Automating Blog Publication on Dev.to: A Developer's Guide to the API

As developers, we're always looking for ways to streamline our workflows. If you're an active technical writer publishing on Dev.to, you've probably wondered if there's a way to automate the publishing process directly from your preferred writing environment. Good news! Dev.to offers a robust API that enables programmatic interaction with the platform.

In this article, we will walk through the process of automating blog publication on Dev.to, covering everything from authentication to managing drafts and publishing articles.

Why Automate Publishing to Dev.to?

Before diving into the technical details, let's consider a few compelling reasons to automate your Dev.to publishing workflow:

• Write in your preferred environment - Author content in your favorite markdown editor, IDE, or note-taking app and publish without copy-pasting
• Cross-platform publishing - Write once, publish to multiple platforms with format adaptation
• Version control integration - Maintain your blog posts in Git repositories along with your code
• Batch operations - Publish or update multiple articles with a single command
• Scheduled publishing - Queue posts to be published at optimal times

Setting Up Authentication

The Dev.to API uses API keys for authentication. To get started, you'll need to generate an API key:

1. Log in to your Dev.to account
2. Navigate to Settings → Account → DEV API Keys
3. Create a new API key with an appropriate description

Once you have your API key, you can include it in the headers of your API requests:

headers = {
    "api-key": "your_api_key_here",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

Keep your API key secure—it provides full access to create, update, and manage articles on your behalf.

Understanding Article Structure

The Dev.to API represents articles using a JSON structure. The key properties include:

Article Metadata

{
  "article": {
    "title": "Your Article Title",
    "published": false,
    "body_markdown": "Your article content in markdown format...",
    "tags": ["python", "api", "tutorial", "automation"],
    "series": "Optional Series Name",
    "canonical_url": "https://original-site.com/if-crossposting",
    "description": "Brief description of your article",
    "cover_image": "https://url-to-cover-image.jpg"
  }
}

Some important notes on these fields:

• title: Required field for all articles
• published: Boolean flag determining if the article is a draft (false) or published (true)
• body_markdown: The full content of your article in markdown format
• tags: Array of up to 4 tags that help categorize your article
• series: Optional field to group related articles together
• canonical_url: If you're cross-posting, set this to the original URL to avoid SEO penalties
• description: A brief summary shown in article previews
• cover_image: URL to a header image for your article

Core API Endpoints

Dev.to provides several RESTful endpoints for article management:

Creating a New Article

import requests
import json

def create_article(api_key, article_data):
    url = "https://dev.to/api/articles"
    headers = {
        "api-key": api_key,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    response = requests.post(
        url,
        headers=headers,
        json={"article": article_data}
    )

    if response.status_code == 201:
        return response.json()
    else:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to create article: {response.text}")

By default, this creates a draft article. To publish immediately, include "published": true in your article data.

Getting Your Articles

You can retrieve your published and draft articles separately:

# Get published articles
def get_published_articles(api_key):
    url = "https://dev.to/api/articles/me/published"
    headers = {"api-key": api_key}
    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

    if response.status_code == 200:
        return response.json()
    else:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to fetch articles: {response.text}")

# Get draft articles
def get_draft_articles(api_key, page=1, per_page=30):
    url = "https://dev.to/api/articles/me/unpublished"
    headers = {"api-key": api_key}
    params = {"page": page, "per_page": per_page}

    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)

    if response.status_code == 200:
        return response.json()
    else:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to fetch draft articles: {response.text}")

These methods return lists of article objects containing metadata and IDs, which you'll need for further operations.

Understanding Article IDs

Each article on Dev.to has a unique ID, which is essential for operations like updating, publishing, or deleting. When you create an article or retrieve a list of your articles, the API response includes this ID.

{
  "id": 12345,
  "title": "Your Article Title",
  "description": "Article description...",
  "published": false,
  // Additional fields...
}

This ID becomes the key identifier for all subsequent operations on the article.

Updating an Existing Article

To update an article, you need its ID and the fields you want to modify:

def update_article(api_key, article_id, update_data):
    url = f"https://dev.to/api/articles/{article_id}"
    headers = {
        "api-key": api_key,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    response = requests.put(
        url,
        headers=headers,
        json={"article": update_data}
    )

    if response.status_code == 200:
        return response.json()
    else:
        raise Exception(f"Failed to update article: {response.text}")

This function is versatile—you can update any article properties, including the published status.

The Draft-to-Published Workflow

One of the most common workflows is creating a draft, reviewing it, and then publishing it. Here's how to implement this flow programmatically:

1. Create a Draft

draft_data = {
    "title": "My Technical Article",
    "body_markdown": "# Introduction\n\nThis is the start of my article...",
    "tags": ["programming", "tutorial"],
    "published": False  # This creates a draft
}

draft = create_article(api_key, draft_data)
draft_id = draft["id"]

2. Update the Draft (Optional)

You might want to make changes after reviewing the draft in the Dev.to interface:

update_data = {
    "body_markdown": "# Revised Introduction\n\nThis is the improved start of my article..."
}

updated_draft = update_article(api_key, draft_id, update_data)

3. Publish the Draft

When you're ready to publish, simply update the published status:

publish_data = {
    "published": True
}

published_article = update_article(api_key, draft_id, publish_data)

This transition from draft to published is handled seamlessly by the Dev.to API. The article retains all its content and metadata while changing its visibility status.

Advanced Features

Handling Frontmatter

Dev.to supports YAML frontmatter in markdown files, which provides a convenient way to define article metadata:

---
title: My Amazing Article
published: false
tags: api, tutorial
series: API Mastery
---

# Article Content Starts Here

Your article body...

When working with files that include frontmatter, you'll need to parse them correctly:

import frontmatter

def read_markdown_file(file_path):
    with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        post = frontmatter.load(file)

    return {
        'metadata': post.metadata,
        'content': post.content
    }

def create_article_from_file(api_key, file_path):
    markdown_data = read_markdown_file(file_path)

    article_data = {
        "title": markdown_data['metadata'].get('title', 'Untitled'),
        "published": markdown_data['metadata'].get('published', False),
        "body_markdown": markdown_data['content'],
        "tags": markdown_data['metadata'].get('tags', []),
        "series": markdown_data['metadata'].get('series'),
        "canonical_url": markdown_data['metadata'].get('canonical_url'),
        "description": markdown_data['metadata'].get('description', ''),
        "cover_image": markdown_data['metadata'].get('cover_image')
    }

    # Remove None values
    article_data = {k: v for k, v in article_data.items() if v is not None}

    return create_article(api_key, article_data)

This approach allows you to maintain article metadata directly in your markdown files.

Batch Publishing

If you have multiple drafts you'd like to publish, you can implement a batch operation:

def batch_publish_drafts(api_key, draft_ids):
    results = []

    for article_id in draft_ids:
        try:
            result = update_article(api_key, article_id, {"published": True})
            results.append({
                "article_id": article_id,
                "status": "success",
                "article": result
            })
            # Be nice to the API with a small delay
            time.sleep(1)
        except Exception as e:
            results.append({
                "article_id": article_id,
                "status": "error",
                "error": str(e)
            })

    return results

This article was created using the MarkdownPublisher class demonstrated in the examples above. The complete source code for a publishing automation tool is available on GitHub.

Best Practices and Limitations

When working with the Dev.to API, keep these considerations in mind:

• Dev.to applies rate limiting to API requests. While the exact limits aren't prominently documented, it's good practice to add delays between requests, especially when performing batch operations.
• Dev.to limits articles to a maximum of 4 tags.

Conclusion

The Dev.to API provides powerful capabilities for programmatic article management, enabling developers to build custom publishing workflows. Whether you're looking to automate personal blog posts or managing a technical publication with multiple authors, understanding these API concepts will help you streamline your process.