5.78 MB
Stars: 4
Watchers: 2
Forks: 1
Open Issues: 0
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE

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README

          # Dwell: An IndieWeb CMS for Personal Websites

Dwell is a simple CMS for creating your own

[indieweb](https://indieweb.org "IndieWeb") website, including support

for [micropub](https://www.w3.org/TR/micropub/ "Micropub"),

[indieauth](https://indieweb.org/IndieAuth "IndieAuth"), and

[webmention](https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/ "Webmention"). Dwell

was created to power the personal site of

[cleverdevil](https://cleverdevil.io "Jonathan LaCour"), which currently

runs the [known](https://github.com/idno/known "Known") content

management system. Under the hood, Dwell is built in the

[python](https://python.org "Python") programming language, and uses

[duckdb](https://duckdb.org "DuckDB") for its query engine, though all

content is stored on-disk as `JSON` files contained within a

[hive](https://duckdb.org/docs/data/partitioning/hive_partitioning.html "Hive")

partitioned directory structure.

## Why?

For many years, I have had my own site. In fact, my current website

includes a massive [archive](https://cleverdevil.io/archive "archive")

all of my content starting from 2002! I have even migrated all of the

content I posted on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook before I left those

silos entirely after they became cesspools of misinformation and

surveillance capitalism owned and operated by billionaires with values

that do not align with my own.

My current site runs on [known](https://github.com/idno/known "Known"),

which has served me well. While I am able to write PHP, it is absolutely not my

language of choice or expertise. In addition, I would like to make my site more

lightweight, with as few dependencies as possible, and no need for complex

relational databases.

Why not use something like WordPress? Yes, WordPress has the benefit of

a massive community, but is essentially a giant pile of legacy. I have a

lot of experience with that community, and I think its lovely, but isn’t

really focused on what I care about, and has all of the same complexity

issues as Known, with the downside of being an absolute security

nightmare.

Why not a static site generator? I considered it, but I like the ability

to create extremely dynamic pages. With DuckDB, I get all of the

benefits of a relational database with none of the operational pain.

Lastly, because its fun. I love working on my site!

## Technical Details

Content is stored on disk as JSON files in a directory structure that is

partitioned based upon date, as follows:

    content/

        year=2023/

            month=11/

                day=12/

                    post-uuid.json

Dwell uses the aforementioned DuckDB to make the entire content

directory queryable with SQL, without the need to run a separate,

heavyweight database server. Very large sites with tens of thousands of

posts can be completely indexed by Dwell in a matter of a few seconds.

The complete content is stored in a table called `raw_content` within

the `content.db` database, and a convenience view called `content` is

created which makes the data easier to interact with.

## Status

This is early. Very early. The first focus has been proving out the data

storage, indexing, and querying mechanism using DuckDB. Below is a list

(that is likely incomplete) of features, including what is done, and

what is in-progress.

- [x] Consume and index a hive-partitioned directory of MF2 JSON

- [x] Storage and index support for post kinds

  - [x] Blog

  - [x] Status

  - [x] Bookmark

  - [x] Watch

  - [x] Play

  - [x] Reply

  - [x] Photo

  - [x] Checkin

  - [x] Listen

  - [x] Recipe

  - [x] Review

  - [x] RSVP

- [x] Query for posts

  - [x] Get by post id

  - [x] Query by date range and post kind

  - [x] Ordering, limit, and offset

- [x] Micropub support

  - [x] Create content

    - [x] MF2 JSON

    - [x] Form encoded

    - [x] Multipart form

  - [x] Update content

  - [x] Delete content

  - [x] Undelete content

  - [x] Media endpoint

  - [ ] Syndication

    - [ ] Mastodon

    - [ ] Bluesky

- [ ] IndieAuth support

    - [x] Token database

    - [x] Password configuration

    - [x] Micropub endpoint enforcement

    - [x] User-facing auth flow

    - [ ] User-facing auth flow beautification

    - [ ] Separate IndieAuth code

- [ ] Webmention

- [ ] Move all post kinds to plugins, other than Blog, Status, and Photo

- [ ] Website views

  - [x] Home stream

  - [x] Custom streams

  - [x] Monthly summaries

  - [x] On this day

  - [x] Photos page

  - [ ] Static pages

  - [x] Profile

  - [x] Archive

  - [x] Now

  - [x] Overview

  - [ ] Make all streams and post kinds use proper microformats

- [ ] Forms for authenticated users to create all “kinds” of content

- [x] Fixing ingestion for specific types and content that is missed

  - [x] Recipe

  - [x] Like / Repost kind

  - [x] Interactions (likes, primarily)

At first, I will entirely focus on getting my own website fully

functional on-top of Dwell, to enable me to migrate off of Known, but I am

actively seeking collaborators that are interested in a shared codebase for

building our own sites.

ecosyste.ms

Data

Tools

Indexes

Applications

Experiments

Awesome

https://github.com/cleverdevil/dwell

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README