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https://github.com/dguilak/org-mode-sms-inbox

Harvest org-mode todos with Dropbox, Twilio, and IFTTT.
https://github.com/dguilak/org-mode-sms-inbox

dropbox emacs ifttt org-mode sms twilio

Last synced: 3 months ago
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Harvest org-mode todos with Dropbox, Twilio, and IFTTT.

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README 

        


 org-mode-sms-inbox badge




# org-mode-sms-inbox #

[](https://github.com/dguilak/org-mode-sms-inbox)



[![Deploy](https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.svg)](https://heroku.com/deploy)



Easily capture ideas or TODOs into org-mode through an app almost everyone has installed: SMS!



[Read about this silly project](http://dbg.io/org-mode-sms-inbox)



![Sample conversation with Emacs](/img/sample-conversation.png)



# Prerequisites



  * You'll need your org-mode agenda files synced via Dropbox

  * A [Twilio](http://twilio.com/) account and phone number

  * An [IFTTT](http://ifttt.com/) account

  * An SMS-enabled mobile phone

  

# How it works



  1. You text your own personal org-mode unicorn number

  2. The thing you texted gets appended to a file in Dropbox you specify

  3. You'll see it next time you open up org-mode



# Installation



The code is *super* simple, but you'll have to do a bit of setup on Twilio and IFTTT.



## Twilio



Sign up for a [Twilio account](http://twilio.com/), and snag a new phone number.



## IFTTT



Sign up for an [IFTTT account](http://ifttt.com/) and install [this recipe](https://ifttt.com/recipes/419577-append-to-dropbox-from-maker) - make sure to note the URL it gives you! You'll need it in a sec.



## Deploy



[![Deploy](https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.svg)](https://heroku.com/deploy)



If you want to just deploy this to Heroku (the free tier is *more* than enough for an applcation only you are using), click the button

above and enter the two config variables you need:



    IFTTT_DROPBOX_URL,       the IFTTT Maker URL you got when creating the above recipe

    ALLOWED_INCOMING_NUMBER, the phone number that's allowed to add inbox items (+15555555555)



and then take your new instance's incoming URL (e.g., .herokuapp.com/incoming) and

set that in Twilio as the webhook for when the number receives a text message.



That's it! Shoot a text message to your shiny new inbox and make sure it shows up in your Dropbox folder

that you set when setting up the IFTTT recipe.



You can, of course, deploy this anywhere you'd want. I just used Heroku because I knew it'd be easy

to replicate and it'll run easily on the free tier.



## Known Issues



It takes the Heroku instance a little over 15 seconds to awake once it gets some traffic coming its way. Unfortunately,

Twilio's incoming message API has a 15-second timeout, so you're going to get an `HTTP 11200` error because it'll think the

server is unresponsive, and you won't get the "Got it!" message. Any subsequent messages before it falls asleep again

will provide the right confirmation message.



The important thing is that your input gets logged, which is still the case.



## FAQ



### Why didn't you build note-reading functionality?



Honestly, when I'm out-and-about, I never really need to find or read these TODOs or notes, so

I just built what I needed. Also, see below.



### Wait, why don't you just hook Twilio to IFTTT? 



Great question! This started out as an exercise to get some experience with deploying a Clojure application.



While this app is more than is necessary right now, having an explicit backend also allows for

further functionality to be built out later (like finding notes).



## Contributing



Send me a PR, why not?



## Disclaimer



Use at your own risk, I have by no means tested this extensively.



## License



    org-mode-sms-inbox

    Copyright (C) 2016 Daniel Guilak

    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify

    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by

    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or

    (at your option) any later version.



    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the

    GNU General Public License for more details.



    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License

    along with this program. If not, see .