EG Social Timeline

Description

EG Social Timeline aggregates in chronological order your public posts from ten sources and displays them in a single timeline via shortcode.

Supported platforms

• Mastodon, and the Mastodon-compatible Pleroma and Akkoma (public accounts API, no authentication)
• GoToSocial (public RSS feed of the profile, which the account owner turns on in the settings: public posts and images, no interaction counts)
• Friendica (public Atom feed of the profile: posts and images, no interaction counts)
• Bluesky (public API, no authentication required)
• Pixelfed (public Atom feed: photos and captions, no interaction counts)
• PeerTube (public REST API, videos from an account or from a channel)
• Forgejo and Gitea (commits from your public repositories)
• Lemmy, on any instance (public user RSS feed)
• ListenBrainz (public API, no token: what you have been listening to)
• Any RSS 2.0 or Atom feed: a blog, a newsletter, a podcast

Every platform is configured the same way: the instance URL plus your username. There are two exceptions: Bluesky, because its public API lives at a single address for everyone, and the RSS or Atom source, which takes the address of the feed.

Key features

• Interactive per-platform filters, no JavaScript required
• Image previews wherever the source carries one: Mastodon, GoToSocial, Friendica, Bluesky, Pixelfed, PeerTube thumbnails and images found in a feed (optional, per source)
• Per-platform configurable limits for a balanced mix
• Interaction stats: likes, boosts, comments
• Configurable cache (30 minutes – 24 hours)
• Timeline and card backgrounds configurable independently, each with its own color
• Text, borders and icons derived from the contrast of the color you pick, so they stay readable
• List or grid layout, set in the settings or page by page with the shortcode
• Filter bar visible, collapsible or hidden, with its own background: neutral, transparent, following the visitor browser or a custom color
• Responsive design
• Shortcode with optional limit, layout and filters parameters
• Modular and customizable SVG icons
• Privacy-friendly: public data only, no trackers

Usage

Configure the profiles in the settings, then insert the shortcode:

[eg_social_timeline]

Optional attributes, each overriding its setting for that page only:

• limit — 1 to 100, how many posts reach the page. Default: Timeline → Number of Posts to Show.
• layout — list or grid. Default: Appearance → Layout.
• filters — visible, collapsed or hidden. Default: Filter Bar → Display.

Examples:

[eg_social_timeline limit="20"]

[eg_social_timeline layout="grid" limit="20" filters="collapsed"]

Several timelines can share a page, for example one in a widget and one in the content: each keeps its own filters.

Privacy

• Retrieves only public posts from the configured platforms
• No user tracking
• No data sent to third parties
• Local cache in the WordPress database
• No cookies set by the plugin

External services

This plugin connects only to the platforms and feeds the administrator explicitly configures in the settings, one section per source below. No external service is contacted until at least one source has been filled in. All requests are HTTP GET requests for public content; no user credentials are ever sent.

Contacted services are cached locally for a configurable duration (30 minutes to 24 hours, default value depends on the admin setting) to minimize external traffic.

Mastodon

• What: the Mastodon, Pleroma or Akkoma instance whose URL the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://mastodon.uno).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered.
• Endpoints: GET /.well-known/nodeinfo and the linked nodeinfo document (to read which software the instance runs, cached 7 days), GET /api/v1/accounts/lookup (account ID lookup, cached 30 days) and GET /api/v1/accounts/{id}/statuses (public statuses).
• Data sent: only the public username/handle entered in the settings, as a URL parameter.
• Data received and stored: public post metadata (text, date, link, media preview URL and alt text if image previews are enabled, like/boost/reply counts). Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Mastodon is decentralized: terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are available on that instance.

Bluesky

• What: the Bluesky public API at https://public.api.bsky.app.
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered.
• Endpoint: GET https://public.api.bsky.app/xrpc/app.bsky.feed.getAuthorFeed?actor={handle}.
• Data sent: only the public handle entered in the settings (e.g. username.bsky.social).
• Data received and stored: public post metadata (text, date, link, image preview URL and alt text if image previews are enabled, like/repost/reply counts). Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Terms of service: https://bsky.social/about/support/tos
• Privacy policy: https://bsky.social/about/support/privacy-policy

PeerTube

• What: the PeerTube instance the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://peertube.uno).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered.
• Endpoints: GET /api/v1/accounts/{account}/videos and GET /api/v1/video-channels/{channel}/videos for the public videos of an account or of a channel.
• Data sent: only the public account name entered in the settings, as part of the URL path.
• Data received and stored: public video metadata (title, description, date, link, thumbnail URL and like count). Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• PeerTube is decentralized federated video hosting: terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are available on that instance.

Forgejo / Gitea

• What: the Forgejo or Gitea instance the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://git.example.com).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered.
• Endpoints: GET /api/v1/users/{username}/repos and GET /api/v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits for the user’s public repositories.
• Data sent: only the public username entered in the settings, as a URL parameter.
• Data received and stored: public commit metadata (message, date, repository name, commit hash and link). Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Forgejo and Gitea are open-source git hosting platforms. Their terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are available on that instance.

GoToSocial

• What: the GoToSocial instance the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://gts.example.org).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered, plus once when the settings are saved or the “Verify profiles” button is used.
• Endpoints: GET /@{username}/feed.rss, the public RSS feed of the profile, which the account owner must turn on. When the settings are saved, also GET /.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:{username}@{domain}, to find the server that hosts the account when its domain is different.
• Data sent: only the public username entered in the settings, as part of the URL.
• Data received and stored: public post metadata (text, date, link and image URL if image previews are enabled) parsed from the public RSS feed. Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• GoToSocial is decentralized: terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are available on that instance.

Friendica

• What: the Friendica instance the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://friendica.example.org).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered, plus once when the settings are saved or the “Verify profiles” button is used.
• Endpoint: GET /feed/{nickname}/, the public Atom feed of the profile.
• Data sent: only the public nickname entered in the settings, as part of the URL path.
• Data received and stored: public post metadata (title, text, date, link, image URL and its description if image previews are enabled) parsed from the public Atom feed. Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Friendica is decentralized: terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are available on that instance.

Pixelfed

• What: the Pixelfed instance the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://pixelfed.uno).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered, plus once when the settings are saved or the “Verify profiles” button is used.
• Endpoint: GET /users/{username}.atom, the public Atom feed of the profile.
• Data sent: only the public username entered in the settings, as part of the URL path.
• Data received and stored: public post metadata (caption, date, link, photo URL and alt text if image previews are enabled) parsed from the public Atom feed. Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Pixelfed is decentralized: terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are available on that instance.

ListenBrainz

• What: the ListenBrainz API the user enters in the settings (by default https://api.listenbrainz.org).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered, plus once when the settings are saved or the “Verify profiles” button is used.
• Endpoint: GET /1/user/{username}/listens, the public listens of the account. No token is sent.
• Data sent: only the public username entered in the settings, as part of the URL path.
• Data received and stored: artist, track, album, listen timestamp and the recording identifier when present, used to link the track page on ListenBrainz. Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Privacy policy: https://metabrainz.org/privacy — terms: https://metabrainz.org/social-contract

RSS or Atom feed

• What: the feed address the user enters in the settings; it can be any site.
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered, plus once when the settings are saved or the “Verify profiles” button is used.
• Endpoint: a GET request to the address itself.
• Data sent: nothing beyond the request for the feed.
• Data received and stored: title, link, summary, date and, when present, the item’s image. Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Terms and privacy policy depend on the site the user chooses.

Lemmy

• What: the Lemmy instance the user enters in the settings (e.g. https://diggita.com).
• When: each time the timeline cache expires and a page containing the shortcode is rendered.
• Endpoint: GET /feeds/u/{username}.xml, the public user RSS feed. It exists only on the instance where the account is registered.
• Data sent: only the public username entered in the settings, as part of the URL path.
• Data received and stored: public post metadata (title, link, date, vote and comment counts) parsed from the public RSS feed. Cached locally as a WordPress transient.
• Lemmy is decentralized: terms of service and privacy policy depend on the specific instance the user chooses and are published by that instance.

Privacy Policy

EG Social Timeline retrieves only public content from the configured platforms. It does not track site visitors, does not send data to third-party services, and does not set cookies. The cache is local to the WordPress database.

Support

• Repository: https://git.emanuelegori.uno/emanuelegori/eg-social-timeline
• Issues: https://git.emanuelegori.uno/emanuelegori/eg-social-timeline/issues

Technical details