an appview-less Bluesky client using Constellation and PDS Queries
reddwarf.app
whey.party
frontend
spa
bluesky
reddwarf
microcosm
1# Red Dwarf
2Red Dwarf is a Bluesky client that does not use any AppView servers, instead it gathers the data from [Constellation](https://constellation.microcosm.blue/) and each users' PDS.
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6huge thanks to [Microcosm](https://microcosm.blue/) for making this possible
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8## useQuery
9Red Dwarf has been upgraded from its original bespoke caching system to Tanstack Query (react query). this migration was done to achieve a more robust and maintainable approach to data fetching and caching and state synchronization. ive seen serious performance gains from this switch!
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11all core data fetching logic is now centralized in `src/utils/useQuery.ts` and exposed as a collection of custom react hooks. theres two basic types of custom hooks, the use-once, and the inifinite query ones (used for paginated requests like feed skeletons and listrecord)
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13## UniversalPostRenderer
14its a mega component rooted in my Masonry "[TestFront](https://testfront-87q.pages.dev/)" project. its goal is simple: have one component render everything. it has several shims to normalize different post data formats into a single format the component can handle. unlike TestFront, it has no animations, though some weird component splits might linger from the old version.
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16to adapt TestFront's bsky-api-based `UniversalPostRenderer` to Red Dwarf's model of fetching records directly from each user's PDS and then querying constellation for backlinks, i wrap it in `UniversalPostRendererATURILoader`, which handles raw record and backlink fetching. to bridge the gap between bsky api shapes like `PostView` and the raw record, i use `UniversalPostRendererRawRecordShim`. this way, the core `UniversalPostRenderer` remains the same between TestFront and Red Dwarf (with the only difference being in the red dwarf version the framer motion animations are removed).
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18## Microcosm
19### Constellation
20the beating heart of Red Dwarf, the backlink index that provides contextual information not available from direct PDS queries. Every post's likes, replies, and reposts all come from constellation. Unfortunately i wasnt using tanstack query at the time (compared to its intensive use in the old version of ForumTest) so it is not using any caching
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22### Slingshot
23though Red Dwarf was made before Microcosm [Slingshot](https://slingshot.microcosm.blue) existed, it now uses Slingshot to reduce load from each respective PDS server. Slignshot
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25## PassAuthProvider
26a really bad app-password auth provider, inherited from TestFront and used in all my projects from TestFront to ForumTest (im very good at naming things). in ForumTest, its been superseded by the [OAuthProvider](https://tangled.sh/@whey.party/forumtest/blob/main/src/providers/OAuthProvider.tsx). i havent backported it here and maybe soon, although oauth makes it slightly more annoying to do development because it requires a tunnel so maybe someday if i managed to merge the password and oauth logins to provide both options
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28## Custom Feeds
29they work, but i havent implemented a simple way of viewing arbitraty feeds. currently it either loads discover (logged out) or your saved feeds (logged in) and its not a technical limitation i just havent implemented it yet
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31## The Following Feed and List Feeds
32they wont work at all
33they need an appview or any feed server
34in place of a following feed you can just use any custom feed that implements the following feed, like mine ([Fresh](https://bsky.app/profile/whey.party/feed/rinds))
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36and for list feeds, you can just use something like graze or skyfeed to input a list of users and output a custom feed
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38## Tanstack Router
39it does the job, nothing very specific was used here
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41im planning to use the loader system on select pages to prevent loss of scroll positon and state though its really complex so i havent done it yet but the migration to tanstack query is a huge first step towards this goal