Status.Cave (status-cave)

A lightweight, self-hosted, single-user alternative to Status.cafe built entirely using Hugo, Decap CMS, and Netlify Identity.

Status.Cave operates as a headless CMS. It generates a raw JSON feed of your status updates that you can easily fetch and embed seamlessly into any personal website or indie-web layout.

🛠️ The Architecture

1. The Admin Interface: Powered by Netlify Identity and Decap CMS. Logging into the site gives you a clean dashboard to write updates and set your mood.
2. The Database: Zero traditional databases. Every time you save a status, a flat .md file is committed directly to this GitHub repository.
3. The Deployment: Netlify automatically builds the project, rendering an updated index.json static file in seconds.

🏗️ Project Structure

status-cave/
├── hugo.toml                 <-- Global settings & JSON output rules
├── content/
│   └── status/               <-- Your saved updates (.md files)
└── themes/
    └── status-cave/    <-- The custom theme templates
        ├── theme.toml
        ├── layouts/
        │   ├── index.html    <-- Private login panel
        │   └── index.json    <-- The JSON API generation template
        └── static/
            └── admin/
                ├── index.html <-- Decap CMS panel
                └── config.yml <-- CMS structure layout

🌐 How to Embed into Your Main Indie Site

Because this project outputs a clean JSON file, you don't have to use clunky iframes. Use this vanilla JavaScript snippet on your main website to fetch and render your timeline natively:

<!-- Place this container where you want your statuses to appear -->
<div id="status-cave-timeline">
  <p>Peering into the cave...</p>
</div>

<script>
  // Replace with your actual live Netlify URL
  const CAVE_URL = 'https://YOUR-NETLIFY-SITE.netlify.app/index.json';

  async function fetchStatuses() {
    try {
      const res = await fetch(CAVE_URL);
      const data = await res.json();
      const container = document.getElementById('status-cave-timeline');
      
      if(data.length === 0) {
        container.innerHTML = '<p>The cave is currently empty.</p>';
        return;
      }

      container.innerHTML = data.map(status => `
        <div class="status-item" style="margin-bottom: 1rem; border-left: 2px solid #555; padding-left: 8px;">
          <small style="color: #888;">${status.date} ${status.mood ? `— ${status.mood}` : ''}</small>
          <div class="status-text" style="margin-top: 4px;">${status.text}</div>
        </div>
      `).join('');
    } catch (err) {
      console.error(err);
      document.getElementById('status-cave-timeline').innerHTML = '<p>Failed to retrieve cave updates.</p>';
    }
  }
  fetchStatuses();
</script>

🚀 Deployment Checklist

1. Push this setup to your GitHub repository.
2. Link the repository to a new site on Netlify.
3. In your Netlify Site Settings:

• Go to Identity and click Enable Identity.
• Scroll down to Services -> Git Gateway and click Enable Git Gateway (this allows your login panel to securely commit files back to your GitHub repository).

4. Go to your live URL, log in via the dashboard widget, navigate to /admin/, and post away!