# Pull missing responses into Mastodon

This GitHub repository provides a GitHub action that runs every 10 mins, doing the following:

1. It can [pull remote replies into your instance](https://blog.thms.uk/2023/03/pull-missing-responses-into-mastodon?utm_source=github), using the Mastodon API. That part itself has two parts:
   1. It gets remote replies to posts that users on your instance have already replied to during the last `REPLY_INTERVAL_IN_HOURS` hours, and adds them to your own server.
   2. It gets remote replies to the last `HOME_TIMELINE_LENGTH` posts from your home timeline, and adds them to your own server.
2. It can also [backfill posts](https://blog.thms.uk/2023/03/backfill-recently-followed-accounts?utm_source=github) from the last `MAX_FOLLOWINGS` users that you have followed.
3. In the same way, it can also backfill posts form the last `MAX_FOLLOWERS` users that have followed you.

Each part can be disabled completely, and all of the values are configurable.

**Be aware, that this script may run for a long time, if these values are too high.** Experiment a bit with what works for you, by starting with fairly small numbers (maybe `HOME_TIMELINE_LENGTH = 200`, `REPLY_INTERVAL_IN_HOURS = 12`) and increase the numbers as you see fit.

For full context and discussion on why this is needed, read the following two blog posts: 

- The original announcement post: [Pull missing responses into Mastodon](https://blog.thms.uk/2023/03/pull-missing-responses-into-mastodon?utm_source=github)
- The announcement for v3.0.0: [Pull missing posts from recently followed accounts into Mastodon](https://blog.thms.uk/2023/03/backfill-recently-followed-accounts?utm_source=github)

## Setup

### 1) Get the required access token:

1. In Mastodon go to Preferences > Development > New Application
   1. give it a nice name
   2. enable `read:search`, `read:statuses` and `admin:read:accounts `
   3. Save
   4. Copy the value of `Your access token`

### 2) Configure and run the GitHub action

1. Fork this repository
2. Add your access token:
   1.  Go to Settings > Secrets and Variables > Actions
   2.  Click New Repository Secret
   3.  Supply the Name `ACCESS_TOKEN` and provide the Token generated above as Secret
3. Provide the required environment variables, to configure your Action:
   1. Go to Settings > Environments
   2. Click New Environment
   3. Provide the name `Mastodon`
   4. Add environment variables to configure your action as described below.
4. Finally go to the Actions tab and enable the action. The action should now automatically run approximately once every 10 min. 

### 3) Run this script locally as a cron job

If you want to, you can of course also run this script locally as a cron job:

1. To get started, clone this repository. (If you'd rather not clone the full repository, you can simply download the `find_posts.py` file, but don't forget to create a directory called `artifacts` in the same directory: The script expects this directory to be present, and stores information about posts it has already pushed into your instance in that directory, to avoid pushing the same posts over and over again.)
2. Then simply run this script like so: `python find_posts.py --access-token=<TOKEN> --server=<SERVER>` etc. (run `python find_posts.py -h` to get a list of all options)

When setting up your cronjob, do make sure you are setting the interval long enough that two runs of the script don't overlap though! Running this script with overlapping will have unpleasant results ...

If you are running this script locally, my recommendation is to run it manually once, before turning on the cron job: The first run will be significantly slower than subsequent runs, and that will help you prevent overlapping during that first run.

### 4) Run this script from a container

This script is also available in a pre-packaged container, [mastodon_get_replies](https://github.com/nanos/mastodon_get_replies/pkgs/container/mastodon_get_replies).

1. Pull the container from `ghcr.io`, using Docker or your container tool of choice: `docker pull ghcr.io/nanos/mastodon_get_replies:latest`
2. Run the container, passing the command line arguments like running the script directly: `docker run -it ghcr.io/nanos/mastodon_get_replies:latest --access-token=<TOKEN> --server=<SERVER>`

The same rules for running this as a cron job apply to running the container, don't overlap any executions.

An example Kubernetes CronJob for running the container is included in the [`examples`](https://github.com/nanos/mastodon_get_replies/tree/main/examples) folder.

### 5) Configuration options

Please see below for a list of configuration options.

| Environment Variable Name (if using GitHub Action) | Command line flag (if using cron, or the container) | Required? | Notes |
|:---------------------------------------------------|:----------------------------------------------------|-----------|:------|
| -- | `--access-token` | Yes | The access token. If using GitHub action, this needs to be provided as a Secret called  `ACCESS_TOKEN` |
|`MASTODON_SERVER`|`--server`|Yes|The domain only of your mastodon server (without `https://` prefix) e.g. `mstdn.thms.uk`. |
| `HOME_TIMELINE_LENGTH` | `--home-timeline-length` | No | Provide to fetch remote replies to posts in the API-Key owner's home timeline. Determines how many posts we'll fetch replies for. (An integer number, e.g. `200`)
| `REPLY_INTERVAL_IN_HOURS` | `--reply-interval-in-hours` | No | Provide to fetch remote replies to posts that have received replies from users on your own instance. Determines how far back in time we'll go to find posts that have received replies. (An integer number, e.g. `24`)
| `MAX_FOLLOWINGS` | `--max-followings` | No | Provide to backfill profiles for your most recent followings. Determines how many of your last followings you want to backfill. (An integer number, e.g. `80`. Ensure you also provide `USER`).
| `MAX_FOLLOWERS` | `--max-followers` | No | Provide to backfill profiles for your most recent followers. Determines how many of your last followers you want to backfill. (An integer number, e.g. `80`. Ensure you also provide `USER`).
| `USER` | `--user` | See Notes | Required together with `MAX_FOLLOWERS` or `MAX_FOLLOWINGS`: The username of the user whose followers or followings you want to backfill (e.g. `michael` for the user `@michael@thms.uk`).
| `HTTP_TIMEOUT` | `--http-timeout` | No | The timeout for any HTTP requests to the Mastodon API in seconds. Defaults to `5`.

## Acknowledgments

This script is mostly taken from [Abhinav Sarkar](https://notes.abhinavsarkar.net/2023/mastodon-context), with just some additions and alterations. Thank you Abhinav!