Check Command Line Utility

Internet checker so you can focus when you need to!

check runs in the background, accessing online services and caching their content snugly hidden in your home folder somewhere. When you are in-between things you can check in on the rest of the world. Simple as that.

Things to check

• Mail
• Twitter
• Bluesky
• Reddit
• Slack
• Web (RSS / atom feeds)
• Discord
• Calendar

How it works

Check creates a folder in $HOME/.check with all its data. It stores its settings in $HOME/.checkrc. Each provider can have multiple accounts. Data from each provider goes in its own SQLite database e.g. ~/.check/mail.db so you can reset or synchronise individual providers.

Getting Started

1. Install check

You can't do this yet, because check isn't ready!

2. Add a provider / account

This depends on the provider but would be something like: check add twitter exastencil.

This will start a process for authenticating against that provider if needed. Repeat this for all the providers and accounts you want.

3. Configure background checks

The default check command returns the status of unread items already stored. It does not update the databases. For this there is check exec. You will need to intermittently run check exec in the background to sync accounts. You can safely run it frequently, since it checks provider settings for an interval at which each account should be checked.

A crontab such as the following usually does the trick:

* * * * * check exec

4. Review your settings

Edit $HOME/.checkrc to change the default intervals if you want.

5. Check the internet

Whenever you have a free moment: check to see what happened. If Twitter is a-buzz, go ahead and check twitter. Is your boss sending you urgent email? check mail.