startpage

generate a startpage of links for a static site hosted via AWS

What It Is

• Lambda function that parses a bunch of RSS feeds, writes links to new posts from those feeds to an html template file, and uploads that file to a specific key in the S3 bucket hosting a static site
  • https://ginglis.me/start

What Could Be Better

• generalized stack, more cloud providers (I'm really only experienced with AWS)
• create scripts/create.sh, a SAM file, CFN template, whatever that automates initial creation of the stack (Lambda {IAM role, environment variables}, Eventbridge rule) (assuming user already has Cloudfront, S3, etc configured for existing static site)
• trigger Lambda dynamically / on every GET with API Gateway, rather than at fixed rate
  • however I like to KISS, keep it simple stupid :) no need to overengineer
• some kind of testing

How to Use It

1. Create a Lambda function.

2. Give the Lambda write access to the static site's S3 bucket.

3. Give it some environment variables:

   S3_BUCKET_REGION=<aws_region>
   S3_BUCKET=<bucket_name>
   S3_FILE_KEY=<startpage_uri>

4. Configure Cloudwatch Eventbridge to call the function at whatever rate you wish

• (I set mine to hourly, which is still within the free tier limits. As I get more feeds I'll decrease to daily gradually, since I can't read everything in a day)

5. After any updates to the template, feeds, or lambda function, run scripts/update.sh