computer-playbook/roles/web-app-fediwall

Fediwall

Description

Fediwall is a self-hosted media wall for the Fediverse: it follows hashtags or accounts on Mastodon-compatible servers and shows the most recent public posts in a screen-filling, self-updating masonry grid.

Overview

Fediwall is a static, single-page web application with no backend, no database, and no user accounts. Configuration lives in a wall-config.json next to index.html and can be overridden per-visitor through URL parameters.

This role bakes the upstream release artefact into a small nginx:alpine image and supports multiple walls per deployment: every entry under meta/services.yml.fediwall.walls materializes as its own path under https://fediwall.<DOMAIN_PRIMARY>/<slug>/ with its own baked-in wall-config.json. The root / shows a link list of all configured walls.

A wall's config.servers may be left empty to auto-fill with the active Mastodon-API-compatible Fediverse siblings (web-app-mastodon, web-app-pixelfed, web-app-friendica) that are present in the current host's group_names. Every other field of wall-config.json is read verbatim from the wall's config block.

Cosmos

The diagram places Fediwall in the Infinito.Nexus cosmos: the components it deploys (capabilities), the central services it consumes (dependencies), and its outward reach (federation and bridged external networks).

flowchart LR
    subgraph deps [Dependencies]
        dep_svc_net_tor["svc-net-tor 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_dashboard["web-app-dashboard 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_friendica["web-app-friendica 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_keycloak["web-app-keycloak 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_mastodon["web-app-mastodon 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_matomo["web-app-matomo 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_prometheus["web-app-prometheus 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_stalwart["web-app-stalwart 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_svc_css["web-svc-css 💻"]
    end
    subgraph role [web-app-fediwall 🐳🐝]
        svc_logout["logout ❌"]
        svc_dashboard["dashboard"]
        svc_matomo["matomo"]
        svc_css["css"]
        svc_email["email ❌"]
        svc_sso["sso ❌"]
        svc_prometheus["prometheus"]
        svc_mastodon["mastodon"]
        svc_friendica["friendica"]
        svc_fediwall["fediwall"]
        svc_tor["tor"]
    end
    dep_svc_net_tor -. "0..1" .-> svc_tor
    dep_web_app_dashboard -- "1:1" --> svc_dashboard
    dep_web_app_friendica -. "0..1" .-> svc_friendica
    dep_web_app_keycloak -- "0..0" --> svc_sso
    dep_web_app_mastodon -. "0..1" .-> svc_mastodon
    dep_web_app_matomo -- "1:1" --> svc_matomo
    dep_web_app_prometheus -- "1:1" --> svc_prometheus
    dep_web_app_stalwart -- "0..0" --> svc_email
    dep_web_svc_css -. "0..1" .-> svc_css
    linkStyle 3,7 stroke:red;

Solid 1:1 edges are fixed relationships; dashed 0..1 edges are conditional (enabled only in matching deployments); red 0..0 edges are turned off in this role. Node markers show the role's deploy modes (💻 host, 🐳 compose, 🐝 swarm); ❌ marks a service that is explicitly turned off, and ⚙️ an Ansible role dependency declared in meta/main.yml.

Features

• Follow hashtags, accounts, or trends across multiple Mastodon-compatible servers.
• Visually pleasing, screen-filling masonry grid that scales from tablets to LED walls.
• Dark mode and customizable theme.
• Privacy-friendly: no server-side state, no tracking, all logic runs in the browser.
• Live customization: viewers can override every setting through URL parameters and bookmark or share their personalized wall.
• Multi-wall: declare multiple purpose-built walls (per event, hashtag, account set, …) under one deployment.

Quick Setup

Development

Clone, set up the workstation, and deploy Fediwall onto the local stack:

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
make onboard
make compose-deploy mode=reinstall apps=web-app-fediwall full_cycle=false

Production

Run the published image to provision the inventory and deploy Fediwall to a managed server (the mounted volume persists the inventory):

APP=web-app-fediwall
HOST=<your-server>
DOMAIN=<your-domain>
TLS_MODE=self_signed
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="<your-ssh-public-key>"

docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$PWD/inventories:/etc/infinito.nexus/inventories" \
  -e APP="$APP" -e HOST="$HOST" -e DOMAIN="$DOMAIN" -e TLS_MODE="$TLS_MODE" -e SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" \
  ghcr.io/infinito-nexus/core/debian bash -c '
    INVENTORY=/etc/infinito.nexus/inventories/production
    infinito administration inventory provision "$INVENTORY" \
      --inventory-file "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
      --host "$HOST" \
      --include "$APP" \
      --vars "{\"TLS_MODE\": \"$TLS_MODE\", \"DOMAIN_PRIMARY\": \"$DOMAIN\", \"users\": {\"administrator\": {\"authorized_keys\": [\"$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY\"]}}}" &&
    infinito administration deploy dedicated "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
      --password-file "$INVENTORY/.password" \
      --diff -vv'

Further Resources

• Fediwall GitHub Repository
• Public demo: fediwall.social

Persona contract opt-outs

Both authenticated Playwright personas are blocked. Fediwall is a read-only public wall: meta/services.yml pins sso.enabled: false and logout.enabled: false, and the container is a plain nginx image serving the pre-built upstream tarball. There is no account model, no login form and no logout control.

Wall content is baked at deploy time from services.fediwall.walls, so administration happens in Ansible rather than in an in-app admin panel. The persona-facing coverage this role does carry lives in the cross-fediverse scenarios that post on a Mastodon or Friendica sibling and assert the post appears on the wall.

Credits

Implemented by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Part of the Infinito.Nexus Project and maintained by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Licensed under the Infinito.Nexus Community License (Non-Commercial).