DarkFeed

A Pixelfed client built with Flutter featuring TikTok/Reels-style vertical navigation.

Honest Human Disclaimer

I'm a experienced software engineer, however I never got chance to break into linux software development. This app was a plan that I had in my head for years but I've never been able to materialize because of lack of time and knowledge.

TBH this app is vibe coded and I review the code as much as I can. However I know that the vibe coded apps are susceptible to bugs and rough edges. I'm fixing them because this is my daily driver. I use this app because I don't like the current ones.

Why? that leads me to my vision; I'm also a photographer and I belive that the way to look at photography is without distractions, when I was learning photography we used to print our digital photos and took time to view them separately, we sometimes put it in a togheter to "select" but never to admire, thats why the Instagram timline approach is a dilution in the photography art, and downplays the experience.

The closest I could imagine in this digital world is to view each picture in full screen and in a dark background, take our time to admire and dont have any other distraction (like the username, comments and likes). This is the idea behind this app, and I plan to distile it as much as possible.

My main platforms are linux, iOS and mac (in order of importance). That's going to be my main focus but if someone wants to contribute for other platforms, they are welcome.

Features

• 📱 Full-screen vertical timeline (swipe up/down on mobile, arrow keys on desktop)
• 🌓 Dark gray theme (#1C1C1E background)
• ❤️ Like/unlike posts
• 💬 View comments and captions
• 👤 User profiles
• 🔐 Secure OAuth2 authentication
• 🖥️ Multi-platform: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Flutter SDK (stable channel, 3.41.2+)
• Dart 3.11.0+

Platform-Specific Requirements

Linux Desktop

sudo apt-get install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

All Platforms

flutter pub get

Running the App

Mobile/Desktop - tested mostly on linux (debian trixie)

flutter run

Web - not tested as much as other platforms

flutter run -d chrome
# or
flutter run -d web-server --web-port=8080

Building

# Android
flutter build apk

# Linux
flutter build linux

# Web
flutter build web

Architecture

lib/
├── main.dart              # App entry point
├── models/                # Data models
│   └── post.dart
├── screens/               # UI screens
│   ├── instance_selector_screen.dart
│   ├── login_screen.dart
│   └── timeline_screen.dart
├── providers/             # State management (Provider pattern)
│   ├── auth_provider.dart
│   ├── instance_provider.dart
│   └── timeline_provider.dart
├── services/              # Business logic
│   ├── oauth_service.dart
│   ├── pixelfed_service.dart
│   └── storage_service.dart
└── utils/                 # Constants and utilities
    ├── constants.dart
    ├── known_instances.dart
    └── platform_utils.dart

Usage

1. Select Instance: Choose from popular instances or enter a custom Pixelfed instance URL
2. Authenticate: Complete OAuth2 login flow
3. Browse Timeline: Swipe vertically (mobile) or use arrow keys (desktop) to navigate posts
4. Interact: Tap screen to show/hide overlay, like posts, view captions

Testing

flutter test

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.