Implementing a Multi‑Platform Content Automation Pipeline with JSON Metadata and GitHub Actions
Implementing a Multi‑Platform Content Automation Pipeline with JSON Metadata and GitHub Actions TL;DR: I added a structured metadata.json and a small Node.js runner that reads platform‑specific markdown files, publishes them to Medium, Substack and Bluesky, and then flips the corresponding flags in the JSON. The change makes the whole “write once, publish everywhere” workflow deterministic and…
The article discusses the process of creating a multi-platform content automation pipeline using JSON metadata and GitHub Actions. The author faced challenges with manually copying and pasting the same article to different publishing platforms (Medium, Substack, Bluesky) and keeping a changelog in the repository. The manual process led to issues like missing changelog entries, inconsistent state, and error-prone copy-paste.
The author initially tried a bash script for automation, but it stopped on the first failed curl call, leaving the other platforms untouched, and required manual updates for adding new platforms. The author then implemented a more robust solution by centralizing state in a JSON file (metadata.json) that tracks whether the article has been generated for each platform and stores the URIs returned by the APIs. This change made the workflow deterministic, CI-driven, and eliminated the need for manual updates.
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