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content/posts/0-draft-embracing-atproto-pt-2-tangled-knot.md

···

       3
        
       description: |

     

       4
        
           You thought Github was a social coding platform? Think again, get ready to tangle!

     

       5
        
           Built on atproto, tangled allows you to use your Bluesky identity on a (not quite yet) fully feldged git platform!

     

       6
       -
       date: 2025-09-09

     

       7
        
       authors:

     

       8
        
         - name: finxol

     

       9
        
       tags:

     
···

       20
        
       Embracing ATProto, part 1: Setting up a PDS

     

       21
        
       ::

     

       22
        
       

     

       23
       -
       The PDS setup was an overall very smooth process.

     

       24
       -
       Bluesky and the AT Protocol are backed and built by a very competent team of well funded engineers for a few years already.

     

       25
        
       

     

       26
        
       ## What's tangled?

     

       27
        
       

     

       28
       -
       Tangled, on the other hand, was started only about 8 months ago, at the start of 2025 by [two](https://tangled.sh/@oppi.li) [brothers](https://tangled.sh/@icyphox.sh).

     

       29
       -
       It's a "social-enabled git collaboration platform"

     

       30
        
       

     

       31
        
       The platform has gained a lot of traction since, and the community is very much involved in the development, but for now tangled is still in alpha.

     

       32
       -
       That doesn't mean it's not usable yet.

     

       33
       -
       

     

       34
        
       

     

       35
        
       ### What's a Knot?

     

       36
        
       

     
···

       39
        
       In tangled, a knot is essentially a git server.

     

       40
        
       It's sort of like an atproto PDS in the sense that it's where your data—here your code—lives.

     

       41
        
       

     

       0
        
       
     

       0
        
       
     

       0
        
       
     

       42
        
       ## Setting up a Knot

     

       43
        
       

     

       44
       -
       ## Setting up a Spindle

     

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···

       3
        
       description: |

     

       4
        
           You thought Github was a social coding platform? Think again, get ready to tangle!

     

       5
        
           Built on atproto, tangled allows you to use your Bluesky identity on a (not quite yet) fully feldged git platform!

     

       6
       +
       date: 2025-09-15

     

       7
        
       authors:

     

       8
        
         - name: finxol

     

       9
        
       tags:

     
···

       20
        
       Embracing ATProto, part 1: Setting up a PDS

     

       21
        
       ::

     

       22
        
       

     

       23
       +
       The PDS setup and migration was an overall very smooth process.

     

       24
       +
       Bluesky and the AT Protocol are built by a very competent team of well funded engineers working on it for a few years already.

     

       25
        
       

     

       26
        
       ## What's tangled?

     

       27
        
       

     

       28
       +
       [Tangled](https://tangled.sh), on the other hand, was started only about 8 months ago, at the start of 2025 by [two](https://tangled.sh/@oppi.li) [brothers](https://tangled.sh/@icyphox.sh).

     

       29
       +
       It's a "social-enabled git collaboration platform" built for decentralisation, ownership, and social coding.

     

       30
        
       

     

       31
        
       The platform has gained a lot of traction since, and the community is very much involved in the development, but for now tangled is still in alpha.

     

       32
       +
       That doesn't mean it's not usable yet, just that some things may break.

     

       0
        
       
     

       33
        
       

     

       34
        
       ### What's a Knot?

     

       35
        
       

     
···

       38
        
       In tangled, a knot is essentially a git server.

     

       39
        
       It's sort of like an atproto PDS in the sense that it's where your data—here your code—lives.

     

       40
        
       

     

       41
       +
       That's the main tangled-specific decentralised part, and what makes tangled special.

     

       42
       +
       You can keep ownership of your code, without cutting it off from a popular git platform by running it on a private Gitea or Gitlab server.

     

       43
       +
       

     

       44
        
       ## Setting up a Knot

     

       45
        
       

     

       46
       +
       Setting up my own knot took a little bit more work than for the PDS.

     

       47
       +
       The [official docs](https://tangled.sh/@tangled.sh/core/blob/master/docs/knot-hosting.md) give instructions for installation on a NixOS system.

     

       48
       +
       

     

       49
       +
       ## Spindles & CI

     

       50
       +
       

     

       51
       +
       Another piece of lingo from the tangled world is "Spindle".

     

       52
       +
       

     

       53
       +
       A Spindle is a very simple CI runner for tangled.

     

       54
       +
       It runs one Docker container per run, and gives access to any Nixpkg.

     

       55
       +
       The syntax is very similar to Github Actions workflow files, with some slight differences.

     

       56
       +
       

     

       57
       +
       Since it's brand new, there isn't access to the thousands of pre-made reusable Github Actions,

     

       58
       +
       but access to the vast nixpkg catalog lets us do basically anything—with a couple extra steps from time to time.

     

       59
       +
       

     

       60
       +
       ### Self-hosting

     

       61
       +
       

     

       62
       +
       As with everything else here, Spindles are self-hostable.

     

       63
       +
       There is a little gotcha for the moment though.

     

       64
       +
       

     

       65
       +
       Since the Spindle runs a Docker container for each workflow run, it needs access to the Docker socket.

     

       66
       +
       They haven't got Docker-in-Docker working quite yet, so it means the Spindle needs to run natively outside a Docker container.

     

       67
       +
       

     

       68
       +
       Although I don't like the idea, it's not really a problem for me.

     

       69
       +
       I prefer to have everything containerised on my servers to keep things tidy, but it's fine as a temporary solution until they get DinD working.

     

       70
       +
       

     

       71
       +
       What's stopping me right now is rather that workflow runs would spin up a Docker container alongside all my other projects I'd rather not break.

     

       72
       +
       I'm aware it shouln't really be a problem, but it just bothers me.

     

       73
       +
       It is very much a me problem, so I'll figure out a way around it eventually.

     

       74
       +
       

     

       75
       +
       ## Migrating this blog

     

       76
       +
       

     

       77
       +
       Migrating the repo over is the simplest things ever.

     

       78
       +
       

     

       79
       +
       Just create a new repo on tangled—selecting your knot—set the remote on your local repo, and push to it!

     

       80
       +
       If you specified the knot correctly when creating your repo, it should now live directly on your Knot.

     

       81
       +
       

     

       82
       +
       <img src="/posts/embracing-atproto-pt2/new-repo.png" alt="Select your new knot when creating a repo" width="80%" style="margin: auto;" />

     

       83
       +
       

     

       84
       +
       You can now use git just as you normally do!

     

       85
       +
       

     

       86
       +
       ### CI

     

       87
       +
       

     

       88
       +
       Migrating CI takes a tiny bit more work to migrate.

     

       89
       +
       I had a Github Action workflow to automatically deploy this blog to Deno Deploy on push.

     

       90
       +
       

     

       91
       +
       <details class="minor-callout">

     

       92
       +
       

     

       93
       +
       <summary>Here's the full file if you're curious.</summary>

     

       94
       +
       

     

       95
       +
       ```yaml

     

       96
       +
       name: deno-deploy

     

       97
       +
       on:

     

       98
       +
           push:

     

       99
       +
               branches:

     

       100
       +
                   - main

     

       101
       +
       jobs:

     

       102
       +
           deploy:

     

       103
       +
               runs-on: ubuntu-latest

     

       104
       +
               permissions:

     

       105
       +
                   id-token: write # Needed for auth with Deno Deploy

     

       106
       +
                   contents: read # Needed to clone the repository

     

       107
       +
               steps:

     

       108
       +
                   - uses: actions/checkout@v3

     

       109
       +
       

     

       110
       +
                   - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4

     

       111
       +
                     name: Install pnpm

     

       112
       +
                     with:

     

       113
       +
                         run_install: false

     

       114
       +
       

     

       115
       +
                   - uses: actions/setup-node@v3

     

       116
       +
                     with:

     

       117
       +
                         node-version: 22

     

       118
       +
                         cache: pnpm

     

       119
       +
       

     

       120
       +
                   - run: pnpm install

     

       121
       +
       

     

       122
       +
                   - run: pnpm generate

     

       123
       +
       

     

       124
       +
                   - name: Deploy to Deno Deploy

     

       125
       +
                     uses: denoland/deployctl@v1

     

       126
       +
                     with:

     

       127
       +
                         project: finxol-blog

     

       128
       +
                         entrypoint: https://deno.land/std@0.140.0/http/file_server.ts

     

       129
       +
                         root: .output/public

     

       130
       +
       ```

     

       131
       +
       

     

       132
       +
       </details>

     

       133
       +
       

     

       134
       +
       Let's start off very easy by adapting the triggers.

     

       135
       +
       Just [follow the docs](https://tangled.sh/@tangled.sh/core/blob/master/docs/spindle/pipeline.md), and set the same trigger conditions.

     

       136
       +
       

     

       137
       +
       ```yaml

     

       138
       +
       when:

     

       139
       +
           - event: ["push"]

     

       140
       +
             branch: ["main"]

     

       141
       +
       ```

     

       142
       +
       

     

       143
       +
       I'll have a look at branch deploys later.

     

       144
       +
       It needs a bit more manual work since the official GH Action doesn't do it for us.

     

       145
       +
       

     

       146
       +
       Since spindles work slightly differently to Github Actions runners, we need to give it a list of dependencies to install.

     

       147
       +
       It's similar to the setup steps in the GH workflow to install node and pnpm.

     

       148
       +
       

     

       149
       +
       ```yaml

     

       150
       +
       dependencies:

     

       151
       +
           nixpkgs:

     

       152
       +
               - deno

     

       153
       +
               - nodejs

     

       154
       +
               - pnpm

     

       155
       +
               - python3

     

       156
       +
               - gnused

     

       157
       +
       ```

     

       158
       +
       

     

       159
       +
       This bit took a bit of trial and error, as you might notice from the `python3` and `gnused` dependencies.

     

       160
       +
       

     

       161
       +
       I'd initially set the dependencies to what I set up in the GH workflow, `nodejs` and `pnpm`, plus `deno` to be able to use the `deployctl` cli tool.

     

       162
       +
       But running that gave a few errors.

     

       163
       +
       This blog uses Nuxt Content to generate HTML from my Markdown files, and Nuxt Content itself uses `better-sqlite3`, which itself needs python and sed in its post-install script.

     

       164
       +
       Adding the corresponding nixpkgs in the dependencies array fixes this easily.

     

       165
       +
       

     

       166
       +
       Now we can get to the actual steps of the workflow.

     

       167
       +
       

     

       168
       +
       Since we don't have access to the existing Github Actions, there's a few sections that needed adapting or manual work.

     

       169
       +
       The install and generate steps are exactly the same, but the deploy step changes.

     

       170
       +
       

     

       171
       +
       To replace the official Deno Deploy GH Action, we can directly use their `deployctl` cli tool, and give it the appropriate parametres.

     

       172
       +
       

     

       173
       +
       I also used this as an excuse to using the `jsr:@std/http/file-server` entrypoint instead of the deno.land url style.

     

       174
       +
       

     

       175
       +
       ```yaml

     

       176
       +
       steps:

     

       177
       +
           - name: Install dependencies

     

       178
       +
             command: |

     

       179
       +
                 pnpm install

     

       180
       +
       

     

       181
       +
           - name: Generate static site

     

       182
       +
             command: |

     

       183
       +
                 pnpm generate

     

       184
       +
       

     

       185
       +
           - name: Install deployctl

     

       186
       +
             command: |

     

       187
       +
                 deno install -gArf jsr:@deno/deployctl

     

       188
       +
       

     

       189
       +
           - name: Deploy to Deno Deploy

     

       190
       +
             command: |

     

       191
       +
                 cd .output/public

     

       192
       +
                 ~/.deno/bin/deployctl deploy --project finxol-blog --entrypoint jsr:@std/http/file-server --include=. --prod

     

       193
       +
       ```

     

       194
       +
       

     

       195
       +
       Lastly, don't forget to give the workflow permission to deploy by giving it a `DENO_DEPLOY_TOKEN` in the secrets!

     

       196
       +
       Since Deno Deploy integrates only with Github, the permission won't be given automatically here.

     

       197
       +
       

     

       198
       +
       

     

       199
       +
       

     

       200
       +
       <details class="minor-callout">

     

       201
       +
       

     

       202
       +
       <summary class="text-stone-500">Here is the full spindle workflow file.</summary>

     

       203
       +
       

     

       204
       +
       ```yaml

     

       205
       +
       when:

     

       206
       +
           - event: ["push", "pull_request"]

     

       207
       +
             branch: ["main"]

     

       208
       +
       

     

       209
       +
       dependencies:

     

       210
       +
           nixpkgs:

     

       211
       +
               - deno

     

       212
       +
               - nodejs

     

       213
       +
               - pnpm

     

       214
       +
               - python3

     

       215
       +
               - gnused

     

       216
       +
       

     

       217
       +
       engine: "nixery"

     

       218
       +
       

     

       219
       +
       steps:

     

       220
       +
           - name: Install dependencies

     

       221
       +
             command: |

     

       222
       +
                 pnpm install

     

       223
       +
       

     

       224
       +
           - name: Generate static site

     

       225
       +
             command: |

     

       226
       +
                 pnpm generate

     

       227
       +
       

     

       228
       +
           - name: Install deployctl

     

       229
       +
             command: |

     

       230
       +
                 deno install -gArf jsr:@deno/deployctl

     

       231
       +
       

     

       232
       +
           - name: Deploy to Deno Deploy

     

       233
       +
             command: |

     

       234
       +
                 cd .output/public

     

       235
       +
                 ~/.deno/bin/deployctl deploy --project finxol-blog --entrypoint jsr:@std/http/file-server --include=. --prod

     

       236
       +
       ```

     

       237
       +
       

     

       238
       +
       </details>

     

       239
       +
       

     

       240
       +
       It took me a little bit more time to get things working right.

     

       241
       +
       I found a little bug in the tangled UI regarding spindle runs.

     

       242
       +
       

     

       243
       +
       When pushing to the official knot, the workflow got picked up fine by the official spindle, and showed up in the UI.

     

       244
       +
       When I pushed to my knot however, the official spindle ran the workflow, but it didn't show in the UI.

     

       245
       +
       It took me a while to realise what was going on.

     

       246
       +
       

     

       247
       +
       I thought the spindle wasn't picking up the workflow, but the bug was simply with showing the info in the UI.

     

       248
       +
       [Anirudh](https://tangled.sh/@icyphox.sh) was very quick to find the cause and implement a fix.

     

       249
       +
       

     

       250
       +
       And just like that, this blog gets deployed automatically on push, using the tangled spindle!

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