glanceapp/glance - Detailed Review#

1. Overview & GitHub Stats#

URL: https://github.com/glanceapp/glance
Stars: 27270

2. Project Description#

Glance is a self-hosted dashboard designed to aggregate and display all your feeds in one unified interface. Whether you’re tracking RSS feeds, social media updates, or other web content, Glance provides a clean, customizable, and privacy-focused solution. It allows users to consolidate information from multiple sources, making it easier to stay updated without relying on third-party services.

3. What Software Does It Replace?#

Glance can serve as an alternative to several popular feed aggregation and dashboard services, including:

Feedly (for RSS and news feeds)
TweetDeck (for social media monitoring)
Hootsuite or Buffer (for social media dashboards)
Netvibes or iGoogle (for personalized web dashboards)
Commercial monitoring tools like Datadog or Grafana (for simpler, feed-based use cases)

4. Core Functionality#

Glance offers a range of features to enhance your feed management experience:

Multi-source Integration: Supports RSS, Atom, JSON feeds, and social media platforms.
Customizable Layout: Drag-and-drop widgets to organize your dashboard.
Real-time Updates: Automatically refreshes feeds to keep information current.
Privacy-Focused: All data is stored locally, ensuring your information remains private.
Theming and Customization: Offers various themes and customization options for a personalized look.
Mobile Responsive: Access your dashboard on any device with a responsive design.

5. Pros and Cons#

Pros:#

Open Source: Free to use, modify, and distribute.
Self-Hosted: Full control over your data and deployment.
Lightweight and Fast: Built with efficiency in mind, using Go for backend performance.
Extensible: Easy to add new feed types or integrations through plugins.
Community Support: Active development and a growing user community.

Cons:#

Initial Setup: Requires technical knowledge for self-hosting.
Limited Built-in Integrations: While extensible, out-of-the-box support for some platforms may be limited.
Maintenance: Self-hosted solutions require ongoing updates and server management.

6. Detailed Installation Guide (Self-host)#

Follow these steps to deploy Glance on an Ubuntu server:

Prerequisites:#

A server running Ubuntu 20.04 or later.
Docker and Docker Compose installed.
Basic familiarity with command-line operations.

Step 1: Update Your System#

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sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Docker and Docker Compose#

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# Install Docker
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curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
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sudo sh get-docker.sh
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# Install Docker Compose
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sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
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sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Step 3: Create a Directory for Glance#

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mkdir glance && cd glance

Step 4: Create a Docker Compose File#

Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content:

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version: '3.8'
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services:
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  glance:
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    image: glanceapp/glance:latest
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    container_name: glance
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    ports:
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      - "3000:3000"
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    volumes:
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      - ./data:/app/data
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    restart: unless-stopped

Step 5: Deploy Glance#

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sudo docker-compose up -d

Step 6: Access Glance#

Open your web browser and navigate to http://your-server-ip:3000. Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your dashboard and add feeds.

Additional Configuration:#

To use a custom domain or HTTPS, consider using a reverse proxy like Nginx or Traefik.
Regularly update the container to get the latest features and security patches:
Terminal window
```
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sudo docker-compose pull && sudo docker-compose up -d
```

For more details, refer to the official Glance documentation.