Using Mastodon from the command line
Command Line – Mastodon CLI Client
© Lead Image © Author, 123RF.com
If you are looking for a Twitter alternative, toot lets you interact with Mastodon from the command line.
An open source, decentralized version of Twitter, Mastodon has been in development since 2016. With Elon Musk's erratic decisions since purchasing Twitter in late 2022, many users predicting Twitter's doom have been searching desperately for alternatives. The result has been a new surge in interest in Mastodon – even if many newcomers remain puzzled by its open source organization. The interest is so great that Mastodon's founder Eugen Rochko reports that he has received offers of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from five investors – offers he refused so as not to endanger Mastodon's nonprofit status [1]. As I write, the exodus from Twitter appears to have slowed, but along with the renewed interest in Mastodon has come a renewed interest among Linux users in toot [2], an open source command-line client for Mastodon.
Toot takes its name from Mastodon's equivalent of Twitter's tweets, the microblog messages posted by users. Officially, the term is obsolete, with Mastodon's latest release replacing toot with a simple Publish button [3], but the term remains widely used. Toot compares favorably with Twitter clients for Linux such as Twidge, Oyster, and Rainbow Stream, many of which are not up-to-date, and have an alarming tendency to come and go without warning. By contrast, although current users must still use the web interface to create a Mastodon account for everyday use, toot is a complete replacement for the web version of Mastodon (Figure 1), providing functionality that is both thoroughly documented and up-to-date with Mastodon through a series of commands and options that keeps users' hands firmly on the keyboard.
Figure 1: The Mastodon web application.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
CIQ Releases Compatibility Catalog for Rocky Linux
The company behind Rocky Linux is making an open catalog available to developers, hobbyists, and other contributors, so they can verify and publish compatibility with the CIQ lineup.
-
KDE Gets Some Resuscitation
KDE is bringing back two themes that vanished a few years ago, putting a bit more air under its wings.
-
Ubuntu 26.04 Beta Arrives with Some Surprises
Ubuntu 26.04 is almost here, but the beta version has been released, and it might surprise some people.
-
Ubuntu MATE Dev Leaving After 12 years
Martin Wimpress, the maintainer of Ubuntu MATE, is now searching for his successor. Are you the next in line?
-
Kali Linux Waxes Nostalgic with BackTrack Mode
For those who've used Kali Linux since its inception, the changes with the new release are sure to put a smile on your face.
-
Gnome 50 Smooths Out NVIDIA GPU Issues
Gamers rejoice, your favorite pastime just got better with Gnome 50 and NVIDIA GPUs.
-
System76 Retools Thelio Desktop
The new Thelio Mira has landed with improved performance, repairability, and front-facing ports alongside a high-quality tempered glass facade.
-
Some Linux Distros Skirt Age Verification Laws
After California introduced an age verification law recently, open source operating system developers have had to get creative with how they deal with it.
-
UN Creates Open Source Portal
In a quest to strengthen open source collaboration, the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology has created a new portal.
-
Latest Linux Kernel RC Contains Changes Galore
Linux kernel 7.0-rc3 includes more changes than have been made in a single release in recent history.