====== Gemini ======

**Year:** 2019\\
**Port:** 1965 (honouring NASA's Project Gemini, 1964–1966)\\
**Created by:** Solderpunk (pseudonymous)

===== What It Is =====

A protocol between Gopher and HTTP in complexity. Requests are a single URL terminated by a line break. Responses are a two-digit status code, a content type, and the data. TLS is mandatory. No cookies, no tracking pixels, no third-party resources, no JavaScript, no behavioral analytics.

===== Why It Was Created =====

Solderpunk watched more people rediscovering Gopher as a refuge from the bloated web. But Gopher has no encryption — a serious problem after Snowden's 2013 surveillance revelations. Gemini's answer: make TLS mandatory for all capsules.

===== Gemtext Format =====

[[protocols:gemini:gemtext|Gemtext]] is line-oriented. The first characters of a line determine its type:

^ Syntax ^ Type ^
| ''# Heading'' | H1 |
| ''## Heading'' | H2 |
| ''### Heading'' | H3 |
| ''=> URL Text'' | Link (one per line) |
| ''* item'' | List item |
| ''> text'' | Blockquote |
| ''` `` `'' | Preformatted block toggle |
| (anything else) | Body text |

No nesting, no inline formatting, no images. Writing is stripped to its skeleton.

===== Blogging: Gemlogs =====

A **gemlog** is a Gemini blog. Entries follow the subscription convention — the date format ''YYYY-MM-DD'' at the start of a link label allows clients to auto-detect new posts:

<code>
=> /posts/2026-05-26-title.gmi 2026-05-26 Post title
</code>

Local files live in ''~/gemlogs/'', with ''index.gmi'', ''about.gmi'', ''feed.gmi'', and ''posts/''.

===== Local Setup =====

<code bash>
./bin/gemini-build.sh    # builds gemini content
./bin/sync-to-tilde.sh   # syncs to tilde.town
</code>

Hosted at: ''gemini://tilde.town/~brennan''

===== Tools =====

  * [[protocols:smallweb:clients|Bombadillo, Offpunk, Lagrange]] — clients
  * [[https://gemtext.brennan.day|Markdown to Gemtext converter]] — convert existing writing
  * [[https://smol.pub|Smol Pub]] — publishes simultaneously to HTTPS and Gemini ($5 lifetime)
  * Web proxies: [[https://portal.mozz.us|portal.mozz.us]], [[https://proxy.vulpes.one|proxy.vulpes.one]]

===== See Also =====

  * [[protocols:gemini:gemtext|Gemtext Specification]]
  * [[protocols:gopher:start|Gopher]]
  * [[protocols:finger:start|Finger]]
  * [[protocols:smallweb:solarpunk|Solarpunk and the Small Web]]
  * [[protocols:start|Return to protocols]]