Crier Cross-Posting Workflow

Crier cross-posts blog content to multiple platforms. The blog is the canonical source of truth.

Division of labor:

• Crier does mechanics: API calls, registry tracking, clipboard, browser
• Claude does judgment: summaries, error handling, user interaction

Platform Reference

Modes:

• API = automatic posting via API
• import = user imports from canonical URL (like Medium)
• paste = user copy-pastes (content goes to clipboard)

Complete Dialogue Examples

Example 1: Cross-post a new article

User: cross-post my new blog post to the usual platforms

Claude: I'll cross-post content/post/2026-01-04-my-article/index.md

Let me check what's needed:
[runs: crier audit content/post/2026-01-04-my-article/index.md]

Platforms to post:
• devto (API) - will auto-post
• hashnode (API) - will auto-post
• bluesky (API, 300 chars) - I'll write a summary
• mastodon (API, 500 chars) - I'll write a summary
• medium (import) - you'll import from your URL

Proceed?

User: yes

Claude: [runs API posts for devto, hashnode]
[generates summaries and posts to bluesky, mastodon with --rewrite]

✓ devto: https://dev.to/user/my-article-abc
✓ hashnode: https://user.hashnode.dev/my-article
✓ bluesky: posted announcement
✓ mastodon: posted announcement

For Medium, import from your canonical URL:
https://yourblog.com/post/2026-01-04-my-article/

Go to: https://medium.com/p/import

[runs: crier publish article.md --to medium --yes]

Did you import to Medium successfully?

User: yes

Claude: ✓ All platforms complete.

Example 2: Handling short-form platforms

User: post this to bluesky

Claude: [runs: crier publish article.md --to bluesky]

Error: Content too long for bluesky: 5000 characters (limit: 300)

I'll write a short announcement:

"New post: Exploring the mathematics of uncertainty - how
probabilistic thinking can transform how we approach
complex problems."

(198 chars + URL = within limit)

[runs: crier publish article.md --to bluesky \
  --rewrite "New post: Exploring..." --rewrite-author "claude-code"]

✓ bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/user/post/abc123

Example 3: Import mode (Medium)

User: post to medium

Claude: Medium uses URL import. I'll set this up:

[runs: crier publish article.md --to medium --yes]

Import your article from this URL:
https://yourblog.com/post/2026-01-04-my-article/

Go to: https://medium.com/p/import

Did the import work?

User: yes

Claude: ✓ Registered in crier. Done!

Example 4: Manual paste mode (Twitter)

User: share on twitter

Claude: Twitter uses copy-paste mode.

[runs: crier publish article.md --to twitter --yes]

I've copied this to your clipboard:
"New post: My Article Title - exploring key concepts...

https://yourblog.com/post/my-article/"

Go to: https://twitter.com/compose/tweet

Did you post it?

User: yes

Claude: ✓ Registered. All done!

Workflow Decision Tree

User wants to cross-post

1. Audit first: crier audit <file> or crier audit for all content
2. Show platforms: List what will happen for each platform
3. Get confirmation: Simple "Proceed?" - trust the user
4. Execute by type:

- API long-form → crier publish <file> --to <platform> - API short-form → Generate summary, use --rewrite - Import mode → crier publish ... --to medium --yes, tell user to import - Paste mode → crier publish ... --to twitter --yes, tell user to paste

1. Report results: Show all successes, ask about manual platforms

User says something changed

1. Run crier audit to see ⚠ dirty markers
2. For platforms that support update: re-run publish (auto-updates)
3. For platforms without update (bluesky, twitter): tell user they must delete/repost manually

Failure handling

• Continue through all platforms even if some fail
• Report all failures at the end
• Don't ask user to retry - just report what happened

Interpreting Audit Scope

The crier audit command scans all directories in content_paths by default. Users often want to scope to specific content types.

Reading user intent:

When uncertain:

• Run crier config show to see configured content paths (crier finds its config automatically, like git)
• Look at what subdirectories exist under the content paths
• Make a reasonable choice based on available clues
• If wrong, the user will clarify - that's what conversation is for

Don't overthink it. A site might have content/post, content/projects, content/papers, content/writing, etc. User language usually provides enough signal. When it doesn't, just pick a reasonable default and let the user correct you.

Key Commands

# Check what needs publishing
crier audit
crier audit content/post/my-article/index.md

# Publish to API platform
crier publish article.md --to devto

# Publish with rewrite for short-form
crier publish article.md --to bluesky \
  --rewrite "Short announcement text" \
  --rewrite-author "claude-code"

# Auto-rewrite using configured LLM (requires LLM config)
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite

# Import/paste mode (skips interactive prompts)
crier publish article.md --to medium --yes
crier publish article.md --to twitter --yes

# Check API keys
crier doctor

# Manual registry management
crier register <file> --platform <platform> [--url <url>]
crier unregister <file> --platform <platform>

Automation Modes

Batch Mode

Use --batch for fully automated, non-interactive publishing:

# Batch mode: implies --yes --json, skips manual/import platforms
crier publish article.md --to devto --to bluesky --batch
crier audit --publish --batch

Batch mode:

• Implies --yes (no prompts)
• Implies --json (structured output)
• Skips manual/import platforms automatically
• Perfect for CI/CD and automated workflows

JSON Output

Use --json for machine-readable output:

# JSON output for publish
crier publish article.md --to devto --json

# JSON output for audit
crier audit --json

JSON output structure:

{
  "command": "publish",
  "file": "article.md",
  "results": [
    {"platform": "devto", "success": true, "url": "https://..."}
  ],
  "summary": {"succeeded": 1, "failed": 0, "skipped": 0}
}

Auto-Rewrite with LLM

Use --auto-rewrite to automatically generate short-form content:

# Basic auto-rewrite
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite

# Preview with dry-run (shows char budget like "285/300 chars, 95%")
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite --dry-run

# Retry up to 3 times if output exceeds character limit
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite -R 3

# Truncate at sentence boundary if retries fail
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite -R 3 --auto-rewrite-truncate

# Override temperature (0.0-2.0, higher=more creative)
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite --temperature 1.2

# Override model
crier publish article.md --to bluesky --auto-rewrite --model gpt-4o

Simplest setup: If OPENAIAPIKEY is set, it just works (defaults to gpt-4o-mini).

Or configure in ~/.config/crier/config.yaml:

# Minimal (defaults to OpenAI + gpt-4o-mini)
llm:
  api_key: sk-...

# For Ollama/other providers
llm:
  base_url: http://localhost:11434/v1
  model: llama3

Bulk Operations

For large content libraries, use filters to control scope:

# Batch mode: publish to API long-form platforms (fully automated)
crier audit --publish --batch --long-form

# Post 5 random articles to blog platforms
crier audit --publish --yes --only-api --long-form --sample 5

# All missing to API platforms (skips manual/import)
crier audit --publish --yes --only-api

# Include updates to changed content
crier audit --publish --yes --include-changed

# Filter by path - only posts (not projects, papers, etc.)
crier audit content/post --publish --yes --only-api --long-form --sample 5

# Only projects
crier audit content/projects --only-api

# Posts from last week
crier audit --since 1w --publish --yes --only-api

# Posts from December 2025
crier audit --since 2025-12-01 --until 2025-12-31 --publish --yes

# Sample 5 recent posts (last month)
crier audit --sample 5 --since 1m --only-api --long-form

Filters

• [PATH] - Limit to specific directory (e.g., content/post, content/projects)
• --since - Only content from this date (e.g., 1d, 1w, 1m, 2025-01-01)
• --until - Only content until this date
• --only-api - Skip manual/import/paste platforms
• --long-form - Skip short-form platforms (bluesky, mastodon, twitter, threads)
• --sample N - Random sample of N items
• --include-changed - Also update changed content (default: missing only)
• --batch - Non-interactive mode (implies --yes --json --only-api)
• --json - Output results as JSON

Claude Code Bulk Workflow

1. Run automated batch: crier audit --publish --batch --long-form --sample 10
2. Check what else needs work: crier audit
3. Handle short-form platforms with --rewrite or --auto-rewrite
4. Guide user through manual/import platforms

Important Rules

1. Crier appends the canonical URL to short-form posts automatically. Don't include it in your rewrite text.

1. DevTo tags are auto-sanitized. Hyphens removed, lowercase, max 4 tags. No action needed.

1. Use --yes for non-API modes. This skips interactive prompts that don't work through Claude Code.

1. Ask simple yes/no after manual operations. Trust the user's answer.

1. Show the canonical URL for import-mode platforms. It's the key piece of information.

1. Use --batch for automation. It handles all the flags for non-interactive use.

1. Relative links are auto-resolved. Links like /posts/other/ are converted to absolute URLs using sitebaseurl. No manual URL fixing needed.

Configuration

Global Config (~/.config/crier/config.yaml)

API keys and profiles (shared across all projects):

# Set API key for automatic posting
crier config set devto.api_key <key>

# Set import mode (Medium)
crier config set medium.api_key import

# Set paste mode (Twitter)
crier config set twitter.api_key manual

# Check configuration
crier doctor

LLM configuration (for --auto-rewrite):

# If OPENAI_API_KEY env var is set, no config needed!
# Otherwise, minimal config:
llm:
  api_key: sk-...  # defaults to OpenAI + gpt-4o-mini

# Or for Ollama:
llm:
  base_url: http://localhost:11434/v1
  model: llama3

# Full config with retry and truncation defaults:
llm:
  api_key: sk-...
  base_url: https://api.openai.com/v1
  model: gpt-4o-mini
  temperature: 0.7          # 0.0-2.0, higher=more creative
  retry_count: 0            # Auto-retry if output exceeds limit
  truncate_fallback: false  # Hard-truncate if retries fail

Set LLM config via CLI:

crier config llm set temperature 0.9
crier config llm set retry_count 3
crier config llm set truncate_fallback true

Local Config (.crier/config.yaml)

Project-specific settings:

# Content discovery
content_paths:
  - content
site_base_url: https://yoursite.com
exclude_patterns:
  - _index.md           # Hugo section pages
file_extensions:
  - .md
  - .mdx                # Optional: for MDX content

# Defaults
default_profile: everything   # Used when no --to or --profile specified
rewrite_author: claude-code   # Default author for Claude-generated rewrites

Front Matter Requirements

---
title: "Your Article Title"
canonical_url: "https://yourblog.com/your-article/"
---

The canonical_url is required - it's the article's identity for tracking and linking.