excuse - mount jetstream as a character device on linux CUSE is FUSE's little brother, and it allows mounting a single character device file in /dev, with the device driver being implemented in userspace. unlike typical files, character devices like /dev/urandom are not seekable. they only support a streaming interface: λ cat /dev/urandom # random numbers excuse simply mounts a websocket connection to an atproto jetstream as a userspace character device: λ sudo RUST_LOG=info excuse [2025-09-21 INFO excuse] Initializing CUSE at /dev/jetstream [2025-09-21 INFO excuse] /dev/jetstream is now 0644 in another terminal: λ cat /dev/jetstream | jq { "did": "did:plc:s6zjj6aw652mmvsrs573j6ti", "time_us": 1758442606746247, "kind": "commit", "commit": { ... } } . . . you will notice a couple of optimizations: - the websocket is only opened when the file has readers, and is closed when all readers are closed - the same connection is shared by all readers - the data is buffered and not sent byte by byte it is a bit of a gimmick however, you can do this easily with websocat: λ websocat wss://jetstream1.us-east.fire.hose.cam/subscribe