Subcurrent

A content aggregator for the Astoria Tech community, built with Astro.

Features

• Aggregates content from multiple sources (RSS, Atom, and YouTube feeds)
• Automatically handles different feed formats
• Prevents future-dated posts
• Clean, modern UI with dark mode
• Mobile-friendly design

Feed System

The feed system is designed to aggregate content from various sources into a unified stream. It supports:

• RSS feeds
• Atom feeds
• YouTube channel feeds

How it Works

1. Feed Configuration: Feeds are configured in src/data/feeds.ts:

   export const feeds = [
     {
       url: "https://example.com/feed.xml",
       authorName: "Author Name",
     },
   ];

2. Feed Processing:

   • Feeds are fetched and processed using src/utils/feedCollector.js
   • Each feed entry is stored as a JSON file in src/content/feeds/
   • The system handles various date formats and ensures dates are valid
   • Future-dated posts are automatically adjusted to the current time
   • Content is cleaned of HTML tags and CDATA sections

3. Content Management:

   • Each feed entry becomes a content file in Astro's content collection
   • Entries are automatically sorted by date
   • Duplicate entries are prevented using unique filenames

Refreshing Feeds

To refresh the feeds:

npm run refresh

This will:

1. Clean the existing feed cache
2. Fetch fresh content from all feeds
3. Process and store the new entries

Adding a New Feed

To add a new feed:

1. Edit src/data/feeds.ts
2. Add a new entry with:
   • url: The feed URL
   • authorName: The author's name
3. Run npm run refresh to fetch the new content

Feed Entry Schema

Each feed entry contains:

{
  title: string; // The entry title
  link: string; // URL to the original content
  pubDate: string; // ISO 8601 date string
  snippet: string; // Description or excerpt
  author: string; // Author's name
  feedSource: string; // Original feed URL
  lastFetched: string; // When the entry was last updated
}

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Setup

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start development server
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

Commands

• npm run dev - Start development server
• npm run build - Build for production
• npm run preview - Preview production build
• npm run refresh - Refresh all feeds
• npm run clean - Clear feed cache

Future Features

Feed Management

• Web interface for managing feeds
• Feed health monitoring (detect dead feeds)
• Feed categories and tags
• Feed autodiscovery from URLs

User Experience

• Search functionality
• Filter by author/source
• Read/unread tracking
• Favorite/bookmark system
• Share buttons

Integrations

• Mastodon feed support
• GitHub activity feeds
• Twitter/X integration
• LinkedIn posts

Performance

• Incremental feed updates
• Feed content caching
• Rate limiting for feed fetches

Developer Experience

• Feed validation tools
• Better error reporting
• Testing utilities

Deployment

• Periodic content fetching
• Automated backups