intake/README.md

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# intake
`intake` is an arbitrary feed aggregator.
## Feed Source Interface
The base `intake` directory is `$XDG_DATA_HOME/intake`. Each feed source's data is contained within a subdirectory of the base directory. The name of the feed source is the name of the subdirectory.
Feed source directories have the following structure:
```
intake
|- <source name>
| |- intake.json
| |- state
| |- <item id>.item
| |- <item id>.item
| |- ...
|- <source name>
| | ...
| ...
```
`intake.json` must be present; the other files are optional. Each `.item` file contains the data for one feed item. `state` provides a file for the feed source to write arbitrary data, e.g. JSON or binary data.
`intake.json` has the following structure:
```
{
"action": {
"fetch": {
"exe": "<absolute path to program or name on intake's PATH>",
"args": ["list", "of", "program", "arguments"]
},
"<action name>": {
"exe": "...",
"args": "..."
}
},
"env": { ... }
}
```
Each key under `action` defines an action that can be taken for the source. The `fetch` action is required. `env` is optional. Each key under `env` will be set as an environment variable when executing actions.
When an action is executed, intake executes the `exe` program for the action with the corresponding `args` as arguments. The process's environment is as follows:
* intake's environment is inherited.
* `STATE_PATH` is set to the absolute path of `state`.
* Each key in `env` in `config.json` is passed with its value.
Anything written to `stderr` by the process will be logged by intake.
The `fetch` action is used to fetch the current state of the feed source. It receives no input and should write feed items to `stdout` as JSON objects, each on one line. All other actions are taken in the context of a single item. These actions receive the item as a JSON object on the first line of `stdin`. The process should write the item back to `stdout` with any changes as a result of the action.
An item must have a key under action` with that action's name to support executing that action for that item.
All encoding is done with UTF-8. If an item cannot be parsed or the exit code of the process is nonzero, intake will consider the action to be a failure. No items or other feed changes will happen as a result of a failed action, except for changes to `state` done by the action process.