feedfold

feedfold is the feed reader I built for myself. Try demo at https://feedfold.com/demo/.

See feedfold

Reader	Filters
YouTube article	X / Nitter post

Features

• Supports websites without RSS, Atom, or JSON feeds by extracting repeated entries from webpages, including pages rendered by JavaScript.
• Filters feeds by removing YouTube Shorts or matching words.
• Extracts full article text.
• Installs as a Progressive Web App with a standalone window, home-screen shortcuts, and an offline application shell.
• Supports OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini models for custom workflows such as summaries and article fact-checking.
• OPML import/export.
• YouTube account connection with daily subscription sync for the hosted app.
• Preserves separate sorting settings for each feed or folder in the aggregate view. For example, you can configure X.com posts to always display chronologically from oldest to newest without affecting the sorting method for other feeds.

Run the macOS desktop app

The Electron app is fully local. It opens no HTTP port, needs no account or hosted backend, and sends application requests through a narrow IPC bridge. SQLite, background refreshes, article extraction, and the bundled headless browser all run inside the app. The hosted version remains available separately.

Install the Apple silicon build with Homebrew:

brew install --cask egornomic/tap/feedfold

For local development:

npm run dev:desktop

To build and open the desktop app:

npm run build && npm run desktop

To create distributable DMG and ZIP artifacts in release/:

npm run desktop:package

Desktop data is stored at ~/Library/Application Support/feedfold/feedfold.db. Provider API keys are encrypted using secure storage in macOS before they enter SQLite. Feed refreshes continue while the app is running; use feedfold → Quit feedfold or ⌘Q to stop it completely.

Start feedfold with Docker Compose

The included Compose deployment runs one Node.js 24.18.0 process, starts sandboxed headless Chromium when a web feed loads, and stores SQLite data in a named volume.

1. Create a project-level .env file with FEEDFOLD_REGISTRATION_MODE=open and FEEDFOLD_MAX_ACCOUNTS=1 for a single-account server. Then build and start feedfold:

   docker compose up -d --build

2. Open http://localhost:3000/. Using localhost also enables passkeys during local access.

3. Choose Create the first account. Setup signs in the new account immediately and then closes public account creation.

4. Check that the container is ready:

   docker compose ps

5. Check that the server can query SQLite:

   curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:3000/health

The health endpoint returns HTTP 200 when the SQLite query succeeds. Application data is stored in the feedfold-data volume at /data/feedfold.db.

Configure YouTube credentials

For production, set FEEDFOLD_YOUTUBE_SECRETS_FILE in .env to the absolute path of a restricted JSON file outside the repository and database backups. Compose mounts this file read-only. Its fields are:

{"clientId":"YOUR_CLIENT_ID","clientSecret":"YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET","tokenKey":"YOUR_BASE64_KEY"}

For local development with npm run dev, leave the file setting empty and set FEEDFOLD_YOUTUBE_CLIENT_ID, FEEDFOLD_YOUTUBE_CLIENT_SECRET, and FEEDFOLD_YOUTUBE_TOKEN_KEY in your gitignored .env.

For a new installation, generate the encryption key once with node -e "console.log(require('node:crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))". Preserve the existing key when changing configuration: replacing it prevents access to stored Google tokens. Keep a protected copy separately from database backups. A configured secrets file takes precedence over all three local values; missing fields do not fall back to .env.

Configuration reference

Compose reads these values from the shell or a project-level .env file:

Variable	Default	Purpose
FEEDFOLD_BIND_ADDRESS	127.0.0.1	Host address that publishes the container port. Keep loopback when a local reverse proxy provides access.
FEEDFOLD_PORT	3000	Host port forwarded to feedfold.
FEEDFOLD_BASE_PATH	/	Browser-facing path where feedfold is mounted. Set this at build time and server runtime, including the leading and trailing slash, when a reverse proxy publishes feedfold below a path such as /feedfold/. The Docker image preserves the value used during its build.
FEEDFOLD_PUBLIC_ORIGIN	none	Exact external HTTPS origin used for secure cookies, passkeys, and browser-origin validation.
FEEDFOLD_REGISTRATION_MODE	closed	Registration policy: closed, invite, or open. A positive account cap is also required; invite registration requires an invitation.
FEEDFOLD_MAX_ACCOUNTS	0	Account cap, including the owner. 0, a missing value, or an invalid value disables registration under every policy.
FEEDFOLD_MANUAL_REFRESH	false	Allow user-triggered refreshes: true or false.
FEEDFOLD_ACCOUNT_ACTIVITY_WINDOW_DAYS	7	Stop scheduled refreshes for accounts inactive for this many days.
FEEDFOLD_MAX_FEEDS_PER_ACCOUNT	300	Total subscriptions per account, including web feeds.
FEEDFOLD_MAX_WEB_FEEDS_PER_ACCOUNT	10	Web subscriptions per account.
FEEDFOLD_MAX_PENDING_REFRESHES	2000	Maximum queued feed refreshes across the server.
FEEDFOLD_RECENT_AUTH_SECONDS	300	Time after authentication during which credential changes do not require another check.
FEEDFOLD_REGISTRATION_IP_LIMIT	10	Registration attempts allowed per source during the registration cooldown.
FEEDFOLD_REGISTRATION_GLOBAL_LIMIT	100	Registration attempts allowed across the deployment during the registration cooldown.
FEEDFOLD_REGISTRATION_COOLDOWN_MINUTES	60	Registration cooldown window.
FEEDFOLD_LOGIN_IP_LIMIT	50	Failed sign-in attempts allowed per source during the login cooldown.
FEEDFOLD_LOGIN_ACCOUNT_LIMIT	10	Failed sign-in attempts allowed per account name during the login cooldown.
FEEDFOLD_LOGIN_COOLDOWN_MINUTES	15	Login cooldown window.
FEEDFOLD_STEP_UP_LIMIT	10	Failed recent-authentication attempts allowed per session during its cooldown.
FEEDFOLD_STEP_UP_COOLDOWN_MINUTES	15	Recent-authentication cooldown window.
POLL_INTERVAL_MINUTES	20	Starting interval for new published feeds, rounded up to 5, 10, 20, 30, or 60 minutes.
FEED_FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS	15000	Feed request timeout, in milliseconds.
WEB_FEED_LOAD_TIMEOUT_MS	30000	Maximum normal load time for a JavaScript-rendered web feed, in milliseconds.
ARTICLE_FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS	20000	Full-article request timeout, in milliseconds.
AI_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS	60000	AI provider request timeout, in milliseconds.

All server settings are independent. Limits and resource quotas accept a positive integer or unlimited to disable that individual limit. FEEDFOLD_MAX_ACCOUNTS instead accepts a nonnegative integer; 0 disables registration. Both the registration account cap and registered-account resource quota apply.

The desktop app remains local, account-free, and unrestricted. Server registration, limit, and quota settings do not affect it.

Resource quotas:

Variable	Default	Scope
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_FEED_DISCOVERIES_PER_DAY	100	Per account, per UTC day
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_WEB_ANALYSES_PER_DAY	20	Per account, per UTC day
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_CHROMIUM_CONCURRENT	2	Whole server
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_ARTICLE_EXTRACTIONS_PER_DAY	200	Per account, per UTC day
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_ARTICLE_EXTRACTIONS_CONCURRENT	4	Whole server
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_MEDIA_PROXY_REQUESTS_PER_DAY	1000	Per account, per UTC day
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_OPML_UPLOAD_BYTES	1048576	Per import
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_OPML_FEEDS_PER_IMPORT	300	Per import
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_ARTICLES_PER_ACCOUNT	50000	Per account
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_STORED_BYTES_PER_ACCOUNT	536870912	Per account
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_OUTBOUND_REQUESTS_CONCURRENT	20	Whole server
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_OUTBOUND_REQUESTS_PER_DAY	50000	Whole server, per UTC day
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_REGISTERED_ACCOUNTS	1000	Whole server
FEEDFOLD_QUOTA_GLOBAL_STORED_BYTES	21474836480	Whole server

The container fixes its internal runtime settings to HOST=0.0.0.0, PORT=3000, and DATABASE_PATH=/data/feedfold.db. For a non-container deployment, .env.example lists every server setting.