Freedium is an open-source project designed to bypass paywalls on websites, primarily focusing on Medium. It targets users who need to access content behind subscription barriers, offering a technical solution to retrieve articles.

How It Works

The project utilizes a Python backend with FastAPI and Unicorn, supported by PostgreSQL for data storage and DragonflyDB (Redis/Memcached compatible) for caching. The frontend is built with Tailwind CSS and Jinja2. A key architectural component involves a cluster of Cloudflare WARP proxy (wgcf) instances and Dante proxies, managed by HAProxy, to route traffic and potentially circumvent IP-based restrictions. Caddy is used as a reverse proxy.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Install/Run: Clone the repository, copy .env_template to .env, adjust settings, and run sudo docker compose --profile local -f ./docker-compose/docker-compose.yml up.
• Prerequisites: Docker, Docker Compose, Linux (tested on Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 39), git.
• Setup: Requires modifying /etc/hosts and potentially creating a Docker network.
• Links: Main development repository: https://codeberg.org/Freedium-cfd/web

Highlighted Details

• Leverages a distributed proxy cluster (Cloudflare WARP + Dante) for traffic management.
• Includes integrated analytics with Plausible and a ClickHouse database for events.
• Offers multiple Docker Compose profiles for different deployment scenarios (min, local, prod).
• Supports self-signed TLS certificates for local development.

Maintenance & Community

The primary development repository is hosted on Codeberg. No specific community links (Discord, Slack) or notable contributors are mentioned in the README.

Licensing & Compatibility

The README does not explicitly state a license. This is a critical omission for evaluating commercial use or closed-source integration.

Limitations & Caveats

The project is described as a mirror, with the main development happening on Codeberg. Compatibility is primarily guaranteed for Linux, with specific distributions mentioned. The lack of a stated license is a significant caveat.