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Getting hackspace Mastodon instances from SpaceAPI # prev single next top

2025-05-22 • tags: scripting, spaceapi, mastodon, hackspaces, json • 622 'words', 187 secs @ 200wpm

We're back on the SpaceAPI grind.

This time, I wanted to see what Mastodon instances different hackspaces used.

The "contact" field in SpaceAPI

SpaceAPI has a "contact" object, which is used for this kind of thing. For example, for Sheffield Hackspace, this is:

$ curl -s "https://www.sheffieldhackspace.org.uk/spaceapi.json" | jq '.contact'
{
  "email": "trustees@sheffieldhackspace.org.uk",
  "twitter": "@shhmakers",
  "facebook": "SHHMakers"
}

Downloading all the SpaceAPI files

Once again, I start by downloading the JSON files, so that (in theory) I can make only one request to each SpaceAPI endpoint, and then work with the data locally (instead of requesting the JSON from the web every time I interact with it).

This script is modified from last time I did it, adding some better feedback of why some endpoints fail.

# download spaces
tot=0; got=0
echo "code,url" > failed.txt
RED='\033[0;31m'; GREEN='\033[0;32m'; YELLOW='\033[0;33m'; NC='\033[0m'
while read double; do
  tot=$(($tot+1))
  name=$(echo "${double}" | awk -F';' '{print $1}');
  url=$(echo "${double}" | awk -F';' '{print $2}');
  fn=$(echo "${name}" | sed 's+/+-+g')
  echo "saving '${name}' - <${url}> to ./spaces/${fn}.json";

  # skip unless manually deleted  
  if [ -f "./spaces/${fn}.json" ]; then
    echo -e "  ${YELLOW}already saved${NC} this URL!" >> /dev/stderr
    got=$(($got+1))
    continue
  fi
  
  # get, skipping if HTTP status >= 400
  code=$(curl -L -s --fail --max-time 5 -o "./spaces/${fn}.json" --write-out "%{http_code}" "${url}")
  if [[ "${?}" -ne 0 ]] || [[ "${code}" -ne 200 ]]; then
    echo "${code},${url}" >> failed.txt
    echo -e "  ${RED}bad${NC} status code (${code}) for this url!"  >> /dev/stderr
    continue
  fi
  
  echo -e "  ${GREEN}fetched${NC}! maybe it's bad :S" >> /dev/stderr
  got=$(($got+1))
done <<<$(cat directory.json | jq -r 'to_entries | .[] | (.key + ";" + .value)')
echo "done, got ${got} of ${tot} files, $(($tot-$got)) failed with HTTP status >= 400"
echo "codes from failed.txt:"
cat failed.txt | awk -F',' 'NR>1{a[$1]+=1} END{printf "  "; for (i in a) {printf "%s (%i) ", i, a[i]}; printf "\n"}'

# some JSON files are malformed (i.e., not JSON) - just remove them
rem=0
for file in spaces/*.json; do
  cat "${file}" | jq > /dev/null
  if [[ "${?}" -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "=== ${file} does not parse as JSON... removing it... ==="
    rm -v "${file}"
    rem=$(( $rem + 1 ))
  fi
done
echo "removed ${rem} malformed json files"

Extracting contact information

This is basically copied from last time I did it, changing membership_plans? to contact?, and changing the jq format afterwards.

# parse contact info
for file in spaces/*.json; do
  plans=$(cat "${file}" | jq '.contact?')
  [[ "${plans}" == "null" ]] && continue
  echo "${file}"
  echo "${plans}" | jq -r 'to_entries | .[] | (.key + ": " + (.value|tostring) )'
  echo ""
done > contact.txt

It outputs something like:

$ cat contact.txt | tail -n20 | head -n13
spaces/Westwoodlabs.json
twitter: @Westwoodlabs
irc: ircs://irc.hackint.org:6697/westwoodlabs
email: vorstand@westwoodlabs.de

spaces/xHain.json
phone: +493057714272
email: info@x-hain.de
matrix: #general:x-hain.de
mastodon: @xHain_hackspace@chaos.social

spaces/Zeus WPI.json
email: bestuur@zeus.ugent.be

Calculating Mastodon averages

We can filter this file to only the "mastodon:" lines, and then extract the server with a funky regex, and get a list of which instances are most common.

$ cat contact.txt | grep '^[^:]*mastodon' | pcregrep -o1 '([^:\.@\/]*\.[^\/@]*).*' | sort | uniq -c | sort -n
      1 c3d2.social
      1 caos.social
      1 hachyderm.io
      1 hackerspace.pl
      1 mas.to
      1 social.bau-ha.us
      1 social.flipdot.org
      1 social.okoyono.de
      1 social.saarland
      1 social.schaffenburg.org
      1 telefant.net
      2 social.c3l.lu
      3 mastodon.social
      4 hsnl.social
     39 chaos.social

So… it's mostly chaos.social. Neat.

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getting hackspace membership prices from SpaceAPI # prev single next top

2025-02-21 • tags: spaceapi, scripting, hackspaces, json • 1100 'words', 330 secs @ 200wpm

SpaceAPI is a project to convince hackspaces to maintain a simple JSON file self-describing themselves.

For example, see Sheffield Hackspace's on https://www.sheffieldhackspace.org.uk/spaceapi.json. It's currently a static file.

I wanted to know which hackspaces published their membership prices using SpaceAPI, and what those rates were. Here are a few bash scripts to do just that:

There is an updated version of this script in the newer note about SpaceAPI.

# get the directory of SpaceAPIs
mkdir -p ~/temp/spaceapi/spaces
cd ~/temp/spaceapi
curl "https://directory.spaceapi.io/" | jq > directory.json

# save (as many as possible of) SpaceAPIs to local computer
tot=0; got=0
while read double; do
  tot=$(($tot+1))
  name=$(echo "${double}" | awk -F';' '{print $1}');
  url=$(echo "${double}" | awk -F';' '{print $2}');
  fn=$(echo "${name}" | sed 's+/+-+g')
  echo "saving '${name}' - <${url}> to ./spaces/${fn}.json";

  # skip unless manually deleted  
  if [ -f "./spaces/${fn}.json" ]; then
    echo "already saved!"
    got=$(($got+1))
    continue
  fi
  
  # get, skipping if HTTP status >= 400
  curl -L -s --fail --max-time 5 "${url}" -o "./spaces/${fn}.json" || continue
  echo "fetched! maybe it's bad :S"
  got=$(($got+1))
done <<<$(cat directory.json | jq -r 'to_entries | .[] | (.key + ";" + .value)')
echo "done, got ${got} of ${tot} files, $(($tot-$got)) failed with HTTP status >= 400"

# some JSON files are malformed (i.e., not JSON) - just remove them
for file in spaces/*.json; do
  cat "${file}" | jq > /dev/null
  if [[ "${?}" -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "${file} does not parse as JSON... removing it..."
    rm "${file}"
  fi
done

# loop every JSON file, and nicely output any that have a .membership_plans object
for file in spaces/*.json; do
  plans=$(cat "${file}" | jq '.membership_plans?')
  [[ "${plans}" == "null" ]] && continue
  echo "${file}"
#  echo "${plans}" | jq -c
  echo "${plans}" | jq -r '.[] | (.currency_symbol + (.value|tostring) + " " + .currency + " " + .billing_interval + " for " + .name + " (" + .description + ")")'
  echo ""
done

The output of this final loop looks like:

...

spaces/CCC Basel.json
20 CHF monthly for Minimal ()
40 CHF monthly for Recommended ()
60 CHF monthly for Root ()

...

spaces/RevSpace.json
32 EUR monthly for regular ()
20 EUR monthly for junior ()
19.84 EUR monthly for multi2 ()
13.37 EUR monthly for multi3 ()

...

spaces/Sheffield Hackspace.json
£6 GBP monthly for normal membership (regularly attend any of the several open evenings a week)
£21 GBP monthly for keyholder membership (come and go as you please)

...
see full output 
spaces/CCC Basel.json
20 CHF monthly for Minimal ()
40 CHF monthly for Recommended ()
60 CHF monthly for Root ()

spaces/ChaosStuff.json
120 EUR yearly for Regular Membership (For people with a regular income)
40 EUR yearly for Student Membership (For pupils and students)
40 EUR yearly for Supporting Membership (For people who want to use the space to work on projects, but don't want to have voting rights an a general assembly.)
1 EUR yearly for Starving Hacker (For people, who cannot afford the membership. Please get in touch with us, before applying.)

spaces/dezentrale.json
16 EUR monthly for Reduced membership ()
32 EUR monthly for Regular membership ()
42 EUR monthly for Nerd membership ()
64 EUR monthly for Nerd membership ()
128 EUR monthly for Nerd membership ()

spaces/Entropia.json
25 EUR yearly for Regular Members (Normale Mitglieder gem. https://entropia.de/Satzung_des_Vereins_Entropia_e.V.#Beitragsordnung)
19 EUR yearly for Members of CCC e.V. (Mitglieder des CCC e.V. gem. https://entropia.de/Satzung_des_Vereins_Entropia_e.V.#Beitragsordnung)
15 EUR yearly for Reduced Fee Members (Schüler, Studenten, Auszubildende und Menschen mit geringem Einkommen gem. https://entropia.de/Satzung_des_Vereins_Entropia_e.V.#Beitragsordnung)
6 EUR yearly for Sustaining Membership (Fördermitglieder gem. https://entropia.de/Satzung_des_Vereins_Entropia_e.V.#Beitragsordnung)

spaces/Hacker Embassy.json
100 USD monthly for Membership ()

spaces/Hackerspace.Gent.json
25 EUR monthly for regular (discount rates and yearly invoice also available)

spaces/Hack Manhattan.json
110 USD monthly for Normal Membership (Membership dues go directly to rent, utilities, and the occasional equipment purchase.)
55 USD monthly for Starving Hacker Membership (Membership dues go directly to rent, utilities, and the occasional equipment purchase. This plan is intended for student/unemployed hackers.)

spaces/Hal9k.json
450 DKK other for Normal membership (Billing is once per quarter)
225 DKK other for Student membership (Billing is once per quarter)

spaces/Leigh Hackspace.json
24 GBP monthly for Member (Our standard membership that allows usage of the hackspace facilities.)
30 GBP monthly for Member+ (Standard membership with an additional donation.)
18 GBP monthly for Concession (A subsidised membership for pensioners, students, and low income earners.)
40 GBP monthly for Family (A discounted family membership for two adults and two children.)
5 GBP daily for Day Pass (Access to the hackspace's facilities for a day.)
5 GBP monthly for Patron (Support the hackspace without being a member.)

spaces/LeineLab.json
120 EUR yearly for Ordentliche Mitgliedschaft ()
30 EUR yearly for Ermäßigte Mitgliedschaft ()
336 EUR yearly for Ordentliche Mitgliedschaft + Werkstatt ()
120 EUR yearly for Ermäßigte Mitgliedschaft + Werkstatt ()

spaces/<name>space Gera.json

spaces/Nerdberg.json
35 EUR monthly for Vollmitgliedschaft (Normal fee, if it is to much for you, contact the leading board, we'll find a solution.)
15 EUR monthly for Fördermitgliedschaft ()

spaces/NYC Resistor.json
115 USD monthly for standard ()
75 USD monthly for teaching ()

spaces/Odenwilusenz.json
0 CHF yearly for Besucher ()
120 CHF yearly for Mitglied ()
480 CHF yearly for Superuser ()
1200 CHF yearly for Co-Worker ()

spaces/RevSpace.json
32 EUR monthly for regular ()
20 EUR monthly for junior ()
19.84 EUR monthly for multi2 ()
13.37 EUR monthly for multi3 ()

spaces/Sheffield Hackspace.json
£6 GBP monthly for normal membership (regularly attend any of the several open evenings a week)
£21 GBP monthly for keyholder membership (come and go as you please)

spaces/TkkrLab.json
30 EUR monthly for Normal member (Member of TkkrLab (https://tkkrlab.nl/deelnemer-worden/))
15 EUR monthly for Student member (Member of TkkrLab, discount for students (https://tkkrlab.nl/deelnemer-worden/))
15 EUR monthly for Student member (Junior member of TkkrLab, discount for people aged 16 or 17 (https://tkkrlab.nl/deelnemer-worden/))

spaces/-usr-space.json

I think a couple have weird names like <name>space or /dev/tal which screw with my script. Oh well, it's for you to improve.

Overall, not that many spaces have published their prices to SpaceAPI. Also, the ones in the US look really expensive. As ever, a good price probably depends on context (size/city/location/etc).

Perhaps I can convince some other spaces to put their membership prices in their SpaceAPI...

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