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Tools: Build a Markdown-to-CMS Auto-Publisher With GitHub Actions - 2025 Update

2026-05-04 0 views admin
Tools: Build a Markdown-to-CMS Auto-Publisher With GitHub Actions - 2025 Update

What You'll Actually Build

Why This Is Harder Than It Looks

Prerequisites

Step 1: The Frontmatter Contract

Step 2: The Frontmatter Parser

Step 3: The WordPress Publisher

Step 4: The Ghost Publisher

Step 5: The Webflow Publisher

Step 6: The Main Publish Script

Step 7: The GitHub Actions Workflow

What Can Go Wrong

The .env.example File

Where to Take This Next I got tired of the same three-step content publish loop: write draft → open CMS → paste, format, re-paste, fight the rich-text editor, click publish. Repeat for every environment — staging, then production. For one article, fine. For a team publishing 20+ pieces a month? That workflow is a quiet tax on everyone's time. So I wired up a pipeline that cuts the loop entirely. You commit a .md file to a Git repo. A GitHub Actions workflow runs. The article is live on WordPress, Ghost, or Webflow — formatted, tagged, and published — within 90 seconds of the push. Here's the complete workflow, every config file, and the two places where this will bite you if you're not careful. By the end of this, you'll have: Here's the directory structure we're building toward: The obvious approach — "just hit the API with the Markdown" — doesn't work in practice. Three reasons: 1. CMS APIs don't accept raw Markdown. WordPress wants HTML. Ghost accepts Markdown but has its own Lexical editor format for complex content. Webflow expects structured JSON with rich text field schemas. 2. Frontmatter is your metadata contract, and every CMS maps it differently. tags in Ghost is an array of tag objects. In WordPress, it's an array of tag IDs you have to look up first. In Webflow, tags don't exist — you have custom field slugs. 3. Idempotency. If the Action runs twice, you don't want two copies of the same article. You need a slug-based lookup before every publish to decide "create" vs "update." These aren't edge cases — they'll hit you on the first real push. The script below handles all three. Every post needs a consistent frontmatter block. This is how the publish script knows what to do with each file. The targets field is the key one. It lets a single repo serve multiple CMSes without every post going everywhere. A marketing post might target WordPress only. A technical deep-dive might go to Ghost. The script reads this and routes accordingly. Two things worth calling out here: gray-matter is the standard Markdown frontmatter parser — rock solid, widely used. And I'm converting to HTML at parse time so every publisher gets both formats and can choose what it needs. You'll need to install these: WordPress's REST API is the most mature of the three. The catch is tag handling — you can't just pass tag names; you have to resolve them to IDs first, creating any that don't exist. Important: Use WordPress Application Passwords, not your account password. Go to Users → Profile → Application Passwords in your WP Admin. The format is username:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx (with spaces — that's normal). Ghost's Admin API uses JWT authentication, which is slightly more involved to set up but more elegant once it's running. Ghost also accepts Markdown natively via its mobiledoc format, but the cleanest approach for programmatic publishing is using the @tryghost/admin-api package. Webflow is the most opinionated of the three. Your CMS collection fields need to match your frontmatter keys, and you'll map them explicitly. This also means the publisher is the most customizable. Webflow gotcha: The "publish" step is separate from creating/updating. If you skip it, your item will exist in the CMS but won't be live. I missed this for about an hour wondering why my posts weren't showing up. This ties everything together. It finds changed .md files, parses them, and routes to the right publishers. Set all those secrets.* values in your repo under Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions. None of these should ever touch your codebase directly. The staging branch pattern: Push to staging when the post is a draft you want to preview in the real CMS. The frontmatter's status field controls whether it's a draft or published — so pushing to staging doesn't auto-publish; it just means "run the pipeline." You still control publish state via frontmatter. Git diff returns empty on the first commit. The HEAD~1 diff requires at least two commits. If your repo is brand new and this is the first push, there's no HEAD~1. Fix: use git diff --name-only 4b825dc..HEAD -- "posts/*.md" (the magic empty tree SHA) for the initial commit, or add a guard: WordPress Application Passwords with special characters. WP generates passwords with spaces. When you put username:abcd efgh ijkl in an env variable, the spaces can cause header parsing issues. URL-encode the password or store it already base64-encoded. Ghost updated_at mismatch. Ghost's edit endpoint requires you pass back the updated_at timestamp from the fetched post, or it rejects the update with a 409 conflict. The code above handles this, but if you strip that field for any reason, you'll get confusing errors. Webflow's API rate limit is 60 requests/minute. If you're bulk-publishing 30+ posts in one commit (like migrating a blog), you'll hit it. Add a delay between requests: The workflow doesn't trigger when you expect. Double-check your paths filter — posts/** only fires when files inside posts/ change. If you accidentally commit to posts/drafts/ and your pattern doesn't include subdirectories, nothing runs. posts/** handles subdirectories; posts/* does not. Commit this to the repo so anyone cloning it knows what to configure: Never commit a .env with real values. The .gitignore should include .env from the start. The core pipeline is solid as-is. Three extensions worth building if you use this heavily: Image optimization on push. Add a step before publish.js that pulls image URLs from Markdown, downloads them, runs them through sharp, and uploads to your CDN. Then rewrites the src attributes before publishing. The article goes live already using your own CDN, not third-party hotlinks. Slack notification on success/failure. Add a final workflow step that posts to a #content-deploys channel. The message should include the article title, which CMSes it published to, and a link. Tiny addition, huge QoL for a content team. Scheduled publishing. Frontmatter already has a date field. You can add a GitHub Actions schedule trigger (on: schedule) that runs the publisher daily and checks whether any post's date has passed and its status is scheduled. Publish those automatically. True scheduled publishing without any CMS-specific plan tier. The full working repo is on GitHub — link in my profile. Drop a star if this saved you the setup time. And if you've wired this up to a different CMS — Contentful, Sanity, Strapi — I'd genuinely like to see how you handled the schema mapping. Drop it in the comments. Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse

Code Block

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content-pipeline/ ├── .github/ │ └── workflows/ │ └── publish.yml ├── posts/ │ ├── my-first-post.md │ └── another-post.md ├── scripts/ │ ├── publish.js │ ├── publishers/ │ │ ├── wordpress.js │ │ ├── ghost.js │ │ └── webflow.js │ └── utils/ │ ├── parse-frontmatter.js │ └── transform-markdown.js ├── package.json └── .env.example content-pipeline/ ├── .github/ │ └── workflows/ │ └── publish.yml ├── posts/ │ ├── my-first-post.md │ └── another-post.md ├── scripts/ │ ├── publish.js │ ├── publishers/ │ │ ├── wordpress.js │ │ ├── ghost.js │ │ └── webflow.js │ └── utils/ │ ├── parse-frontmatter.js │ └── transform-markdown.js ├── package.json └── .env.example content-pipeline/ ├── .github/ │ └── workflows/ │ └── publish.yml ├── posts/ │ ├── my-first-post.md │ └── another-post.md ├── scripts/ │ ├── publish.js │ ├── publishers/ │ │ ├── wordpress.js │ │ ├── ghost.js │ │ └── webflow.js │ └── utils/ │ ├── parse-frontmatter.js │ └── transform-markdown.js ├── package.json └── .env.example --- title: "My Article Title" slug: "my-article-title" description: "One-sentence summary for meta descriptions and CMS excerpts." tags: ["javascript", "devops", "tutorial"] status: "published" # or "draft" targets: ["wordpress", "ghost"] # which CMSes to publish to date: "2025-01-15" cover_image: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-xyz" --- Your article content starts here... --- title: "My Article Title" slug: "my-article-title" description: "One-sentence summary for meta descriptions and CMS excerpts." tags: ["javascript", "devops", "tutorial"] status: "published" # or "draft" targets: ["wordpress", "ghost"] # which CMSes to publish to date: "2025-01-15" cover_image: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-xyz" --- Your article content starts here... --- title: "My Article Title" slug: "my-article-title" description: "One-sentence summary for meta descriptions and CMS excerpts." tags: ["javascript", "devops", "tutorial"] status: "published" # or "draft" targets: ["wordpress", "ghost"] # which CMSes to publish to date: "2025-01-15" cover_image: "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-xyz" --- Your article content starts here... // scripts/utils/parse-frontmatter.js import fs from 'fs'; import matter from 'gray-matter'; import { marked } from 'marked'; export function parsePost(filePath) { const raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8'); const { data: frontmatter, content } = matter(raw); // Validate required fields before we touch any API const required = ['title', 'slug', 'targets']; const missing = required.filter(field => !frontmatter[field]); if (missing.length > 0) { throw new Error(`Missing required frontmatter fields: ${missing.join(', ')} in ${filePath}`); } return { frontmatter, markdown: content, html: marked(content), // WordPress needs this filePath, }; } // scripts/utils/parse-frontmatter.js import fs from 'fs'; import matter from 'gray-matter'; import { marked } from 'marked'; export function parsePost(filePath) { const raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8'); const { data: frontmatter, content } = matter(raw); // Validate required fields before we touch any API const required = ['title', 'slug', 'targets']; const missing = required.filter(field => !frontmatter[field]); if (missing.length > 0) { throw new Error(`Missing required frontmatter fields: ${missing.join(', ')} in ${filePath}`); } return { frontmatter, markdown: content, html: marked(content), // WordPress needs this filePath, }; } // scripts/utils/parse-frontmatter.js import fs from 'fs'; import matter from 'gray-matter'; import { marked } from 'marked'; export function parsePost(filePath) { const raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8'); const { data: frontmatter, content } = matter(raw); // Validate required fields before we touch any API const required = ['title', 'slug', 'targets']; const missing = required.filter(field => !frontmatter[field]); if (missing.length > 0) { throw new Error(`Missing required frontmatter fields: ${missing.join(', ')} in ${filePath}`); } return { frontmatter, markdown: content, html: marked(content), // WordPress needs this filePath, }; } npm install gray-matter marked npm install gray-matter marked npm install gray-matter marked // scripts/publishers/wordpress.js const WP_BASE = process.env.WP_BASE_URL; // e.g. https://yourblog.com const WP_USER = process.env.WP_USERNAME; const WP_PASS = process.env.WP_APP_PASSWORD; // Application Password, not your login password const authHeader = 'Basic ' + Buffer.from(`${WP_USER}:${WP_PASS}`).toString('base64'); async function resolveTagIds(tagNames) { const ids = []; for (const name of tagNames) { // Check if tag exists const searchRes = await fetch( `${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?search=${encodeURIComponent(name)}`, { headers: { Authorization: authHeader } } ); const existing = await searchRes.json(); if (existing.length > 0) { ids.push(existing[0].id); } else { // Create it const createRes = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/tags`, { method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', }, body: JSON.stringify({ name }), }); const newTag = await createRes.json(); ids.push(newTag.id); } } return ids; } export async function publishToWordPress({ frontmatter, html }) { const tagIds = await resolveTagIds(frontmatter.tags ?? []); // Check if post already exists (idempotency) const slugCheckRes = await fetch( `${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?slug=${frontmatter.slug}`, { headers: { Authorization: authHeader } } ); const existing = await slugCheckRes.json(); const payload = { title: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, content: html, excerpt: frontmatter.description ?? '', status: frontmatter.status ?? 'draft', tags: tagIds, date: frontmatter.date, featured_media: 0, // Extend this if you want cover image upload }; if (existing.length > 0) { // Update const res = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/${existing[0].id}`, { method: 'PUT', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(payload), }); const updated = await res.json(); console.log(`✅ WordPress: Updated "${updated.title.rendered}" → ${updated.link}`); return updated; } else { // Create const res = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts`, { method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(payload), }); const created = await res.json(); console.log(`✅ WordPress: Created "${created.title.rendered}" → ${created.link}`); return created; } } // scripts/publishers/wordpress.js const WP_BASE = process.env.WP_BASE_URL; // e.g. https://yourblog.com const WP_USER = process.env.WP_USERNAME; const WP_PASS = process.env.WP_APP_PASSWORD; // Application Password, not your login password const authHeader = 'Basic ' + Buffer.from(`${WP_USER}:${WP_PASS}`).toString('base64'); async function resolveTagIds(tagNames) { const ids = []; for (const name of tagNames) { // Check if tag exists const searchRes = await fetch( `${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?search=${encodeURIComponent(name)}`, { headers: { Authorization: authHeader } } ); const existing = await searchRes.json(); if (existing.length > 0) { ids.push(existing[0].id); } else { // Create it const createRes = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/tags`, { method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', }, body: JSON.stringify({ name }), }); const newTag = await createRes.json(); ids.push(newTag.id); } } return ids; } export async function publishToWordPress({ frontmatter, html }) { const tagIds = await resolveTagIds(frontmatter.tags ?? []); // Check if post already exists (idempotency) const slugCheckRes = await fetch( `${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?slug=${frontmatter.slug}`, { headers: { Authorization: authHeader } } ); const existing = await slugCheckRes.json(); const payload = { title: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, content: html, excerpt: frontmatter.description ?? '', status: frontmatter.status ?? 'draft', tags: tagIds, date: frontmatter.date, featured_media: 0, // Extend this if you want cover image upload }; if (existing.length > 0) { // Update const res = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/${existing[0].id}`, { method: 'PUT', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(payload), }); const updated = await res.json(); console.log(`✅ WordPress: Updated "${updated.title.rendered}" → ${updated.link}`); return updated; } else { // Create const res = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts`, { method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(payload), }); const created = await res.json(); console.log(`✅ WordPress: Created "${created.title.rendered}" → ${created.link}`); return created; } } // scripts/publishers/wordpress.js const WP_BASE = process.env.WP_BASE_URL; // e.g. https://yourblog.com const WP_USER = process.env.WP_USERNAME; const WP_PASS = process.env.WP_APP_PASSWORD; // Application Password, not your login password const authHeader = 'Basic ' + Buffer.from(`${WP_USER}:${WP_PASS}`).toString('base64'); async function resolveTagIds(tagNames) { const ids = []; for (const name of tagNames) { // Check if tag exists const searchRes = await fetch( `${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?search=${encodeURIComponent(name)}`, { headers: { Authorization: authHeader } } ); const existing = await searchRes.json(); if (existing.length > 0) { ids.push(existing[0].id); } else { // Create it const createRes = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/tags`, { method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', }, body: JSON.stringify({ name }), }); const newTag = await createRes.json(); ids.push(newTag.id); } } return ids; } export async function publishToWordPress({ frontmatter, html }) { const tagIds = await resolveTagIds(frontmatter.tags ?? []); // Check if post already exists (idempotency) const slugCheckRes = await fetch( `${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?slug=${frontmatter.slug}`, { headers: { Authorization: authHeader } } ); const existing = await slugCheckRes.json(); const payload = { title: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, content: html, excerpt: frontmatter.description ?? '', status: frontmatter.status ?? 'draft', tags: tagIds, date: frontmatter.date, featured_media: 0, // Extend this if you want cover image upload }; if (existing.length > 0) { // Update const res = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/${existing[0].id}`, { method: 'PUT', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(payload), }); const updated = await res.json(); console.log(`✅ WordPress: Updated "${updated.title.rendered}" → ${updated.link}`); return updated; } else { // Create const res = await fetch(`${WP_BASE}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts`, { method: 'POST', headers: { Authorization: authHeader, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(payload), }); const created = await res.json(); console.log(`✅ WordPress: Created "${created.title.rendered}" → ${created.link}`); return created; } } npm install @tryghost/admin-api npm install @tryghost/admin-api npm install @tryghost/admin-api // scripts/publishers/ghost.js import GhostAdminAPI from '@tryghost/admin-api'; const ghost = new GhostAdminAPI({ url: process.env.GHOST_URL, // e.g. https://yoursite.ghost.io key: process.env.GHOST_ADMIN_KEY, // Format: id:secret (from Ghost Admin → Integrations) version: 'v5.0', }); export async function publishToGhost({ frontmatter, markdown }) { // Ghost tags are objects, not just strings const tags = (frontmatter.tags ?? []).map(name => ({ name })); const postData = { title: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, mobiledoc: buildMobiledoc(markdown), custom_excerpt: frontmatter.description ?? '', status: frontmatter.status ?? 'draft', tags, published_at: frontmatter.date ? new Date(frontmatter.date).toISOString() : undefined, feature_image: frontmatter.cover_image ?? null, }; try { // Try to find existing post by slug const existing = await ghost.posts.browse({ filter: `slug:${frontmatter.slug}` }); if (existing.length > 0) { const updated = await ghost.posts.edit({ id: existing[0].id, updated_at: existing[0].updated_at, // Required for conflict detection ...postData, }); console.log(`✅ Ghost: Updated "${updated.title}" → ${updated.url}`); return updated; } else { const created = await ghost.posts.add(postData); console.log(`✅ Ghost: Created "${created.title}" → ${created.url}`); return created; } } catch (err) { throw new Error(`Ghost publish failed: ${err.message}`); } } // Ghost uses Mobiledoc internally. This wraps raw Markdown in a Markdown card. function buildMobiledoc(markdown) { return JSON.stringify({ version: '0.3.1', markups: [], atoms: [], cards: [['markdown', { markdown }]], sections: [[10, 0]], }); } // scripts/publishers/ghost.js import GhostAdminAPI from '@tryghost/admin-api'; const ghost = new GhostAdminAPI({ url: process.env.GHOST_URL, // e.g. https://yoursite.ghost.io key: process.env.GHOST_ADMIN_KEY, // Format: id:secret (from Ghost Admin → Integrations) version: 'v5.0', }); export async function publishToGhost({ frontmatter, markdown }) { // Ghost tags are objects, not just strings const tags = (frontmatter.tags ?? []).map(name => ({ name })); const postData = { title: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, mobiledoc: buildMobiledoc(markdown), custom_excerpt: frontmatter.description ?? '', status: frontmatter.status ?? 'draft', tags, published_at: frontmatter.date ? new Date(frontmatter.date).toISOString() : undefined, feature_image: frontmatter.cover_image ?? null, }; try { // Try to find existing post by slug const existing = await ghost.posts.browse({ filter: `slug:${frontmatter.slug}` }); if (existing.length > 0) { const updated = await ghost.posts.edit({ id: existing[0].id, updated_at: existing[0].updated_at, // Required for conflict detection ...postData, }); console.log(`✅ Ghost: Updated "${updated.title}" → ${updated.url}`); return updated; } else { const created = await ghost.posts.add(postData); console.log(`✅ Ghost: Created "${created.title}" → ${created.url}`); return created; } } catch (err) { throw new Error(`Ghost publish failed: ${err.message}`); } } // Ghost uses Mobiledoc internally. This wraps raw Markdown in a Markdown card. function buildMobiledoc(markdown) { return JSON.stringify({ version: '0.3.1', markups: [], atoms: [], cards: [['markdown', { markdown }]], sections: [[10, 0]], }); } // scripts/publishers/ghost.js import GhostAdminAPI from '@tryghost/admin-api'; const ghost = new GhostAdminAPI({ url: process.env.GHOST_URL, // e.g. https://yoursite.ghost.io key: process.env.GHOST_ADMIN_KEY, // Format: id:secret (from Ghost Admin → Integrations) version: 'v5.0', }); export async function publishToGhost({ frontmatter, markdown }) { // Ghost tags are objects, not just strings const tags = (frontmatter.tags ?? []).map(name => ({ name })); const postData = { title: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, mobiledoc: buildMobiledoc(markdown), custom_excerpt: frontmatter.description ?? '', status: frontmatter.status ?? 'draft', tags, published_at: frontmatter.date ? new Date(frontmatter.date).toISOString() : undefined, feature_image: frontmatter.cover_image ?? null, }; try { // Try to find existing post by slug const existing = await ghost.posts.browse({ filter: `slug:${frontmatter.slug}` }); if (existing.length > 0) { const updated = await ghost.posts.edit({ id: existing[0].id, updated_at: existing[0].updated_at, // Required for conflict detection ...postData, }); console.log(`✅ Ghost: Updated "${updated.title}" → ${updated.url}`); return updated; } else { const created = await ghost.posts.add(postData); console.log(`✅ Ghost: Created "${created.title}" → ${created.url}`); return created; } } catch (err) { throw new Error(`Ghost publish failed: ${err.message}`); } } // Ghost uses Mobiledoc internally. This wraps raw Markdown in a Markdown card. function buildMobiledoc(markdown) { return JSON.stringify({ version: '0.3.1', markups: [], atoms: [], cards: [['markdown', { markdown }]], sections: [[10, 0]], }); } // scripts/publishers/webflow.js const WF_TOKEN = process.env.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN; const WF_COLLECTION_ID = process.env.WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID; const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${WF_TOKEN}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'accept-version': '1.0.0', }; export async function publishToWebflow({ frontmatter, html }) { // Check for existing item by slug const listRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items`, { headers } ); const { items } = await listRes.json(); const existing = items?.find(item => item['slug'] === frontmatter.slug); // Map your frontmatter to Webflow field slugs // These must match the field slugs in your Webflow CMS collection const fields = { name: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, 'post-body': html, // Your rich-text field slug in Webflow 'meta-description': frontmatter.description ?? '', 'tags-string': (frontmatter.tags ?? []).join(', '), // Webflow doesn't have native tags _archived: false, _draft: frontmatter.status !== 'published', }; if (existing) { const updateRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items/${existing._id}`, { method: 'PUT', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ fields }) } ); const updated = await updateRes.json(); console.log(`✅ Webflow: Updated "${updated.fields.name}"`); // Publish immediately if status is "published" if (frontmatter.status === 'published') { await publishWebflowItem(updated._id); } return updated; } else { const createRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items`, { method: 'POST', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ fields }) } ); const created = await createRes.json(); console.log(`✅ Webflow: Created "${created.fields.name}"`); if (frontmatter.status === 'published') { await publishWebflowItem(created._id); } return created; } } // Webflow requires a separate "publish" API call after creating/updating async function publishWebflowItem(itemId) { await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items/publish`, { method: 'PUT', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ itemIds: [itemId] }), } ); } // scripts/publishers/webflow.js const WF_TOKEN = process.env.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN; const WF_COLLECTION_ID = process.env.WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID; const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${WF_TOKEN}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'accept-version': '1.0.0', }; export async function publishToWebflow({ frontmatter, html }) { // Check for existing item by slug const listRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items`, { headers } ); const { items } = await listRes.json(); const existing = items?.find(item => item['slug'] === frontmatter.slug); // Map your frontmatter to Webflow field slugs // These must match the field slugs in your Webflow CMS collection const fields = { name: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, 'post-body': html, // Your rich-text field slug in Webflow 'meta-description': frontmatter.description ?? '', 'tags-string': (frontmatter.tags ?? []).join(', '), // Webflow doesn't have native tags _archived: false, _draft: frontmatter.status !== 'published', }; if (existing) { const updateRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items/${existing._id}`, { method: 'PUT', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ fields }) } ); const updated = await updateRes.json(); console.log(`✅ Webflow: Updated "${updated.fields.name}"`); // Publish immediately if status is "published" if (frontmatter.status === 'published') { await publishWebflowItem(updated._id); } return updated; } else { const createRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items`, { method: 'POST', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ fields }) } ); const created = await createRes.json(); console.log(`✅ Webflow: Created "${created.fields.name}"`); if (frontmatter.status === 'published') { await publishWebflowItem(created._id); } return created; } } // Webflow requires a separate "publish" API call after creating/updating async function publishWebflowItem(itemId) { await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items/publish`, { method: 'PUT', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ itemIds: [itemId] }), } ); } // scripts/publishers/webflow.js const WF_TOKEN = process.env.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN; const WF_COLLECTION_ID = process.env.WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID; const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${WF_TOKEN}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'accept-version': '1.0.0', }; export async function publishToWebflow({ frontmatter, html }) { // Check for existing item by slug const listRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items`, { headers } ); const { items } = await listRes.json(); const existing = items?.find(item => item['slug'] === frontmatter.slug); // Map your frontmatter to Webflow field slugs // These must match the field slugs in your Webflow CMS collection const fields = { name: frontmatter.title, slug: frontmatter.slug, 'post-body': html, // Your rich-text field slug in Webflow 'meta-description': frontmatter.description ?? '', 'tags-string': (frontmatter.tags ?? []).join(', '), // Webflow doesn't have native tags _archived: false, _draft: frontmatter.status !== 'published', }; if (existing) { const updateRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items/${existing._id}`, { method: 'PUT', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ fields }) } ); const updated = await updateRes.json(); console.log(`✅ Webflow: Updated "${updated.fields.name}"`); // Publish immediately if status is "published" if (frontmatter.status === 'published') { await publishWebflowItem(updated._id); } return updated; } else { const createRes = await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items`, { method: 'POST', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ fields }) } ); const created = await createRes.json(); console.log(`✅ Webflow: Created "${created.fields.name}"`); if (frontmatter.status === 'published') { await publishWebflowItem(created._id); } return created; } } // Webflow requires a separate "publish" API call after creating/updating async function publishWebflowItem(itemId) { await fetch( `https://api.webflow.com/collections/${WF_COLLECTION_ID}/items/publish`, { method: 'PUT', headers, body: JSON.stringify({ itemIds: [itemId] }), } ); } // scripts/publish.js import { parsePost } from './utils/parse-frontmatter.js'; import { publishToWordPress } from './publishers/wordpress.js'; import { publishToGhost } from './publishers/ghost.js'; import { publishToWebflow } from './publishers/webflow.js'; import { execSync } from 'child_process'; import path from 'path'; const PUBLISHERS = { wordpress: publishToWordPress, ghost: publishToGhost, webflow: publishToWebflow, }; async function main() { // Get list of changed .md files from git // In GitHub Actions, GITHUB_SHA gives us the current commit const changedFiles = execSync( 'git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- "posts/*.md"' ) .toString() .trim() .split('\n') .filter(Boolean); if (changedFiles.length === 0) { console.log('No markdown files changed. Nothing to publish.'); return; } console.log(`Found ${changedFiles.length} changed post(s): ${changedFiles.join(', ')}`); const results = { success: [], failed: [] }; for (const filePath of changedFiles) { const fullPath = path.resolve(filePath); try { const post = parsePost(fullPath); const { targets = [] } = post.frontmatter; if (targets.length === 0) { console.log(`⚠️ Skipping ${filePath}: no targets specified in frontmatter`); continue; } for (const target of targets) { const publisher = PUBLISHERS[target]; if (!publisher) { console.warn(`⚠️ Unknown target "${target}" in ${filePath}`); continue; } await publisher(post); } results.success.push(filePath); } catch (err) { console.error(`❌ Failed to publish ${filePath}: ${err.message}`); results.failed.push({ filePath, error: err.message }); } } console.log(`\nDone. ${results.success.length} succeeded, ${results.failed.length} failed.`); // Exit with error if any publish failed — this fails the GitHub Action if (results.failed.length > 0) { process.exit(1); } } main(); // scripts/publish.js import { parsePost } from './utils/parse-frontmatter.js'; import { publishToWordPress } from './publishers/wordpress.js'; import { publishToGhost } from './publishers/ghost.js'; import { publishToWebflow } from './publishers/webflow.js'; import { execSync } from 'child_process'; import path from 'path'; const PUBLISHERS = { wordpress: publishToWordPress, ghost: publishToGhost, webflow: publishToWebflow, }; async function main() { // Get list of changed .md files from git // In GitHub Actions, GITHUB_SHA gives us the current commit const changedFiles = execSync( 'git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- "posts/*.md"' ) .toString() .trim() .split('\n') .filter(Boolean); if (changedFiles.length === 0) { console.log('No markdown files changed. Nothing to publish.'); return; } console.log(`Found ${changedFiles.length} changed post(s): ${changedFiles.join(', ')}`); const results = { success: [], failed: [] }; for (const filePath of changedFiles) { const fullPath = path.resolve(filePath); try { const post = parsePost(fullPath); const { targets = [] } = post.frontmatter; if (targets.length === 0) { console.log(`⚠️ Skipping ${filePath}: no targets specified in frontmatter`); continue; } for (const target of targets) { const publisher = PUBLISHERS[target]; if (!publisher) { console.warn(`⚠️ Unknown target "${target}" in ${filePath}`); continue; } await publisher(post); } results.success.push(filePath); } catch (err) { console.error(`❌ Failed to publish ${filePath}: ${err.message}`); results.failed.push({ filePath, error: err.message }); } } console.log(`\nDone. ${results.success.length} succeeded, ${results.failed.length} failed.`); // Exit with error if any publish failed — this fails the GitHub Action if (results.failed.length > 0) { process.exit(1); } } main(); // scripts/publish.js import { parsePost } from './utils/parse-frontmatter.js'; import { publishToWordPress } from './publishers/wordpress.js'; import { publishToGhost } from './publishers/ghost.js'; import { publishToWebflow } from './publishers/webflow.js'; import { execSync } from 'child_process'; import path from 'path'; const PUBLISHERS = { wordpress: publishToWordPress, ghost: publishToGhost, webflow: publishToWebflow, }; async function main() { // Get list of changed .md files from git // In GitHub Actions, GITHUB_SHA gives us the current commit const changedFiles = execSync( 'git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- "posts/*.md"' ) .toString() .trim() .split('\n') .filter(Boolean); if (changedFiles.length === 0) { console.log('No markdown files changed. Nothing to publish.'); return; } console.log(`Found ${changedFiles.length} changed post(s): ${changedFiles.join(', ')}`); const results = { success: [], failed: [] }; for (const filePath of changedFiles) { const fullPath = path.resolve(filePath); try { const post = parsePost(fullPath); const { targets = [] } = post.frontmatter; if (targets.length === 0) { console.log(`⚠️ Skipping ${filePath}: no targets specified in frontmatter`); continue; } for (const target of targets) { const publisher = PUBLISHERS[target]; if (!publisher) { console.warn(`⚠️ Unknown target "${target}" in ${filePath}`); continue; } await publisher(post); } results.success.push(filePath); } catch (err) { console.error(`❌ Failed to publish ${filePath}: ${err.message}`); results.failed.push({ filePath, error: err.message }); } } console.log(`\nDone. ${results.success.length} succeeded, ${results.failed.length} failed.`); // Exit with error if any publish failed — this fails the GitHub Action if (results.failed.length > 0) { process.exit(1); } } main(); # .github/workflows/publish.yml name: Publish Content on: push: branches: - main # Publishes live - staging # Publishes as drafts (see note below) paths: - 'posts/**' # Only triggers when posts change — not on script edits jobs: publish: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 2 # Need at least 2 commits for git diff to work - name: Setup Node uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: '18' cache: 'npm' - name: Install dependencies run: npm ci - name: Run publish script env: # WordPress WP_BASE_URL: ${{ secrets.WP_BASE_URL }} WP_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.WP_USERNAME }} WP_APP_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.WP_APP_PASSWORD }} # Ghost GHOST_URL: ${{ secrets.GHOST_URL }} GHOST_ADMIN_KEY: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_KEY }} # Webflow WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN }} WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID: ${{ secrets.WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID }} run: node scripts/publish.js # .github/workflows/publish.yml name: Publish Content on: push: branches: - main # Publishes live - staging # Publishes as drafts (see note below) paths: - 'posts/**' # Only triggers when posts change — not on script edits jobs: publish: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 2 # Need at least 2 commits for git diff to work - name: Setup Node uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: '18' cache: 'npm' - name: Install dependencies run: npm ci - name: Run publish script env: # WordPress WP_BASE_URL: ${{ secrets.WP_BASE_URL }} WP_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.WP_USERNAME }} WP_APP_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.WP_APP_PASSWORD }} # Ghost GHOST_URL: ${{ secrets.GHOST_URL }} GHOST_ADMIN_KEY: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_KEY }} # Webflow WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN }} WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID: ${{ secrets.WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID }} run: node scripts/publish.js # .github/workflows/publish.yml name: Publish Content on: push: branches: - main # Publishes live - staging # Publishes as drafts (see note below) paths: - 'posts/**' # Only triggers when posts change — not on script edits jobs: publish: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 2 # Need at least 2 commits for git diff to work - name: Setup Node uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: '18' cache: 'npm' - name: Install dependencies run: npm ci - name: Run publish script env: # WordPress WP_BASE_URL: ${{ secrets.WP_BASE_URL }} WP_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.WP_USERNAME }} WP_APP_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.WP_APP_PASSWORD }} # Ghost GHOST_URL: ${{ secrets.GHOST_URL }} GHOST_ADMIN_KEY: ${{ secrets.GHOST_ADMIN_KEY }} # Webflow WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN }} WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID: ${{ secrets.WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID }} run: node scripts/publish.js const isFirstCommit = execSync('git rev-list --count HEAD').toString().trim() === '1'; const diffCommand = isFirstCommit ? 'git diff --name-only 4b825dc HEAD -- "posts/*.md"' : 'git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- "posts/*.md"'; const isFirstCommit = execSync('git rev-list --count HEAD').toString().trim() === '1'; const diffCommand = isFirstCommit ? 'git diff --name-only 4b825dc HEAD -- "posts/*.md"' : 'git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- "posts/*.md"'; const isFirstCommit = execSync('git rev-list --count HEAD').toString().trim() === '1'; const diffCommand = isFirstCommit ? 'git diff --name-only 4b825dc HEAD -- "posts/*.md"' : 'git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- "posts/*.md"'; // Add after each publish call inside the loop await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1100)); // ~55 req/min // Add after each publish call inside the loop await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1100)); // ~55 req/min // Add after each publish call inside the loop await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1100)); // ~55 req/min # WordPress WP_BASE_URL=https://yourblog.com WP_USERNAME=your_wp_username WP_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx # Ghost GHOST_URL=https://yoursite.ghost.io GHOST_ADMIN_KEY=id:secret # Webflow WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN=your_token WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID=your_collection_id # WordPress WP_BASE_URL=https://yourblog.com WP_USERNAME=your_wp_username WP_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx # Ghost GHOST_URL=https://yoursite.ghost.io GHOST_ADMIN_KEY=id:secret # Webflow WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN=your_token WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID=your_collection_id # WordPress WP_BASE_URL=https://yourblog.com WP_USERNAME=your_wp_username WP_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx # Ghost GHOST_URL=https://yoursite.ghost.io GHOST_ADMIN_KEY=id:secret # Webflow WEBFLOW_API_TOKEN=your_token WEBFLOW_COLLECTION_ID=your_collection_id - A GitHub repo that acts as your content source of truth - A GitHub Actions workflow that triggers on push to main - A Node.js publish script that parses frontmatter, transforms Markdown, and hits your CMS API - Support for WordPress (REST API), Ghost (Admin API), and Webflow (CMS API) — pick one or all three - A staging branch that publishes drafts, a main branch that publishes live - Node.js 18+ - A GitHub repo (free tier works) - At least one of: a WordPress site with Application Passwords enabled, a Ghost instance with Admin API access, a Webflow CMS collection - Basic familiarity with GitHub Actions syntax

🏷️ Tags

toolsutilitiessecurity toolsbuildmarkdownpublishergithubactionsupdate

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