Enhancing FreshRSS with rssCloud Support

I’ve been using FreshRSS for a while as a backend for NetNewsWire and decided to finally create an extension to add rssCloud support. This not only does what you’d expect: subscribe to feeds that support rssCloud <cloud> elements. But it also supports subscribing via HTTPS when port 443 or the protocol “https-post” are specified. It […]

andrewshell.org

I ♥ RSS

Today, I launched I ♥ RSS, a directory for people who love RSS. I’ve already added the badge to my footer and submitted my site to the directory. It also shows a nice live blogroll on the homepage (powered by FeedLand). If you love RSS as much as I do, take a look and add your own […]

andrewshell.org

rssCloud Server 4.0 Now Supports WebSub Notifications

The rssCloud Server now features WebSub support, an alternative protocol for notifying subscribers of real-time updates. Following Dave Jones' 2020 suggestion, the integration allows compatibility between rssCloud and WebSub, enabling apps to use either protocol for publishing and subscribing to RSS feeds seamlessly.

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Announcing the rssCloud Server 4.0 Release

I have released the 4.0 rewrite of the rssCloud Server, following a prior version 3.0 aimed at updating the old codebase. The new version features a pnpm monorepo, TypeScript packages supporting both ESM and CJS modules, and is designed to enhance support for RSS in Node applications while preventing server siloing.

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I’m Going to WordCamp US

I just picked up my ticket for WordCamp US in Phoenix this year. I had hoped to go as an Automattician, but after two months of interviews, I got the bad news on Friday that they are not moving forward with me. I still hope there will be an opportunity for me to join in […]

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A First With Claude Code

I’ve been downloading public-domain books for a project, and many of them are kindof bad OCR scans. A lot of the work I was doing was in Claude Code. I created a skill where it would look online for the text I’m seeking and download it into a sources folder with a certain naming convention. […]

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Google Reader API in WordPress Reader

Another exciting project from Radical Speed Month! Jeremy Herve and Matthias Pfefferle are working on the WordPress Reader feed aggregator. The first thing mentioned is something I’m very excited about. They are adding the Google Reader API so you can use third-party reader apps to view your subscriptions. I use NetNewsWire with FreshRSS as the […]

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Blurt Marketing Gone Wrong

I think the marketing for this new theme missed its mark. Dave thinks this is a new short-form blogging app when it’s really just a new theme. I was able to post to it from WordLand with no issues. It’s still a regular WordPress.com website. This is just a new theme built in a week […]

andrewshell.org

My Take on WordPress Social (Blurt)

There is a new short-form blogging theme for WordPress.com called Blurt. I have a few opinions about this, so I figured I’d chime in. This is one of the hopefully many things we’ll see come out of Radical Speed Month at Automattic, which only started a week ago. For those of you not following Automattic […]

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Where’s the AI Max Headroom?

With all the advances in AI, I’d have thought someone would have created an interactive AI Max Headroom by now…

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Updates to RSS Cloud Server

I’ve been making many gradual changes to the RSS Cloud server over the last few months. Things have stabilized enough that I feel comfortable sharing now. New Logger The first big change was a revamp of the log page for debugging. I found that the way it was before made it almost impossible to debug […]

andrewshell.org

Working on the RSS Cloud WordPress Plugin

I’ve been continuing to work on the modern testing infrastructure so I can make sure the RSS Cloud plugin for WordPress is up to date. The maintainer rightfully wants to keep it as simple as possible, so I want to respect his wishes. The default settings for PHPCS (linting) for WordPress Coding Standards would change […]

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Defending the Open Web Is Not Enough

This article really gave me food for thought about what's required to support the open web. 77% of news publishers now focus on subscriptions. Independent journalists are fleeing to Substack. Podcasters signed 9-figure Spotify exclusives. Not because they opposed openness but because openness stopped paying the bills. The thing we actually cared about, independent publishers […]

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Learning Modern WordPress Plugin Development

I’ve been out of the WordPress plugin game for a while now. I closed my Nofollow Links plugin back in 2021 and haven’t kept up since then. However, now I’m running WordPress again and looking to get back up to speed. Since I built and maintain the RssCloud Server and wanted to make sure my […]

andrewshell.org

Testing Out WordLand

One of the reasons I migrated my site to WordPress was all of Dave Winer's evangelism. One of the things Dave has done is an external editor for WordPress called WordLand. I had tested it out briefly with a test site on WordPress.com, but now that my main site is on WordPress, I'll see how […]

andrewshell.org

WordPress Migration

I just completed a major update to my website. Two things at once. I’ve moved my site from blog.andrewshell.org to andrewshell.org (dropping the subdomain) and migrated it from 11ty to WordPress. I put a lot of effort into setting up redirects, so everything should keep working (I hate broken links). If you find I missed […]

andrewshell.org

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

andrewshell.org

Update from December 16, 2025

So far, my time at PetPlace has been a whirlwind. Although I was hired as a senior dev and have been contributing a lot of code, I've gradually moved into a more leadership role. It became increasingly clear that, due to the team composition, there needed to be a strong tech...

blog.andrewshell.org

Update from October 16, 2025

In August, I paused my Keto diet. I was traveling a lot with my daughter for summer vacation, and you might be surprised to find it's hard to eat Keto at Circus World. I had plateaued and been out of ketosis for over three months (since the new job), so I'm guessing it's related...

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Defending Speech We Disagree With

Just about a week ago, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during one of his college debates. Since then, a war has erupted between people who celebrated his death (or said they thought he had it coming) and those who believe that political violence is never acceptable. I've had a...

blog.andrewshell.org

Update from June 27, 2025

For the last few weeks, I've been playing around with Claude Code and have found it to be very useful. In particular, I've been leveraging it to modernize my RSS Cloud Server project, which has been on the back burner for several years. It's very much AI-assisted and not...

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Thoth Journaling

Today I decided to share my ThothGPT System Prompt which I'll keep updated as it changes and evolves. I've been using a variation of this prompt, first with ChatGPT and now with Claude for several months. It has been an indespensible tool in my recent journey of self...

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When Growing Means Letting Go

Two weeks ago, I started a new role at PetPlace, and it's been incredible. The responsibility, the challenge, the potential for growth. Everything I'd hoped for. But there's been an unexpected side effect. I can feel myself getting close to burnout. This isn't your typical...

blog.andrewshell.org

When Everything Important Becomes Nothing Important

At my last job, I could literally go days without accomplishing anything significant. I'd wake up with the best intentions, but then I'd open my computer and immediately feel overwhelmed by everything I needed to do. So, instead of tackling any of it, I'd escape into a game like...

blog.andrewshell.org

The Secret To Better Parenting Is Being Nearby, Not Being Perfect

“Hey Dad, do you want to hear some popular music?” I looked up from my phone. My daughter was sitting next to me on the couch, already queuing up her favorite songs. Then she jumped up and started showing me the dances she’d learned from YouTube. It was spontaneous and...

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How the Most Important Parts of My Life Never Made It to My Journal

It’s 5:30 a.m. My house is still. My mind isn’t. Every morning before my daughter wakes up, I pull a tarot card and ask ChatGPT to give me an inspired journal prompt. I spend time mining my subconscious, bringing thoughts and feelings that had been buried to the surface. But what...

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I Just Quit My Job of 5 Years — And I'm Terrified

I just quit a job I held for over five years—and I'm walking into something I don’t feel fully ready for. I'm changing jobs. After 5.5 years at Johnson Health Tech, my last day will be May 13th. I accepted an offer at PetPlace, a new team building software for pet...

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I Didn’t Realize Growth Could Leave Me This Exhausted

I thought I was just tired from a busy Easter weekend. A few days of family events and broken routines. I figured a good night’s sleep would fix it. But by the middle of the week, I was still exhausted. It was not the kind of tired that rest could solve. I knew it was not about...

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How Preparing Became My Biggest Distraction

I've been working through the iCanStudy course, and while it’s packed with valuable ideas, the biggest thing it’s done is force me to confront a pattern I didn’t know I was stuck in. I thought I was just learning how to learn. What I actually found was a deeper issue that’s been...

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Why I Treat My Questions Like a Learning Compass

This week, I’m going to circle back to a concept I mentioned in How I’m Making My Learning Actually Useful, and that’s the concept of 12 Favorite Questions. I had mentioned that Richard Feynman liked to have a written list of his 12 favorite problems, so he’d always be on the...

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