HnF Bot

A bot that reposts every new ~HealthAndFitness post from Stacker.News to Twitter and Nostr

earlier explanation #999588

Features

RSS Fetching (getRSSItems): Parses the ~HealthAndFitness RSS feed and extracts new items, using <guid> as the canonical post link.
Duplicate Prevention (loadPostedCache/savePostedCache): Tracks posted items in posted.txt to avoid reposting the same content.
Twitter Posting (postToTwitter): Posts formatted messages to Twitter/X, appending /r/realBitcoinDog to each link and handling API credentials securely.
Nostr Posting (postToNostr, https://github.com/axelvyrn/HnFBot/blob/main/hnfPoster.js): Calls a Python subprocess to post to Nostr relays, using the same message format and duplicate prevention.
CI/CD & State Persistence: GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/hnfbot.yml) runs the bot on a schedule and persists posted.txt between runs using artifacts.
Robust Path Handling: All file and script paths are resolved absolutely for compatibility in local and CI environments.

Setup

Prerequisites

Node.js (v18+ recommended)
Python 3.8+
Twitter API credentials (developer account)
Nostr private key

Installation

Clone the repository:
```
git clone <repo-url>
cd HnFBot
```
Install Node.js dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Install Python dependencies:
```
pip install -r requirements.txt
```

Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

TWITTER_POSTER_API_KEY=your_twitter_api_key
TWITTER_POSTER_API_KEY_SECRET=your_twitter_api_secret
TWITTER_POSTER_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_twitter_access_token
TWITTER_POSTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_twitter_access_token_secret
NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY=your_nostr_private_key

Usage

Local Run

node hnfPoster.js

GitHub Actions

The bot is configured to run via .github/workflows/hnfbot.yml.
State is persisted using GitHub Actions artifacts (see workflow file for details).

Troubleshooting

Twitter 401/429 errors:
- Check that your API credentials are correct and not rate-limited.
- Twitter developer accounts have strict posting limits (17 posts/day).
Nostr errors:
- Ensure your NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY is valid and relays are reachable.
posted.txt not updating:
- Make sure the bot has write permissions in the working directory.
RSS feed not updating:
- Check the Stacker.News RSS feed URL and your network connection.

FAQ

Q: Why does the bot use <guid> instead of <link> for posting? A: <guid> always points to the Stacker.News item, which is the canonical post URL. <link> may point to an external article.

Q: How does the bot avoid duplicate posts? A: It tracks posted links in posted.txt and skips any already listed.

Q: Can I run the bot on a schedule? A: Yes, use a cron job or GitHub Actions scheduled workflow.

Q: How do I add more relays for Nostr? A: Edit the NOSTR_RELAYS list in nostr.py.

Q: How do I rotate API credentials? A: Update your .env file and GitHub Secrets as needed.

Contributing

Fork the GitHub repository and create a new branch for your feature or bugfix.
Write clear, concise code and add comments where helpful.
Add or update tests if applicable.
Submit a pull request with a detailed description of your changes.
Be respectful and responsive in code reviews.

License

MIT

0 replies \ @istealkids OP 15h

@deSign_r pointed out a Github Artifact fetch failure in #1001317

Update 1: HnF bot now fetches posted links from a public gist in my github gists and updates the gist then and there

Update 2: The .env file should now include 2 more fields, in case you are forking the repo

GIST_ID = the_gist_id
GIST_TOKEN = your_pat_token_with_gist_scope

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @deSign_r 18h

this is great, thank you!

Have been playing around with it and I see an error in the actions' annotations:

Annotations
1 error
run
Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: posted-txt
        Please ensure that your artifact is not expired and the artifact was uploaded using a compatible version of toolkit/upload-artifact.

Can be fixed smehow?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @istealkids OP 17h

thank you for pointing this out i was actually working on this. the ci doesn't seem to be able to fetch the posted.txt even through github artifacts i will try a database approach