# Show HN: Mastodon desktop client, made with Claude, using Rust and GTK4

> Source: <https://github.com/aisloperator/fedigoo>
> Published: 2026-11-04 21:03:44+00:00

A Mastodon client for the Linux desktop, written in Rust with GTK 4.

Created by [AI Sloperator](https://www.aisloperator.com/) with Claude Code.

No license is given.

- Multiple accounts, with OAuth login, switching and logout (which revokes the token)
- Timelines: home, local, federated, hashtags, lists, trending posts, bookmarks and favourites
- Notifications, mentions and private conversations
- Live updates over the streaming API, with an unread badge and a "new items" button
- Posts: content warnings, sensitive-media covers, image viewer with alt text, link cards (right-click to open the link or copy it, also as Markdown), polls (with voting), threads with indented replies, translation
- Actions: reply, boost, favourite, bookmark, edit, delete, delete & re-draft, pin, mute conversation, copy link or text, report
- Composer: character counter using the instance limit, content warning, visibility, language, media upload (file picker or paste) with alt text, polls, and Ctrl+Enter to send; if the server is slow or down, it shows that and you can cancel or try again without losing the post
- Profiles: bio, verified fields, follow or follow request, notify on new posts, hide boosts, mute, block, domain block, list membership, followers and following
- Search for accounts, hashtags and posts (URLs from other servers are resolved)
- Explore (trending posts, hashtags and news), followed hashtags, follow requests, list management, mutes and blocks, profile editing (including avatar and header)
- Keyword and hashtag filters: view, add, edit and delete them; matching posts are collapsed behind a warning or hidden, as each filter says
- Links to profiles, posts and hashtags on any server open inside the app
- The sidebar can shrink to icons only (the button at its foot), with labels as tooltips

| Key | Action | 
|---|---|
| Ctrl+N | New post | 
| F5 / Ctrl+R | Refresh | 
| Alt+Left / Esc / Backspace | Back | 
| Ctrl+F | Search | 
| Ctrl+Enter | Send post | 
| Ctrl+Q | Quit | 
| PgDn / Space | Page down | 
| PgUp / Shift+Space | Page up | 

Paging lands on the start of a post where that doesn't skip anything, and pages through posts taller than the window. Paging up twice at the top of a feed checks for new posts; paging twice past either end of a thread checks for new replies. Space and Backspace still type in text fields, and Backspace does nothing on a top-level page (there's nothing to go back to).

In the image viewer:

| Key or gesture | Action | 
|---|---|
| Right / Space, or click the image | Next image | 
| Left / Backspace, or click its left 20% | Previous image | 
| Swipe or drag left / right | Next / previous | 
| Esc / Ctrl+W | Close | 

System packages (Debian/Ubuntu names):

```
sudo apt install pkgconf libgtk-4-dev libsoup-3.0-dev
```

Then, with a stable Rust toolchain from rustup:

```
cargo build --release
./target/release/fedigoo
```

The only crate dependencies are the GTK bindings (`gtk4`) and the libsoup
bindings (`soup3`) plus their own dependencies. JSON handling and the HTML
conversion are built in. HTTPS uses libsoup and glib-networking.

```
fedigoo            # GTK picks the backend (honours GDK_BACKEND)
fedigoo --x11      # force X11
fedigoo --wayland  # force Wayland
./target/release/fedigoo --install
```

This copies the executable to `~/.local/bin/fedigoo`, and adds a menu entry
(`~/.local/share/applications/com.aisloperator.FediGoo.desktop`) and an icon
(under `~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/`), so FediGoo shows up in your
application menu and dock. `fedigoo --uninstall` removes those files and
leaves your accounts and settings alone.

Log in through the welcome screen. FediGoo opens your instance's authorisation page in the browser; paste the code it shows back into FediGoo.

All local data (accounts, access tokens, OAuth client registrations,
preferences) is in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fedigoo/config.json`, normally
`~/.config/fedigoo/config.json`. The file is created with owner-only
permissions.

```
cargo test                   # offline unit tests
cargo test -- --ignored      # also hits the public mastodon.social API
```

For testing the UI without a display, GTK's Broadway backend works, and
`tools/broadway-input.py` sends it real pointer and keyboard input (clicks,
drags, key shortcuts) in place of a web browser. Its docstring has the details.

This section is updated before each release, from a build on the reference system: Debian 13 (trixie) on amd64 (x86_64), using Debian's own packages for GTK 4, libsoup 3 and the other system libraries.

How much of it is specific to the reference system differs by list:

- **Direct crates** come from`Cargo.toml` , so they are the same everywhere.
- **Indirect crates** come from the committed`Cargo.lock` , listed for an x86_64 Linux
build. A build from the same lock file uses the same crate versions on any system,
though another target may build a slightly different set of crates. A`cargo update` can change the versions.
- **Non-crate libraries** (both lists) are what the reference system's release binary
links to and loads. Another distribution, distribution version or architecture may have other
library versions or sonames, link a different set, or load other modules at run time.

These are the dependencies in `Cargo.toml`, with their version requirements.
`gtk4` is imported under the name `gtk`, and `soup3` under the name `soup`.

These are the system libraries that the release binary links to directly, as reported
by `objdump -p` on the reference system. Through the crate bindings, the app's code also
calls Pango and GDK, which are loaded as part of GTK. Building also needs the
`pkg-config` and `glib-compile-resources` tools and the GTK 4 and libsoup 3 development
files (Debian: `pkgconf libgtk-4-dev libsoup-3.0-dev`).

- libc (GNU C Library)
- libgcc_s
- libgio-2.0 (GIO)
- libglib-2.0 (GLib)
- libgobject-2.0 (GObject)
- libgraphene-1.0 (Graphene)
- libgtk-4 (GTK 4)
- libsoup-3.0 (libsoup 3)

These are every other crate in the build (normal and build-time dependencies) as
resolved in `Cargo.lock` for x86_64 Linux at the time of this update, from
`cargo tree -e normal,build`. Where a crate appears in more than one version, all
versions are listed. A later `cargo update` within the same `Cargo.toml` requirements
may resolve different versions, which might bring in different crates. Some of these
(such as `system-deps`, `pkg-config`, `syn` and `toml`) are used only while compiling
and are not part of the binary.

- [`autocfg`](https://crates.io/crates/autocfg)` 1.5.1`
- [`bitflags`](https://crates.io/crates/bitflags)` 2.13.2`
- [`cairo-rs`](https://crates.io/crates/cairo-rs)` 0.22.9`
- [`cairo-sys-rs`](https://crates.io/crates/cairo-sys-rs)` 0.22.9`
- [`cfg-expr`](https://crates.io/crates/cfg-expr)` 0.20.10`
- [`equivalent`](https://crates.io/crates/equivalent)` 1.0.3`
- [`field-offset`](https://crates.io/crates/field-offset)` 0.3.6`
- [`futures-channel`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-channel)` 0.3.34`
- [`futures-core`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-core)` 0.3.34`
- [`futures-executor`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-executor)` 0.3.34`
- [`futures-io`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-io)` 0.3.34`
- [`futures-macro`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-macro)` 0.3.34`
- [`futures-task`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-task)` 0.3.34`
- [`futures-util`](https://crates.io/crates/futures-util)` 0.3.34`
- [`gdk-pixbuf`](https://crates.io/crates/gdk-pixbuf)` 0.22.0`
- [`gdk-pixbuf-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/gdk-pixbuf-sys)` 0.22.9`
- [`gdk4`](https://crates.io/crates/gdk4)` 0.11.5`
- [`gdk4-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/gdk4-sys)` 0.11.5`
- [`gio`](https://crates.io/crates/gio)` 0.22.10`
- [`gio-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/gio-sys)` 0.22.9`
- [`glib`](https://crates.io/crates/glib)` 0.22.10`
- [`glib-macros`](https://crates.io/crates/glib-macros)` 0.22.9`
- [`glib-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/glib-sys)` 0.22.9`
- [`gobject-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/gobject-sys)` 0.22.9`
- [`graphene-rs`](https://crates.io/crates/graphene-rs)` 0.22.8`
- [`graphene-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/graphene-sys)` 0.22.9`
- [`gsk4`](https://crates.io/crates/gsk4)` 0.11.5`
- [`gsk4-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/gsk4-sys)` 0.11.5`
- [`gtk4-macros`](https://crates.io/crates/gtk4-macros)` 0.11.5`
- [`gtk4-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/gtk4-sys)` 0.11.5`
- [`hashbrown`](https://crates.io/crates/hashbrown)` 0.17.1`
- [`heck`](https://crates.io/crates/heck)` 0.5.0`
- [`indexmap`](https://crates.io/crates/indexmap)` 2.14.2`
- [`libc`](https://crates.io/crates/libc)` 0.2.191`
- [`memchr`](https://crates.io/crates/memchr)` 2.8.3`
- [`memoffset`](https://crates.io/crates/memoffset)` 0.9.1`
- [`pango`](https://crates.io/crates/pango)` 0.22.9`
- [`pango-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/pango-sys)` 0.22.9`
- [`pin-project-lite`](https://crates.io/crates/pin-project-lite)` 0.2.17`
- [`pkg-config`](https://crates.io/crates/pkg-config)` 0.3.34`
- [`proc-macro-crate`](https://crates.io/crates/proc-macro-crate)` 3.5.0`
- [`proc-macro2`](https://crates.io/crates/proc-macro2)` 1.0.107`
- [`quote`](https://crates.io/crates/quote)` 1.0.47`
- [`rustc_version`](https://crates.io/crates/rustc_version)` 0.4.1`
- [`semver`](https://crates.io/crates/semver)` 1.0.28`
- [`serde_spanned`](https://crates.io/crates/serde_spanned)` 1.1.2`
- [`slab`](https://crates.io/crates/slab)` 0.4.12`
- [`smallvec`](https://crates.io/crates/smallvec)` 1.16.4`
- [`soup3-sys`](https://crates.io/crates/soup3-sys)` 0.9.0`
- [`syn`](https://crates.io/crates/syn)` 3.0.9`
- [`system-deps`](https://crates.io/crates/system-deps)` 7.0.8` ,`9.0.1`
- [`target-lexicon`](https://crates.io/crates/target-lexicon)` 0.13.5`
- [`toml`](https://crates.io/crates/toml)` 1.1.8+spec-1.1.0`
- [`toml_datetime`](https://crates.io/crates/toml_datetime)` 1.1.2+spec-1.1.0`
- [`toml_edit`](https://crates.io/crates/toml_edit)` 0.25.17+spec-1.1.0`
- [`toml_parser`](https://crates.io/crates/toml_parser)` 1.1.5+spec-1.1.0`
- [`unicode-ident`](https://crates.io/crates/unicode-ident)` 1.0.27`
- [`version-compare`](https://crates.io/crates/version-compare)` 0.2.1`
- [`winnow`](https://crates.io/crates/winnow)` 1.0.4`

These are the libraries loaded because of the direct ones above, as reported by `ldd`
for the release binary on the reference system, plus modules that GLib and GTK load at run
time, which `ldd` doesn't show. The exact set depends on how the distribution
built GTK, GLib and libsoup, and on the desktop, so other systems may differ.

- libatomic
- libblkid
- libbrotlicommon
- libbrotlidec
- libbz2
- libcairo
- libcairo-gobject
- libcairo-script-interpreter
- libcloudproviders
- libcom_err
- libdatrie
- libdconfsettings (dconf GSettings backend, loaded at run time)
- libdeflate
- libEGL, libGL and Mesa or other OpenGL/Vulkan drivers (loaded at run time by libepoxy and libvulkan)
- libepoxy
- libexpat
- libffi
- libfontconfig
- libfreetype
- libfribidi
- libgdk_pixbuf-2.0
- libgiognutls (glib-networking TLS module, loaded at run time)
- libgmodule-2.0
- libgnutls (GnuTLS, used by libgiognutls)
- libgraphite2
- libgssapi_krb5
- libharfbuzz
- libharfbuzz-subset
- libidn2
- libjbig
- libjpeg
- libk5crypto
- libkeyutils
- libkrb5
- libkrb5support
- libLerc
- liblzma
- liblzo2
- libm
- libmount
- libnghttp2
- libpango-1.0
- libpangocairo-1.0
- libpangoft2-1.0
- libpcre2-8
- libpixbufloader_svg and other gdk-pixbuf image loaders, with librsvg (loaded at run time)
- libpixman-1
- libpng16
- libpsl
- libresolv
- libselinux
- libsharpyuv
- libsqlite3
- libstdc++
- libthai
- libtiff
- libunistring
- libvulkan
- libwayland-client
- libwayland-egl
- libwebp
- libX11
- libXau
- libxcb
- libxcb-render
- libxcb-shm
- libXcursor
- libXdamage
- libXdmcp
- libXext
- libXfixes
- libXi
- libXinerama
- libxkbcommon
- libXrandr
- libXrender
- libz
- libzstd