Thoughts on Twtxt

Thoughts on Twtxt

I recently came across Twtxt, and its minimalistic approach immediately caught my attention. It positions itself as decentralized microblogging for hackers. Yes, it’s true that many microblogging platforms today, such as Mastodon and Bluesky, are leaning toward decentralization. But Twtxt stands out by operating over plain text files.

With Twtxt, you can host your microblog on your website using just a single twtxt.txt file. This file contains your bio, statuses, and the list of users you follow. You can read, post, follow, and unfollow directly using a command-line interface (CLI). That’s right—Twtxt is explicitly designed for hackers and not necessarily for the average user.

I can hear your question: If this simple text file is all you need, how do you discover other people? Well, here’s where things get tricky. There isn’t a robust way to discover users right now. While there are a few registries available, each user must manually submit their twtxt.txt file to all the discovery websites. This is far from ideal and creates a fragmented experience.

Another challenge I foresee is user interaction. Since Twtxt is decentralized, it’s not clear how mentions and replies between users would function seamlessly. These are essential features for any social platform, and the lack of clarity here might limit Twtxt’s adoption beyond its niche audience.

That said, the beauty of Twtxt lies in its simplicity and adherence to the hacker ethos. If you’re someone who loves tinkering and values decentralization without the bells and whistles of modern platforms, Twtxt could be worth exploring. However, it’s clear that significant challenges need to be addressed for it to grow beyond a passionate community of enthusiasts.