herald

A small Linux daemon and CLI that prints a quote at the top of every new terminal and at login. Cached quote refreshed on a configurable timer. Local fallback pool. Optional user prefix.

Quick install (Debian / Ubuntu)

One line. Sets up the signed ra-yavuz apt repo if not already added, refreshes the package index, and installs herald. Idempotent, safe to re-run:

sudo bash -c 'set -e; install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings && curl -fsSL https://ra-yavuz.github.io/apt/pubkey.gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/ra-yavuz.gpg && echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/ra-yavuz.gpg] https://ra-yavuz.github.io/apt stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ra-yavuz.list && apt update && apt install -y herald'

Or via the bundled installer script (equivalent, with prerequisite checks and a friendlier output summary):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ra-yavuz/herald/main/scripts/get.sh | sudo bash

Both forms add the signed apt repository (if not already added), run apt update, and install the package. Future upgrades: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. Full removal: sudo apt purge herald.

If you already have the ra-yavuz apt repo, all you need is sudo apt update && sudo apt install herald. The sudo apt update step is required: without it apt will not see new packages or new versions.

Platform support

Tested on Ubuntu (Linux only). Should also work on WSL2 Ubuntu/Debian distros (it is a Linux distro). Not supported on macOS: herald hooks into /etc/profile.d/, update-motd.d, and a systemd timer, none of which apply on Darwin. If you want a quote at terminal launch on macOS, the from-source install would not give you the auto-refresh timer, and the greeting would need to be wired into your shell rc directly.

Disclaimer / no warranty

herald is provided as is, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement. By installing or running this software you accept that:

• Quotes are fetched from a third-party service (zenquotes.io). The author of this software does not control, curate, or vouch for the content of fetched quotes. If a quote is offensive or inappropriate, that is on the upstream service. Disable online fetching with sudo herald set-refresh 0 and rely on the bundled local pool only.
• The author is not liable for any harm, data loss, hardware failure, or other damages, however caused.
• The author is not liable for events outside their control: third-party API outage, supply-chain compromise, modifications made downstream after distribution.
• You alone are responsible for any consequence of installing or running this software.

What it does

Two display surfaces, both off by default:

1. Terminal greeting: every new interactive shell (terminal tab/window in your desktop session, or a fresh shell anywhere) prints today's quote at the top. Implemented via /etc/profile.d/50-herald.sh plus a small marker block injected into the invoking user's ~/.bashrc (since /etc/bash.bashrc on Ubuntu does not source profile.d). dpkg owns the file; apt purge removes it cleanly.

2. Login MOTD: at SSH login, console login, or display-manager login, today's quote is shown in the login banner. Implemented via /etc/update-motd.d/95-herald. This requires the update-motd package on Debian/Ubuntu (Suggests, not Recommends, so laptop-only users don't pull it in by default; the CLI warns at runtime if you enable MOTD without it).

Toggle them independently:

sudo herald terminal on        # eye candy: every new terminal
sudo herald motd on            # login banner: SSH / console / DM login
sudo herald all on             # both
sudo herald all off            # neither
herald status                  # show what's enabled

Quote source and refresh

Online: zenquotes.io (free, no API key, well-behaved). Each refresh hits the API once with a 1.5s timeout. If that fails, falls back to a bundled local pool of ~30 curated quotes (/usr/share/herald/quotes.json) so the tool always works offline.

Refresh cadence: every 3 hours by default. Configurable in hours:

sudo herald set-refresh 24     # once a day
sudo herald set-refresh 168    # once a week
sudo herald set-refresh 1      # hourly
sudo herald set-refresh 0      # disable timer; manual refresh only
sudo herald refresh            # force a refresh now

Implementation: a systemd timer (herald-refresh.timer) writes a cached JSON object at /var/cache/herald/today.json. The terminal greeting and the MOTD entry both read from the cache, so login/shell startup is fast and offline-friendly.

Optional prefix

Want to prepend custom text above the quote (a hostname banner, contact info, etc.)?

sudo herald set-prefix "Welcome to tripolis. Coffee, then code."
sudo herald clear-prefix

The text is stored at /etc/herald.prefix and printed verbatim above the quote.

Status

$ herald status
Refresh:    every 3 hours
Timer:      active
Cache:      /var/cache/herald/today.json
  fetched:  2026-05-05T14:30:00Z
  source:   zenquotes
Prefix:     none
Terminal:   enabled
MOTD:       disabled

Sample output

$ herald
  "Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
    -- Donald Knuth

With a prefix set:

Welcome to tripolis. Coffee, then code.

  "Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
    -- Donald Knuth

Install paths

Debian / Ubuntu via apt repo (recommended)

See the one-liner at the top. Step by step (manual repo setup):

# 1. Trust the signing key
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://ra-yavuz.github.io/apt/pubkey.gpg \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/ra-yavuz.gpg > /dev/null

# 2. Add the apt source
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/ra-yavuz.gpg] https://ra-yavuz.github.io/apt stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ra-yavuz.list

# 3. Refresh the package index, then install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install herald

Debian / Ubuntu single .deb

wget https://github.com/ra-yavuz/herald/releases/latest/download/herald_0.1.0-1_all.deb
sudo apt install ./herald_0.1.0-1_all.deb

From source

git clone https://github.com/ra-yavuz/herald.git
cd herald
sudo bash install.sh

How it integrates with other ra-yavuz tools

herald is fully independent. It does not know about, depend on, or modify any other tool. If you also have inhibit-charge installed and have its terminal greeting enabled, you'll see both lines in every new terminal: the inhibit-charge battery state, then the herald quote. They share the same /etc/profile.d/ directory but each file short-circuits independently.

Removing

sudo apt purge herald          # if installed via apt
sudo bash install.sh purge     # if installed from source

purge (apt or script) wipes /var/cache/herald/, /etc/herald.prefix, /etc/herald.conf, and the timer override file. The bashrc block is removed only by herald terminal off; if you've already purged the package and still see the block, remove it by hand from ~/.bashrc.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.