this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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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 💜

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 days ago (2 children)

For anyone like me that immediately assumed Gemini meant Google's AI model by the same name, fear not, it's a protocol, not an AI model.

[–] Arghblarg 18 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yes, and they used the name first, not google. Arseholes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Not the first time that's happened: https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Markworthy! I love gemini. Im testing it out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Seems like the webpage is down right now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

It was, I'm sorry, I was migrating it to another server and something went wrong :) I will try to keep uptime best.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Love the Gemini support! Will definitely check this out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

Thanks! Appreciate it