Predator Pics is a website that uses the API of Wikimedia Common to display a random image of a bird of prey. There is a Mastodon / Fediverse bot called “Bot of Prey” that uses the API of this website as its backend.
## How it works
1. The program choses a random category from the `categories.txt` file located in this repository
2. It then sends an API request to receive a list of all (<= 500) photos located within that category on Wikimedia Commons
3. It then chooses one of the photos it received at random, saves important metadata (like author, license and description) and displays it on the webpage
## How to run and install it
If you wish to run your own instance of Predator Pics, you must have Ruby installed (tested on Ruby 3.2.2); you‘ll also need the `bundler` gem that you can install by running `gem install bundler` after having installed Ruby. It is generally recommended to __not__ install Ruby through your distributions package manager – rather, install Ruby through a Ruby version manager like `rbenv` (https://rbenv.org).
Then clone this repository and install the required gems by running `bundle install` from your terminal within the cloned repository. Afterwards, start the server by running `ruby server.rb`. The server (usually `thin`) will then start in `production` mode and serve the website on `localhost:4567`.
## Reverse proxy
If you wish to make Predator Pics accessible via the Internet, you‘ll want to use a reverse proxy. My preferred method of doing that is by using Caddy. First, install Caddy and then remove everything located in the `/etc/caddy/Caddyfile` file and paste the following into it, replacing `example.com` with your actual domain name:
You can use the `predator_pics.service` template and adjust it to your own needs and setup. Afterwards, move it to `/etc/systemd/system` and enable and start it with `(sudo) systemctl enable --now predator_pics`.
