Dev: @v0idist@szmer.info

Hey fellow FOSS folks!

For past few weeks I’ve been working on a passion project called Openwrite — a minimalist, open-source blogging platform focused on privacy, simplicity, and full user control. It’s built with Flask and released under the AGPL license. Inspired by platforms like WriteFreely, but with a few twists.

What it offers right now:

Multiple blogs per user (or single-blog mode, ideal for self-hosting)

  • SQLite & MySQL support
  • Image uploads (local or BunnyCDN)
  • Markdown editor with live preview
  • Custom blog themes (like a 6 now but I upload new regularly)
  • Custom CSS per blog
  • Gemini support – yes, gemini://openwrite.io works!
  • No tracking, hashed IPs only for basic stats
  • Dashboard with view statistics (OS, browser, timelines – all for free)
  • ActivityPub federation (Follow, Like)
  • RSS feeds, optional search engine indexing, and “Discover” section

Oh — and it supports importing posts from XML(wordpress) or CSV.

What makes it different?

I’m trying to build something:

  • FOSS-first (no paid plans, no analytics spyware, no nonsense)
  • Purely optional in hosting: you can run your own instance or use mine
  • Built for people like us — nerds, tinkerers, writers, privacy lovers

Current status

Still in 0.x versions (currently at 0.10.4), but stable and usable. I’d love early feedback, contributors, ideas, testers — anything really. First pull request will make me cry tears of joy.

GitHub: https://github.com/openwriteio/openwrite

Site: https://openwrite.io/

Gemini mirror: gemini://openwrite.io

Thanks for reading — feel free to ask questions, roast my CSS, or suggest features. Let’s keep the open web alive 💜

  • Libb@piefed.socialEnglish
    5·
    1 day ago

    Looks interesting to me, as a (no-ads, no-tracking) Hugo blogger myself that has been considering trying Gemini too… at least if it means I would be able use it without having to configure Gemini by myself, as if I’m a privacy-aware user I’m also not really much of a geek ;)

    May I ask why use the US Microsoft owned Github and not a more privacy respecting FLOSS alternative like, say, the German Codeberg?