WebMentions & Social Bridging

markata-go supports the IndieWeb WebMention protocol for connecting your static site to the decentralized social web. This includes:

• Outgoing WebMentions: Automatically notify sites you link to
• Social Media Bridging: Receive likes, reposts, and replies from Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, and more

Quick Start

Enable WebMentions in your markata-go.toml:

[markata-go.webmentions]
enabled = true

# For outgoing mentions
outgoing = true

# For social media bridging
[markata-go.webmentions.bridges]
enabled = true
bluesky = true
twitter = true
mastodon = true

Outgoing WebMentions

When you link to external sites in your posts, markata-go can automatically send WebMentions to those sites (if they support the protocol).

How It Works

1. During build, markata-go scans your posts for external links
2. For each link, it discovers the target site's WebMention endpoint
3. It sends a notification: "Hey, this URL linked to you!"
4. The target site can then display your link/comment

Configuration

[markata-go.webmentions]
enabled = true
outgoing = true

# HTTP request timeout
timeout = "30s"

# Max concurrent requests
concurrent_requests = 5

# Cache directory to avoid re-sending
cache_dir = ".cache/webmentions"

# Custom User-Agent string
user_agent = "MySite/1.0 (WebMention; +https://mysite.com)"

Caching

Sent WebMentions are cached to avoid re-sending on every build. The cache is stored in the configured cache_dir as JSON.

Social Media Bridging

Social media bridging allows you to receive interactions from Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, and other platforms as WebMentions. This is powered by services like Bridgy Fed.

Supported Platforms

Setting Up Bridging

1. Sign up for webmention.io to receive incoming mentions
2. Connect Bridgy Fed to your social accounts at fed.brid.gy
3. Configure markata-go:

[markata-go.webmentions]
enabled = true
webmention_io_token = "your_token_here"

[markata-go.webmentions.bridges]
enabled = true
bridgy_fediverse = true

# Enable specific platforms
bluesky = true
twitter = true
mastodon = true
github = true
flickr = false

Platform Detection

markata-go automatically detects the source platform of incoming WebMentions by analyzing:

1. URL patterns: brid.gy/publish/bluesky, bsky.app, etc.
2. Domain matching: Known Mastodon instances, GitHub, etc.
3. Content patterns: Platform-specific indicators in mention content

Each detected mention is enriched with: - Platform name: "bluesky", "twitter", "mastodon", etc. - Handle: Platform-specific username (e.g., @alice.bsky.social) - Original URL: Link back to the original interaction

Filtering Bridged Mentions

You can filter incoming mentions by platform, interaction type, or content:

[markata-go.webmentions.bridges.filters]
# Only accept from these platforms
platforms = ["bluesky", "mastodon"]

# Only accept these interaction types
# Options: "like", "repost", "reply", "bookmark", "mention"
interaction_types = ["like", "repost", "reply"]

# Minimum content length for replies
min_content_length = 10

# Block specific domains
blocked_domains = ["spam-site.com", "bad-actor.net"]

Template Integration

Display WebMentions in your templates:

{% if post.webmentions %}
<section class="webmentions">
  <h3>Reactions</h3>

  {% for mention in post.webmentions %}
  <article class="webmention webmention--{{ mention.platform }}">
    <!-- Platform badge -->
    {% if mention.platform != "web" %}
    <span class="platform-badge">
      {% if mention.platform == "bluesky" %}Bluesky
      {% elif mention.platform == "twitter" %}Twitter
      {% elif mention.platform == "mastodon" %}Mastodon
      {% elif mention.platform == "github" %}GitHub
      {% endif %}
    </span>
    {% endif %}

    <!-- Author info -->
    <div class="author">
      {% if mention.author.photo %}
      <img src="{{ mention.author.photo }}" alt="{{ mention.author.name }}">
      {% endif %}
      <a href="{{ mention.author.url }}">
        {{ mention.handle | default(mention.author.name) }}
      </a>
    </div>

    <!-- Interaction type -->
    {% if mention.wm_property == "like-of" %}
      <p>Liked this post</p>
    {% elif mention.wm_property == "repost-of" %}
      <p>Reposted this post</p>
    {% elif mention.wm_property == "in-reply-to" %}
      <blockquote>{{ mention.content.text }}</blockquote>
    {% endif %}

    <!-- Link to original -->
    {% if mention.original_url %}
    <a href="{{ mention.original_url }}">View on {{ mention.platform }}</a>
    {% endif %}
  </article>
  {% endfor %}
</section>
{% endif %}

Platform-Specific Styling

/* Platform colors */
.platform-badge--bluesky { background: #0085ff; }
.platform-badge--twitter { background: #1da1f2; }
.platform-badge--mastodon { background: #6364ff; }
.platform-badge--github { background: #333; }

/* Platform borders */
.webmention--bluesky { border-left: 3px solid #0085ff; }
.webmention--twitter { border-left: 3px solid #1da1f2; }
.webmention--mastodon { border-left: 3px solid #6364ff; }
.webmention--github { border-left: 3px solid #333; }

Fetching WebMentions

WebMentions are fetched from webmention.io and cached locally. The build process reads from the cache, so you need to periodically fetch fresh mentions.

Fetching with CLI

# Fetch all webmentions for your site
markata-go webmentions fetch

# The mentions are saved to .cache/webmentions/received_mentions.json

Environment Variable

You can set your webmention.io token via environment variable instead of config:

export WEBMENTION_IO_TOKEN="your_token_here"
markata-go webmentions fetch

Automated Fetching

Set up a cron job or CI workflow to fetch mentions regularly:

# .github/workflows/fetch-webmentions.yml
name: Fetch WebMentions
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 */6 * * *'  # Every 6 hours
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  fetch:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Fetch webmentions
        run: markata-go webmentions fetch
        env:
          WEBMENTION_IO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.WEBMENTION_IO_TOKEN }}
      - name: Commit cache
        run: |
          git config user.name github-actions
          git config user.email [email protected]
          git add .cache/webmentions/
          git diff --staged --quiet || git commit -m "chore: update webmention cache"
          git push

Displaying Counts on Post Cards

The default theme includes a webmention counts partial that shows like/repost/reply counts on post cards.

Including the Partial

Add to your card templates (e.g., article-card.html):

<article class="article-card">
  <a href="{{ post.Href }}">
    <h3>{{ post.Title }}</h3>
    <p>{{ post.Description }}</p>
  </a>
  <footer>
    <time>{{ post.Date.Format "Jan 2, 2006" }}</time>
    {% include "partials/webmention-counts.html" %}
  </footer>
</article>

The Counts Partial

The partials/webmention-counts.html partial renders compact counts:

{% if post.Extra.webmentions %}
{% set likes = post.Extra.webmentions|selectattr("WMProperty", "equalto", "like-of")|list|length %}
{% set reposts = post.Extra.webmentions|selectattr("WMProperty", "equalto", "repost-of")|list|length %}
{% set replies = post.Extra.webmentions|selectattr("WMProperty", "equalto", "in-reply-to")|list|length %}

{% if likes > 0 or reposts > 0 or replies > 0 %}
<div class="webmention-counts">
  {% if likes > 0 %}<span class="wm-count wm-likes" title="Likes">{{ likes }}</span>{% endif %}
  {% if reposts > 0 %}<span class="wm-count wm-reposts" title="Reposts">{{ reposts }}</span>{% endif %}
  {% if replies > 0 %}<span class="wm-count wm-replies" title="Replies">{{ replies }}</span>{% endif %}
</div>
{% endif %}
{% endif %}

Styling Counts

The default theme uses semantic color variables:

.webmention-counts {
  display: flex;
  gap: 0.75rem;
  font-size: 0.875rem;
}

.wm-count {
  display: inline-flex;
  align-items: center;
  gap: 0.25rem;
}

.wm-count::before {
  font-size: 1rem;
}

.wm-likes::before { content: ""; color: var(--color-error); }
.wm-reposts::before { content: ""; color: var(--color-success); }
.wm-replies::before { content: ""; color: var(--color-primary); }

Engagement Leaderboard

The webmentions_leaderboard plugin calculates top posts by engagement and makes the data available for analytics pages.

Enabling the Leaderboard

The leaderboard plugin runs automatically when webmentions are present. No additional configuration needed.

Accessing Leaderboard Data

In any Jinja-enabled page, access the leaderboard via config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard:

---
title: "Site Analytics"
jinja: true
---

# Content Analytics

{% if config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard %}

## Most Liked Posts

| Likes | Post |
|------:|------|
{% for entry in config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TopLiked %}| {{ entry.Likes }} | [{{ entry.Title }}]({{ entry.Href }}) |
{% endfor %}

## Most Discussed Posts

| Replies | Post |
|--------:|------|
{% for entry in config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TopReplied %}| {{ entry.Replies }} | [{{ entry.Title }}]({{ entry.Href }}) |
{% endfor %}

## Most Shared Posts

| Reposts | Post |
|--------:|------|
{% for entry in config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TopReposted %}| {{ entry.Reposts }} | [{{ entry.Title }}]({{ entry.Href }}) |
{% endfor %}

## Top Engaged Posts (Total)

| Total | Likes | Reposts | Replies | Post |
|------:|------:|--------:|--------:|------|
{% for entry in config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TopTotal %}| {{ entry.Total }} | {{ entry.Likes }} | {{ entry.Reposts }} | {{ entry.Replies }} | [{{ entry.Title }}]({{ entry.Href }}) |
{% endfor %}

---

## Site Totals

- **Total Likes:** {{ config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TotalLikes }}
- **Total Reposts:** {{ config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TotalReposts }}
- **Total Replies:** {{ config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TotalReplies }}
- **Total Mentions:** {{ config.Extra.webmention_leaderboard.TotalMentions }}

{% else %}
*No webmention data available.*
{% endif %}

Leaderboard Data Structure

Each LeaderboardEntry contains:

Full Configuration Reference

[markata-go.webmentions]
# Enable the webmentions plugin
enabled = true

# Send outgoing webmentions when linking to external sites
outgoing = true

# HTTP request timeout for sending/receiving
timeout = "30s"

# Directory to cache sent webmentions (avoids re-sending)
cache_dir = ".cache/webmentions"

# Maximum concurrent HTTP requests
concurrent_requests = 5

# User-Agent string for HTTP requests
user_agent = "markata-go/1.0 (WebMention; +https://github.com/WaylonWalker/markata-go)"

# API token for webmention.io (for receiving mentions)
webmention_io_token = ""

[markata-go.webmentions.bridges]
# Enable social media bridging detection
enabled = false

# Use Bridgy Fediverse for bridging
bridgy_fediverse = true

# Platform toggles
bluesky = true
twitter = true
mastodon = true
github = true
flickr = false

[markata-go.webmentions.bridges.filters]
# Limit to specific platforms (empty = all enabled)
platforms = []

# Limit to specific interaction types (empty = all)
# Options: "like", "repost", "reply", "bookmark", "mention"
interaction_types = []

# Minimum content length for replies
min_content_length = 0

# Block mentions from these domains
blocked_domains = []

Troubleshooting

WebMentions not being sent

1. Ensure enabled = true and outgoing = true
2. Check that target sites have WebMention endpoints
3. Review the cache directory for sent status
4. Check HTTP timeout settings

Bridged mentions not appearing

1. Verify your webmention.io token is correct
2. Check that Bridgy is connected to your social accounts
3. Ensure the platform is enabled in bridges config
4. Check filters aren't blocking the mentions

Platform not detected correctly

The platform detection uses URL patterns. If a mention isn't being detected:

1. Check the source URL in the raw WebMention data
2. Ensure the platform is enabled in config
3. File an issue if detection should be improved

Resources

• WebMention Spec
• Bridgy Fed - Social media bridging
• webmention.io - Hosted WebMention receiver
• IndieWeb Wiki