retronews

commit 9b4c540f53b026c233142a05ac06480bb4fbe23b
parent 9a30c5fa556b914289513ddcc1f651fd2a76e6e3
Author: quantumish <freifeld.david@gmail.com>
Date:   Sun,  9 Aug 2026 18:28:07 -0700

Somewhat improve UX of opening single comments or stories from URLs

Default to unfolding message if it's the only one. Display the story
title associated with a single comment thread (still no way to jump to
the story from the comment thread, though).

Diffstat:
M
retronews.py
 | 
24
+++++++++++++++++-------

1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/retronews.py b/retronews.py
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ GROUP_TABS = [
 
 
 class MessageFlags:
-    def __init__(self, read = False, starred=False): 
+    def __init__(self, read=False, starred=False):
         self.read = False
         self.starred = False
 
@@ -1000,12 +1000,12 @@ def hn_parse_search_hit(hit):
     )
 
 
-def hn_parse_entry(entry, thread_id = "", parent = None):
+def hn_parse_entry(entry, thread_id="", parent=None, parent_title=""):
     thread_id = thread_id or str(entry["id"])
 
     my_title = html_unescape(entry["title"]) if entry["title"] else None
 
-    parent_title = parent.title if parent else ""
+    parent_title = parent.title if parent else parent_title
     parent_title = parent_title if parent_title.startswith("Re: ") else "Re: {}".format(parent_title)
 
     body = "<p>{}</p>".format(entry['url']) if entry["url"] else ""
@@ -1067,7 +1067,13 @@ def hn_fetch_new_threads(page = 1):
 def hn_fetch_thread(entry_id):
     resp = fetch("http://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/items/{}".format(entry_id))
     entry = json.loads(resp)
-    return hn_parse_entry(entry)
+
+    parent_title = ""
+    if not entry["title"] and "story_id" in entry:
+        resp = fetch("http://hn.algolia.com/api/v1/items/{}".format(entry["story_id"]))
+        parent_title = json.loads(resp)["title"]
+
+    return hn_parse_entry(entry, parent_title=parent_title)
 
 
 def datetime_from_iso(iso):
@@ -1368,7 +1374,7 @@ def app_show_links_screen(app):
     else:
         app_show_flash(app, "Opening " + url)
         webbrowser.open(url)
-        
+
         # Refresh window in case a terminal browser was used
         app.screen.clearok(True)
 
@@ -1577,7 +1583,7 @@ def app_init_colors(app):
         app.monochrome = True
 
 
-def app_main(screen, db, group, ascii, monochrome):
+def app_main(screen, db, group, ascii, monochrome, default_open=False):
     curses.curs_set(0)
 
     app = AppState(screen=screen, db=db, group=group, ascii=ascii, monochrome=monochrome)
@@ -1585,6 +1591,9 @@ def app_main(screen, db, group, ascii, monochrome):
     app_init_colors(app)
     app_load_group(app, app.group)
 
+    if default_open and app.selected_message is not None:
+        app_open_thread(app, app.selected_message)
+
     while True:
         app_render(app)
         app.flash = ""
@@ -1652,7 +1661,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         ascii = args.ascii
         monochrome = args.monochrome or "NO_COLOR" in os.environ
 
-        ret = curses.wrapper(app_main, db=db, group=group, ascii=ascii, monochrome=monochrome)
+        ret = curses.wrapper(app_main, db=db, group=group, ascii=ascii,
+                             monochrome=monochrome, default_open=(args.msg is not None))
     except ExitException as e:
         if e.message:
             sys.stderr.write(e.message + "\n")