NonGNU ELPA - lem

lem.el is an Emacs client library and interface for Lemmy, the federated link-aggregator and discussion platform (alternative to reddit, lobsters, etc.). For information about Lemmy, see join-lemmy.org.

lem.el is on MELPA, so you can install it from there.

Add MELPA to your archives:

(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
	     '("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/") t)

Update and install:

M-x package-refresh-contents RET

M-x package-install RET lem RET

Otherwise you can pull from this repo, main or develop branch, add to load-path, and require.

First set lem-instance-url to your lemmy instance.

Then the first time you call lem you'll be asked for your username and password. If lem-use-totp is set to a non-nil value, you will also be asked for your TOTP.

Upon logging in, your authentication details will be saved in a plstore under your emacs directory. You "shouldn't" have to provide your password again (unless server-side updates require new login).

If you don't want to have to provide your username, add (setq lem-current-user "yourusername") to your init file.

If you'd like to encrypt your authentication token in the plstore, set lem-encrypt-auth-tokens to non-nil, delete the file ~/.emacs.d/lem.plstore, and log in again. For this to work you probably need to set plstore-encrypt-to to a valid GPG key.

• fedi.el, a library to make writing a library of API requests easier.
• markdown-mode, which as per the markdown-mode docs also requires that you have a markdown command installed and available in your path in order to render HTML output.
  • markdown-mode and lem.el will not install this for you, you must do it yourself. Examples include markdown and pandoc. Currently lem.el recommends markdown, as its HTML output is slightly easier for shr.el to render, but pandoc should also be fine. Once you have one installed, customize the variable markdown-command and point it to the exectuable. See markdown-mode's installation instructions for more details: jrblevin/markdown-mode#installation.
• hierarchy.el and vtable.el which should be included in your emacs.

lem-api.el is the API requests layer. All functions make requests and return JSON data pased into Elisp.

The idea is that it's then possible to write different frontends so users can read lemmy posts in whatever forms they like. Possibilities are notmuch, gnus, md4rd, or elfeed.

Most endpoints are implemented, as are most parameters for each endpoint. There is an active todo list in lem-api.el.

New endpoints are trivial to implement with the lem-def-request macro.

lem-ui.el is our own interface layer. It takes inspiration and code from mastodon.el, as that's what I know, and a lot of work has gone into it.

The Lemmy developers have clearly stated that the current API version, v3, is unstable and will likely be subject to breaking changes. This will mean lem.el will have to play catch-up as things change.

Contributions are welcome. Open an issue to explain if you're working on something, and if you want to work on lem-ui.el make sure that what you're doing can't just be pulled in from mastodon.el to save work.

For pull requests, please always open them against the develop branch.

Also feel free to get in touch if you want to use lem-api.el to build another frontend.

If you'd like to support continued development of lem.el, I accept donations via paypal: paypal.me/martianh. If you would prefer a different payment method, please write to me at <mousebot@disroot.org> and I can provide IBAN or other bank account details.

I don't have a tech worker's income, so even a small tip would help out.

Instance view showing jump to community:

Community view (above), and rich post compose (below) showing community completion:

Rich browse communities interface showing listing and sort dropdown widgets (blue):