Managing YouTube subscriptions via GitHub and Miniflux

By @Charlie Revett on @July 21, 2024

I watch too much YouTube. I'm not alone; 62% of US internet users visit the platform daily, and 92% weekly. It scratches an itch differently to Twitter/X or Instagram because I subscribe to channels that meaningfully impact my life. However, I often start well but become entranced by the “YouTube rabbit hole”.

The platform’s algorithm threads the needle by providing a balanced, never-ending stream of content that feels productive. It’s a completely different experience to Instagram Reels, for example, which feels like a gluttonous meal of content.

This post outlines how I migrated my use of YouTube to Miniflux, a self-hosted RSS reader, which I manage via a GitHub repo.

Overview

The goals of the system are:

Host a Miniflux instance
Manage the subscriptions for Miniflux via a YAML file
Sync subscription changes automatically via a GitHub Action
Create a single feed of content

Why?

Miniflux provides a single feed containing the news, videos, podcasts, and blog posts I subscribe to. It has no algorithm. It has an end. I completely manage its content. Miniflux consolidates everything I want to consume in one place.

I read it once a day, knowing the content is valuable. If I then go directly on a platform, e.g. Instagram, I know I'm enjoying a distraction. I’m not kidding myself that in some way it is good for me.

Automating the feeds that I subscribe to via GitHub is overengineering, however I prefer to manage configuration this way, see revett/dotfiles as another example.

Implementation

I initially used DigitalOcean to run my Miniflux instance. Last year, I migrated it to Railway as an excuse to try out the platform. I’ve been consistently impressed by the quality and pace of product development from the team — have a read of their changelogs.

I run the Miniflux instance in a Docker container (see docs), alongside Postgres. It costs around $3 per month to run.

Once you have the Miniflux instance up and running, head to /keys and create an API key.

Create a new GitHub repo with this file structure — see revett/feeds as an example.

repo:
	- feeds.yml # List of subscriptions
  - .github:
		- workflows:
			- sync.yml # GitHub Action

The feeds.yml file lists the RSS feeds you want to subscribe to, grouped by category:

Blog:
  - https://waitbutwhy.com/feed
HN:
  - https://hnrss.org/frontpage?points=200
Podcast:
  - https://anchor.fm/s/f88f5324/podcast/rss # The Kevin Rose Show
  - https://feeds.megaphone.fm/WWO6655869236 # The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
  - https://feeds.megaphone.fm/GLT9190936013 # The Rest Is Politics
  - https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast
YouTube:
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCB6s-V1Ls4vc_mXEF-4Lz_Q # Arvid Kahl
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCm325cMiw9B15xl22_gr6Dw # Beau Miles
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCtUId5WFnN82GdDy7DgaQ7w # Better Ideas
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCIRjdHLsHq6xdtAHAmoueqg # Bouldering Bobat
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCg97Ni73ozwdoSytGSqTRyA # Framelines
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCDsElQQt_gCZ9LgnW-7v-cQ # Kirsten Dirining
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCcGXEidw0qjNdq7Gii8gHgg # Project Kamp
  - https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC5mPJA4y5G8Z6aNkY6AxgAw # Van Neistat

Set up a GitHub Action to sync your subscriptions to the Miniflux instance:

name: Sync feeds via revett/miniflux-sync

on: [push]

jobs:
  Run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Download and read version
        id: get_version
        run: |
          VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/revett/miniflux-sync/main/VERSION)
          echo "VERSION=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Download and extract latest release
        run: |
          curl -L https://github.com/revett/miniflux-sync/releases/download/${{ env.VERSION }}/miniflux-sync_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz | tar -xz

      - name: Run CLI with arguments
        env:
          MINIFLUX_SYNC_ENDPOINT: ${{ secrets.MINIFLUX_SYNC_ENDPOINT }}
          MINIFLUX_SYNC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.MINIFLUX_SYNC_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          if [ "${{ github.ref_name }}" == "main" ]; then
            ./miniflux-sync sync --path feeds.yml
          else
            ./miniflux-sync sync --dry-run --path feeds.yml
          fi

This GitHub Action uses the revett/miniflux-sync CLI to sync the Miniflux instance with the feeds in feeds.yml.

Head to /feeds/settings/secrets/actions in your GitHub repo and set the following repository secrets:

MINIFLUX_SYNC_ENDPOINT — e.g. https://your-domain.com/v1/
MINIFLUX_SYNC_API_KEY — The API key that you generated earlier

On commits to main, the GitHub Action will sync changes. On all other branches, the revett/miniflux-sync CLI uses --dry-run to only output what would be changed, if you wish to check changes before syncing.