Openwrite — a minimalist, FOSS-first blogging platform with Gemini support

[v0idist@szmer.info]

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

[ambitiousprocess@piefed.social]

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@lemmy.ca]

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