postcard: Create a Personal Website and Newsletter

Overview

Postcard combines a personal website, lightweight blogging, and a newsletter in one application. Posts include metadata and OpenGraph images for sharing, while a custom domain and mailing list help creators build an audience on a site they control.

The repository supports a straightforward solo mode for one self-hosted site, as well as the more involved multiuser mode used by postcard.page. It is a fit for writers and creators who want a small publishing platform rather than a general-purpose social network or a collection of separate tools.

Key Features

• Publish a personal website with lightweight blogging.
• Send newsletters to subscribers from the same platform.
• Generate social-sharing metadata and OpenGraph images for posts.
• Run in solo mode for a single self-hosted website.
• Support multiuser hosting, custom domains, and Stripe-based premium features.
• Deploy with Docker or use the included Render blueprint.
• Store uploads with S3 and send production email through AWS SES.

Use Cases

• A writer can publish articles and send them to subscribers without depending on a social platform for distribution.
• An independent creator can establish a custom-domain home for their work and build a mailing list over time.
• A developer comfortable operating Rails applications can host one personal publishing site in solo mode.
• A hosting operator can explore the multiuser configuration to serve multiple accounts, provided they are prepared to configure payments and domain routing.

Project Facts

• Language: Ruby
• License: GPL-3.0
• Stars: 600
• Forks: 45
• Archived: false

Getting Started

For local development, install the documented dependencies, then run:

bundle install
npm ci
rails db:setup
./bin/dev-solo

See the README for dependency versions, production setup, configuration, and testing instructions.

Alternatives

• keila: Keila focuses on newsletters, campaigns, and signup forms, while Postcard combines a newsletter with a personal website and blog.

Considerations

• This is a Rails application, not a hosted service package alone. Self-hosting requires Ruby, PostgreSQL, libvips, Node.js, and npm.
• Production use requires additional configuration. The README describes AWS S3 and SES, hCaptcha, and deployment options.
• Solo mode is the recommended path for self-hosting. Multiuser mode adds payment processing and custom-domain infrastructure, so it requires more operational work.
• The repository is GPL-3.0 licensed. Review the license when adapting or distributing the software.
• The project documents anonymous aggregate telemetry, with an environment variable to disable it.