Pseudonym

Pseudonym is a simple web service API designed to help IndieWeb websites with the problem of "mentioning" people both on the IndieWeb and on silos. A version of this code is available as a service at https://pseudonym.cleverdevil.io.

For example, on the IndieWeb, my identity is my website, which is published at https://cleverdevil.io. I am also present on a number of silos, including:

• @cleverdevil on Micro.blog
• @cleverdevil on Twitter
• @cleverdevil on LinkedIn
• @cleverdevil on GitHub
• Etc.

While I have been lucky enough to get the same "nickname" across all of these silos, not all people have been so lucky. When attempting to syndicate a post from my website to other services such as Twitter and Micro.blog while "mentioning" someone else, I may need to format that "mention" in a different way per service, perhaps even with a different username. Pseudonym aims to make this a bit simpler. How? Well, let's dive into the API.

Pseudonym Lookup

To determine the "pseudonyms" for a particular IndieWeb identity, simply send an HTTP GET request to https://pseudonym.cleverdevil.io/identity?url= with an IndieWeb website passed in as the url parameter. For example:

http get https://pseudonym.cleverdevil.io/identity?url=https://cleverdevil.io

{
    "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
    "nicknames": null,
    "pseudonyms": [
        {
            "target": "twitter",
            "url": "https://twitter.com/cleverdevil",
            "username": "cleverdevil"
        },
        {
            "target": "linkedin",
            "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleverdevil",
            "username": "cleverdevil"
        },
        {
            "target": "keybase",
            "url": "https://keybase.io/cleverdevil",
            "username": "cleverdevil"
        },
        {
            "target": "github",
            "url": "https://github.com/cleverdevil",
            "username": "cleverdevil"
        },
        {
            "target": "instagram",
            "url": "https://instagram.com/cleverdevil",
            "username": "cleverdevil"
        },
        {
            "target": "micro.blog",
            "url": "https://micro.blog/cleverdevil",
            "username": "cleverdevil"
        }
    ],
    "timestamp": 1549327619.68206,
    "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/"
}

The requested URL will be fetched and parsed. The "name" and "nicknames" from the website's h-card will be identified, along with any "pseudonyms" declared as rel-me references.

Individual identities will be cached in Pseudonym, and will be updated on-demand at most once every 24 hours.

Identity Search

Interested in finding an identity based upon their username on a silo or a p-nickname or p-name declared in their h-card? You can search the cache that Pseudonym is aware of by sending an HTTP GET request:

http get https://pseudonym.cleverdevil.io/search?term=lacour

[
    {
        "name": "Jonathan LaCour",
        "nicknames": null,
        "pseudonyms": [
            {
                "target": "twitter",
                "url": "https://twitter.com/cleverdevil",
                "username": "cleverdevil"
            },
            {
                "target": "linkedin",
                "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleverdevil",
                "username": "cleverdevil"
            },
            {
                "target": "keybase",
                "url": "https://keybase.io/cleverdevil",
                "username": "cleverdevil"
            },
            {
                "target": "github",
                "url": "https://github.com/cleverdevil",
                "username": "cleverdevil"
            },
            {
                "target": "instagram",
                "url": "https://instagram.com/cleverdevil",
                "username": "cleverdevil"
            },
            {
                "target": "micro.blog",
                "url": "https://micro.blog/cleverdevil",
                "username": "cleverdevil"
            }
        ],
        "timestamp": 1549327619.68206,
        "url": "https://cleverdevil.io/"
    }
]

A list of matched identities will be returned.

Content Formatting

If you'd like some help formatting your content for syndication, you can leverage Pseudonym to transform your content automatically for different syndication targets. Simply use Pseudonym's special @{} mention syntax. If you want to "mention" me, you would use @{https://cleverdevil.io} or @{cleverdevil.io} for short in your post. Then, send that content to Pseudonym via an HTTP POST:

http post https://pseudonym.cleverdevil.io/format content="Hello @{cleverdevil.io}, I hope you're well."

{
    "github": {
        "html": "Hello <a href=\"https://github.com/cleverdevil\">Jonathan LaCour</a>, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @cleverdevil, I hope you're well.."
    },
    "instagram": {
        "html": "Hello <a href=\"https://instagram.com/cleverdevil\">Jonathan LaCour</a>, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @cleverdevil, I hope you're well.."
    },
    "keybase": {
        "html": "Hello <a href=\"https://keybase.io/cleverdevil\">Jonathan LaCour</a>, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @cleverdevil, I hope you're well.."
    },
    "linkedin": {
        "html": "Hello <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleverdevil\">Jonathan LaCour</a>, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @cleverdevil, I hope you're well.."
    },
    "micro.blog": {
        "html": "Hello <a href=\"https://micro.blog/cleverdevil\">Jonathan LaCour</a>, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @cleverdevil, I hope you're well.."
    },
    "original": {
        "html": "Hello @{cleverdevil.io}, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @{cleverdevil.io}, I hope you're well.."
    },
    "twitter": {
        "html": "Hello <a href=\"https://twitter.com/cleverdevil\">Jonathan LaCour</a>, I hope you're well..",
        "text": "Hello @cleverdevil, I hope you're well.."
    }
}

Multiple @{} mentions are allowed for a single request, but be aware that in some cases a particular identity may not be present in a particular target.