indiekit-blog

Personal Indiekit deployment for blog.giersig.eu.

Built on top of the rmdes/indiekit fork ecosystem. Several packages are sourced from custom forks (see below) and a set of patch scripts handle fixes that cannot yet be upstreamed.

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Fork-based dependencies

Three packages are installed directly from GitHub forks rather than the npm registry:

Dependency	Source	Reason
@rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-activitypub	svemagie/indiekit-endpoint-activitypub	Alpine.js fix for reader buttons + private-address document loader for self-hosted Fedify instances
@rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-blogroll	svemagie/indiekit-endpoint-blogroll#bookmark-import	Bookmark import feature
@rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-microsub	svemagie/indiekit-endpoint-microsub#bookmarks-import	Bookmarks import feature

In package.json these use the github:owner/repo[#branch] syntax so npm fetches them directly from GitHub on install.

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Patch scripts

Patches are Node.js .mjs scripts in scripts/ that surgically modify files in node_modules after install. They are idempotent (check for a marker string before applying) and run automatically via postinstall and at the start of serve.

ActivityPub

patch-endpoint-activitypub-locales.mjs Injects German (de) locale overrides into @rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-activitypub (e.g. "Benachrichtigungen", "Mein Profil"). The package ships only an English locale; this copies and customises it.

Conversations

patch-conversations-collection-guards.mjs Adds null-safety guards to conversation-items.js so the endpoint does not crash when the MongoDB conversation_items collection is missing or empty (returns an empty cursor instead of throwing).

patch-conversations-mastodon-disconnect.mjs Patches the conversations endpoint to handle a missing or disconnected Mastodon account gracefully — prevents startup crashes when Mastodon credentials are not configured.

Files

patch-endpoint-files-upload-route.mjs Fixes the file upload XHR to POST to window.location.pathname instead of a hardcoded endpoint path, which broke uploads behind a custom mount prefix. Also adds fallback text for missing locale keys.

patch-endpoint-files-upload-locales.mjs Injects German locale strings for the files endpoint.

Media

patch-endpoint-media-scope.mjs Changes the scope check from strict equality (scope === "create") to scope.includes("create") so tokens with compound scopes (e.g. "create update") can still upload media.

patch-endpoint-media-sharp-runtime.mjs Wraps the sharp import with a lazy runtime loader so the server starts even if the native sharp binary is missing (falls back gracefully rather than crashing at import time).

Frontend

patch-frontend-sharp-runtime.mjs Same lazy sharp runtime guard applied to @indiekit/frontend/lib/sharp.js (avatar/image processing). Handles multiple nested copies of the package across the dependency tree.

patch-frontend-serviceworker-file.mjs Ensures @indiekit/frontend/lib/serviceworker.js exists at the path the service worker registration expects, copying it from whichever nested copy of the package is present.

patch-lightningcss.mjs Fixes the ~module/path resolver in lightningcss.js to use require.resolve() correctly, preventing CSS build failures when module paths contain backslashes or when package hoisting differs.

Micropub

patch-endpoint-micropub-where-note-visibility.mjs Defaults OwnYourSwarm /where check-in notes to visibility: unlisted unless the post explicitly sets a visibility. Prevents accidental public syndication of location check-ins.

patch-micropub-ai-block-resync.mjs Detects stale AI-disclosure block files and re-generates them on next post save. Fixes posts that had MongoDB AI fields set but missing or empty _ai-block.md sidecar files (caused by a previous bug where supportsAiDisclosure always returned false).

Posts

patch-endpoint-posts-ai-fields.mjs Adds AI disclosure field UI (text level, code level, etc.) to the post creation/editing form in @rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-posts.

patch-endpoint-posts-ai-cleanup.mjs Removes AI disclosure fields from the post form submission before saving, delegating persistence to the AI block sidecar system.

patch-endpoint-posts-uid-lookup.mjs Fixes post editing 404s by adding uid-based lookup to the micropub source query. Without this, posts older than the first 40 results could not be opened for editing.

patch-endpoint-posts-prefill-url.mjs Pre-fills the reference URL when creating posts from the /news "Post" button (/posts/create?type=like&url=…). The standard postData.create only reads request.body, ignoring query params.

Preset / Eleventy

patch-preset-eleventy-ai-frontmatter.mjs Adds AI disclosure fields (aiTextLevel, aiCodeLevel, etc.) to the Eleventy post template frontmatter so they are written into generated content files.

Federation / Syndication

patch-federation-unlisted-guards.mjs Prevents unlisted posts from being re-syndicated via @indiekit/endpoint-syndicate. The corresponding guards in @rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-activitypub are now built into the fork directly.

Indiekit core

patch-indiekit-routes-rate-limits.mjs Replaces the single blanket rate limiter with separate strict (session/auth) and relaxed (general) limiters so legitimate API traffic is not throttled during normal use.

patch-indiekit-error-production-stack.mjs Strips stack traces from error responses in NODE_ENV=production to avoid leaking internal file paths to clients.

patch-indieauth-devmode-guard.mjs Gates dev-mode auto-login behind an explicit INDIEKIT_ALLOW_DEV_AUTH=1 env var so devMode: true in config does not accidentally bypass authentication in staging/production. Also widens the redirect URL regex to allow encoded characters (%, .).

Endpoints — misc

patch-endpoint-homepage-locales.mjs Injects German locale strings for the homepage endpoint.

patch-endpoint-homepage-identity-defaults.mjs Sets fallback values for identity fields on the dashboard when they are not configured, preventing blank/undefined display names.

patch-endpoint-blogroll-feeds-alias.mjs Dual-mounts the blogroll public API at both /blogrollapi and /rssapi, and adds a /api/feeds alias for /api/blogs, so existing static pages that reference different base paths all resolve correctly.

patch-endpoint-comments-locales.mjs Injects German locale strings for the comments endpoint.

patch-endpoint-github-changelog-categories.mjs Extends the GitHub changelog controller with additional commit category labels.

patch-endpoint-podroll-opml-upload.mjs Adds OPML file upload support to the podroll endpoint.

Microsub / Reader

// patch-microsub-reader-ap-dispatch.mjs Adds Fediverse/ActivityPub detection and dispatch to the Microsub reader so AP profile URLs are routed to the ActivityPub reader rather than the RSS reader.

patch-microsub-feed-discovery.mjs Improves feed discovery in fetchAndParseFeed: when a bookmarked URL is an HTML page, falls back to <link rel="alternate"> discovery and a broader set of candidate paths rather than only the fixed short list.

Listening (Funkwhale / Last.fm)

patch-listening-endpoint-runtime-guards.mjs Applies several guards to the listening endpoints: scopes Funkwhale history fetches to the authenticated user (scope: "me") rather than the entire instance, and adds null-safety for missing credentials so the server doesn't crash when these services aren't configured.

Webmention sender

patch-webmention-sender-livefetch.mjs Forces the webmention sender to always fetch the live published page rather than using the stored post body. Ensures outgoing webmentions contain the full rendered HTML including all microformats. Rewrites the fetch URL via INTERNAL_FETCH_URL for jailed setups.

patch-webmention-sender-reset-stale.mjs One-time migration (guarded by a migrations MongoDB collection entry) that resets posts incorrectly marked as webmention-sent with empty results because the live page was not yet deployed when the poller first fired.

Bluesky syndicator

patch-bluesky-syndicator-internal-url.mjs Rewrites own-domain fetch URLs in the Bluesky syndicator to INTERNAL_FETCH_URL for jailed setups. Covers uploadMedia() (photo uploads), uploadImageFromUrl() (OG image thumbnails), and fetchOpenGraphData() (OG metadata extraction).

Internal URL rewriting

patch-micropub-fetch-internal-url.mjs Rewrites self-referential fetch URLs to INTERNAL_FETCH_URL (or http://localhost:PORT) across multiple endpoints: endpoint-syndicate, endpoint-share, microsub reader, activitypub compose, endpoint-posts, indieauth token exchange, token introspection, and media uploads. Required for jailed setups where the server cannot reach its own public HTTPS URL.

patch-syndicate-force-checked-default.mjs When force-syndicating a post with no mp-syndicate-to and no existing syndication URLs, falls back to targets with checked: true instead of doing nothing.

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Preflight scripts

Run at the start of serve before the server starts. They fail fast with a clear message rather than letting the server start in a broken state.

Script	Checks
preflight-production-security.mjs	PASSWORD_SECRET is set and bcrypt-hashed; blocks startup if missing in strict mode
preflight-mongo-connection.mjs	MongoDB is reachable; blocks startup if connection fails in strict mode
preflight-activitypub-rsa-key.mjs	RSA key pair for ActivityPub exists in MongoDB; generates one if absent
preflight-activitypub-profile-urls.mjs	ActivityPub actor URLs are correctly configured; warns on mismatch

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Server architecture

The production setup uses two FreeBSD jails managed by Bastille:

                    ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
  Internet ──▶ 443 │  web jail (10.100.0.10)                 │
                    │  nginx — terminates TLS                 │
                    │  • static files (Eleventy _site output) │
                    │  • proxy_pass dynamic → node jail :3000 │
                    │  • port 80 for internal fetches (no TLS)│
                    └───────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
                                    │ http://10.100.0.20:3000
                    ┌───────────────▼─────────────────────────┐
                    │  node jail (10.100.0.20)                │
                    │  Indiekit (Express on port 3000)        │
                    │  MongoDB (localhost or separate jail)    │
                    └─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Internal fetch URL

The node jail cannot reach the public HTTPS URL (https://blog.giersig.eu) because TLS terminates on the web jail. Several features need to fetch their own pages or static assets:

• Webmention sender — fetches live page HTML for link extraction
• Bluesky syndicator — fetches photos for upload, OG metadata/images for link cards
• Micropub/syndicate — self-fetches for token introspection, post updates

All of these use a shared _toInternalUrl() helper (injected by patch scripts) that rewrites the public base URL to INTERNAL_FETCH_URL. This should point to the nginx web jail's HTTP (port 80) listener, which serves both static files and proxies dynamic routes to Indiekit — without TLS.

INTERNAL_FETCH_URL=http://10.100.0.10

nginx port 80 configuration

The internal HTTP listener must:

1. Serve content directly (not redirect to HTTPS)
2. Set X-Forwarded-Proto: https so Indiekit's force-https middleware does not redirect internal requests back to HTTPS
3. Proxy dynamic routes to the node jail, serve static files from the Eleventy build output

# Internal HTTP listener — used by Indiekit for self-fetches.
# Not exposed to the internet (firewall blocks external port 80).
server {
    listen 10.100.0.10:80;
    server_name blog.giersig.eu;

    # Tell Indiekit this is the real domain (not 10.100.0.10) and
    # that TLS was terminated upstream so force-https doesn't redirect.
    proxy_set_header Host blog.giersig.eu;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

    # Static files from Eleventy build (rsynced to /usr/local/www/blog)
    location /images/ { root /usr/local/www/blog; }
    location /og/     { root /usr/local/www/blog; }

    # Everything else → Indiekit
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://10.100.0.20:3000;
    }
}

Key environment variables (node jail .env)

Variable	Example	Purpose
INTERNAL_FETCH_URL	http://10.100.0.10	nginx HTTP endpoint for self-fetches
INDIEKIT_BIND_HOST	10.100.0.20	Jail IP (loopback unavailable in jails); used by webmention poller
PORT	3000	Indiekit listen port (default 3000)

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Setup

npm install       # installs dependencies and runs all postinstall patches
npm run serve     # runs preflights + patches + starts the server

Environment variables are loaded from .env via dotenv. See indiekit.config.mjs for the full configuration.

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Changelog

2026-03-14

chore: upgrade checkout and setup-node actions to v4 (d3fb055) Upgraded actions/checkout and actions/setup-node from v3 to v4. Addresses the Node.js 20 deprecation warning ahead of the June 2026 forced migration to Node.js 24.

chore: update comments-locales patch for 1.0.10 template, drop livefetch patch (53b40a5) Updated patch-endpoint-comments-locales to match the rewritten comments.njk template (Nunjucks macros + badge()). Removed obsolete locale keys and deleted the orphaned patch-webmention-sender-livefetch script.

chore: update @indiekit/ to beta.27, bump endpoint-comments and webmention-sender* (53bb7d3)

• @indiekit/indiekit, @indiekit/store-github: beta.25 → beta.27
• @rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-comments: 1.0.0 → 1.0.10
• @rmdes/indiekit-endpoint-webmention-sender: 1.0.6 → 1.0.7

fix: buffer ActivityPub body before checking for PeerTube View activities (314a085) Express's JSON body parser ignores application/activity+json, so req.body was always undefined and the PeerTube View guard never fired. Now manually buffers and parses the raw stream for activity+json/ld+json POSTs before the type check.

chore: remove Mastodon syndicator and related patches (3708dd9) Removed the Mastodon syndicator package, config vars, patch script, and .env example entries. The blog is now a native ActivityPub actor.

fix: skip PeerTube View activities before Fedify JSON-LD parse (296745f) Added an early guard in createFedifyMiddleware that short-circuits any POST with body.type === "View" and returns 200 immediately, preventing Fedify from crashing on PeerTube's non-standard View activities.

fix: silently ignore PeerTube View activities in ActivityPub inbox (f004ecd) Added a no-op .on(View, ...) inbox handler to suppress noisy "Unsupported activity type" errors from PeerTube's per-watch broadcasts.

feat: add gardenStage and ai fields to all post type presets (304c75f)

• gardenStage: added to all post types
• aiTextLevel, aiCodeLevel, aiTools, aiDescription: extended to all content post types (bookmark, repost, photo, reply, page)

fix: register bluesky cursor-fix patch in postinstall and serve scripts (3781503) Ensured the Bluesky cursor-fix patch runs during both postinstall and serve.

fix: clear stale Bluesky polling cursor to restore interaction ingestion (655bc73) Cleared a stale cursor that was blocking new Bluesky interactions from being ingested.

fix: filter out self-interactions from own Bluesky account (4f1440a, f8f595f) Filtered out likes, reposts, and replies from the blog's own Bluesky account to prevent self-syndication loops.

fix: scope webmention link extraction to .h-entry not .e-content (b632af9) u-in-reply-to, u-like-of, u-repost-of etc. are rendered before .e-content, not inside it. Scoping to .h-entry .e-content caused them to be missed. Bumped reset-stale migration to v3 to retry affected posts.

fix: improve microsub feed discovery via <link rel="alternate"> tags (3ca9200) fetchAndParseFeed now calls discoverFeeds() on the fetched HTML before probing common paths, using any typed RSS/Atom/JSONFeed <link rel="alternate"> it finds.

fix: pre-fill reference URL when creating post from /news entry (0dc71d1) postData.create previously only read request.body, ignoring query params. Now seeds properties from ?url=/?name= per post type: like-of, bookmark-of, in-reply-to, repost-of.

fix: post edit 404 — query micropub source by _id not paginated scan (1d28df8) getPostProperties was scanning the 40 most-recent posts for a uid match, returning 404 for any older post. Fixed by patching the micropub query controller to perform a direct findOne({ _id: getObjectId(uid) }) when ?q=source&uid= is present.