So my RSS tab in Perch runs on Inkwell, Micro.blog’s RSS reader, using my micro.blog token.
Inkwell’s own apps have this thing where posts are split into three tabs — Today, Recent, and Fading — and stuff just naturally ages out instead of turning into a giant unread pile. Manton talked about this when he introduced Inkwell.
Honestly it’s one of my favorite ideas in any feed reader, and I really wanted that same feel inside Perch, not just in Inkwell’s own app.
Turns out that wasn’t a quick copy-paste though. Inkwell’s API just gives you a flat list of entries with timestamps — no “bucket” built in. So I had to rebuild that whole Today/Recent/Fading thing from scratch. Took hours to get right, honestly no easy task.
But it paid off — Perch’s RSS view now sorts everything into Today, Recent, or Fading just like Inkwell’s own app does, and lets old stuff quietly drop off. I actually finally caught up on all the RSS that’s been sitting in Inkwell somewhere, which felt pretty great.
Now, categories — this is the one Inkwell just doesn’t have at all, not in the app, not in the API. Feeds are just a flat list over there.
So I built my own version. Categories live in a Notion database, keyed by feed URL, so I only have to tag a feed once and every entry from it picks up the category automatically.
You can set a category from a popover on any card, or from a slide-in panel, and then filter your feed down to just one topic.
That same panel also has a Sources tab — just a plain list of everything you’re subscribed to, so you can filter to one specific feed just as easily.
There’s a one-way sync keeping Inkwell and Notion in step so neither one messes up the other — Inkwell’s still the truth for what you’re subscribed to, Notion’s the truth for how it’s organized.
All together, this setup just works for me. Today/Recent/Fading for pacing, categories and sources for organizing, all sitting on top of Inkwell instead of replacing it. Kind of feels like a Feedly/Inkwell mashup at this point. Categories/tags are honestly the one thing I keep hoping Inkwell adds on its own someday — until then, this is how I get there myself.
 Today, Recent, and Fading in the RSS feed
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 Category list
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 Source list
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