I recently lamented about how few options there are for Micropub posting on iOS now that Indigenous was pulled from the app store. I had a hunch that the Shortcuts app could be a solution since Micropub takes pretty simple cURL requests, and after some testing to figure it out I put together a set of three Shortcuts to do the most popular Micropub actions. You can install them from the iCloud links:

1. Like, Reply, Bookmark, or Repost a URL
   • This one is meant to be used from the Share Sheet, see below for a video.
   • https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/d31f2fa88698441d93c3faf5d2f2bfcf
2. Post a Note
   • This one is meant to be used from either the Shortcuts app, or saving the Shortcut to your homescreen for quick posting. See below for a video.
   • https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/6a25abc31319449588c383039c64e353
3. Post a Note with an Image
   • This action is meant to be used from the Share Sheet in the Photos app. See below for a video.
   • https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/68faf1dd385b442eaf317f0914f4403c

The first time you install one of these Shortcuts, you’ll be prompted to provide your Micropub endpoint and an IndieAuth token with the scope create profile update media.

How do they work?

They essentially take inputs (a URL or text) and make a curl POST request to your Micropub endpoint with a Bearer token that you provide on initial setup. Then it gives you the option to open up the URL for your post to take a look at it.

The Like/Reply/Bookmark/Repost action has a bunch of conditionals to handle each action a little differently.

The Post a Note with an Image action makes two separate curl requests: One to the Media endpoint for posting the image (which is automatically converted to a JPEG since most sites and browsers don’t support HEIF), the URL for which is then stored as a variable, then one to the regular endpoint with your note text and the image you wanted to post. I couldn’t actually get the “photo” parameter to work in the curl request, so I did it the old fashioned way and appended an HTML img tag to the “content” parameter. I also add a class micropub-img for easy styling. If anyone figures out how to get the photo parameter to work with the curl request, I’d be happy to update the action accordingly.

Some screenshots

The Like and Reply actions:

Regular Note action:

The Note with Image action:

Videos of the Shortcuts in action

Demonstrating the Like action on a URL:

Demonstrating posting a regular Note from a Shortcut added to my Home Screen:

Demonstrating posting an Image with a Note:

Syndicated to IndieNews