Links & Feeds
This is the main content area below your tiles. Links, content feeds, and cards all live in one unified list that you can arrange however you like. A sponsored link between two feed cards? Three YouTube feeds in a row? Totally fine. The order in the wizard is the order on your page.
Adding Content
Section titled “Adding Content”Click + Add content and pick a type:
| Type | What It Does |
|---|---|
| External Link | A custom link card with emoji, title, subtitle, and URL |
| YouTube | Pulls your latest videos automatically |
| Substack | Pulls your newsletter posts automatically |
| Medium | Pulls your articles automatically |
| Podcast | Pulls episodes from any podcast RSS feed |
| Twitch | Shows your live/offline streaming status |
| Etsy | Pulls your shop listings automatically |
| Custom RSS | Pulls from any RSS source |
Every type can be added multiple times. Mix and match however you want.
External Links
Section titled “External Links”The most flexible card type. Use these for anything with a URL: your store, a landing page, a course, a collab, a tip jar.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Emoji | An icon displayed on the card |
| Title | The link name |
| Subtitle | A short description below the title |
| URL | Where the link goes |
| Badge | An optional label (see below) |
| Accent Color | The card’s color theme |
Badges
Section titled “Badges”Badges are small labels on a link card. Options include Sponsored, Affiliate, Limited Time, New, Sale, or a custom label you type yourself. Leave blank for no badge.
A word of advice: use badges sparingly. One or two on a page draw the eye. Five makes them all invisible.
YouTube Feed
Section titled “YouTube Feed”Shows your latest videos with thumbnails. Visitors see your recent uploads without you lifting a finger.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Channel Name | Display name for the card |
| Channel URL | Your YouTube channel URL |
| Channel ID | Your YouTube Channel ID (starts with UC). Find yours here. |
| Videos to Show | 1 to 5 recent videos |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
The Channel ID is the part people get stuck on. It’s not your channel name or URL. Go to youtube.com/account_advanced and look for the string starting with UC.
Substack Feed
Section titled “Substack Feed”Shows your latest newsletter posts.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Newsletter Name | Display name for the card |
| Feed URL | Your Substack feed URL (e.g., https://you.substack.com/feed) |
| Posts to Show | 1 to 5 recent posts |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
Make sure the feed URL ends in /feed. That’s the RSS endpoint Beacon reads from.
Medium Feed
Section titled “Medium Feed”Shows your latest articles.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Username | Your Medium username (include the @) |
| Posts to Show | 1 to 5 recent articles |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
Podcast Feed
Section titled “Podcast Feed”Pulls recent episodes from any podcast RSS feed. Works with any podcast host (Anchor, Buzzsprout, Transistor, etc.) as long as you have the RSS URL.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Podcast Name | Display name for the card |
| RSS Feed URL | Your podcast’s RSS feed URL |
| Episodes to Show | 1 to 5 recent episodes |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
Twitch
Section titled “Twitch”Shows whether you’re live right now, with a pulsing LIVE badge when you’re streaming. Checks your status every 60 seconds.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Username | Your Twitch username |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
Etsy Feed
Section titled “Etsy Feed”Shows your recent shop listings.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Shop Name | Your Etsy shop name |
| Listings to Show | 1 to 5 recent listings |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
Custom RSS
Section titled “Custom RSS”Pulls content from any RSS source: a blog, a news site, a niche feed. If it has an RSS URL, Beacon can display it.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Feed Name | Display name for the card |
| Feed URL | The RSS feed URL |
| Icon Name | Icon identifier |
| Items to Show | 1 to 5 recent items |
| Accent Color | Card color theme |
Reordering
Section titled “Reordering”Drag any item by its handle to change the order. Links and feeds can be mixed freely.
Editing and Deleting
Section titled “Editing and Deleting”Click Edit to expand an item’s settings inline. Save to keep changes, Cancel to discard. The trash icon deletes an item (with confirmation).
How Feeds Stay Fresh
Section titled “How Feeds Stay Fresh”Feed cards (YouTube, Substack, Medium, Podcast, Etsy, RSS) fetch the latest content every time someone visits your page. Publish something new and it shows up on your Beacon within minutes. No rebuilding needed.
This works because your site fetches feeds on the visitor’s side through a lightweight proxy. The proxy (hosted on Cloudflare Workers at rss.ignyte.me) doesn’t store, log, or process any data. It passes feed data through and caches responses for 5 minutes to be polite to the source platforms. Browsers need this proxy because they can’t fetch RSS feeds directly from other domains (a security restriction called CORS).
Most tiles also fetch live on every page load:
| Tile | Data source | Update frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Last.fm | Last.fm public API | Every 30 seconds (polling) |
| Twitch | Twitch API | Every 60 seconds (polling) |
| Weather | Open-Meteo API | Every page load |
| Letterboxd | RSS via proxy | Every page load |
| GitHub | GitHub public API | Every page load |
| Chess.com | Chess.com public API | Every page load |
| Hardcover | Hardcover GraphQL API | Every page load |
| Countdown | Local calculation | Real time (always current) |
Steam is the exception. It links to your Steam profile but does not pull live game data (Steam’s API requires a server-side key).
Custom tiles are static. They display whatever you typed in the wizard and link wherever you pointed them.
If a feed isn’t loading
Section titled “If a feed isn’t loading”Beacon pulls content from external platforms every time someone visits your page. Occasionally, a platform like YouTube or Substack has downtime. When that happens, Beacon handles it automatically.
If the feed loaded successfully at any point in the past 24 hours, your visitors still see your content. It might be a few hours old, but the card looks and works normally.
If there’s no recent version available (for example, a brand-new feed that hasn’t loaded successfully yet), the card shows your platform name, icon, and a link to your profile. Your visitor can still click through to your channel or page. When the platform recovers, the full card returns on the next page load. No action needed.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”If a card isn’t showing your content, open your feed URL directly in a browser:
- YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=YOUR_CHANNEL_ID - Substack:
https://yourname.substack.com/feed - Podcast: your RSS feed URL
If you see XML content, the feed is working and the issue is likely a configuration typo in the wizard. Double-check your Channel ID, username, or feed URL.
If you see an error, the platform is down. Give it time. Your page is still functional in the meantime.