Daily Article Automation System

This system automatically generates and publishes a new UX blog article every day, then sends you an email notification with the article URL.

🚀 Features

Automated Content Generation: Creates unique articles about UX topics daily
Jekyll Integration: Automatically adds new posts to your Jekyll blog
Email Notifications: Sends you the article URL via email
GitHub Actions: Runs automatically every day at 9:00 AM UTC
Manual Trigger: Can be run manually from GitHub Actions tab

📋 Setup Instructions

1. Install Dependencies

cd scripts
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Configure Email Notifications

To receive email notifications, you need to set up a Gmail app password:

Go to Google Account Settings
Navigate to Security → 2-Step Verification → App passwords
Generate a new app password for “Mail”
Set the environment variable:

export EMAIL_PASSWORD="your-gmail-app-password"

3. Test the System

python test_automation.py

4. Manual Test Run

python daily_article_generator.py

🔧 Configuration

Email Settings

Edit config.json to customize email settings:

{
  "email": {
    "smtp_server": "smtp.gmail.com",
    "smtp_port": 587,
    "sender_email": "haiderxayan@gmail.com",
    "recipient_email": "haiderxayan@gmail.com"
  }
}

Blog Settings

{
  "blog": {
    "site_url": "https://haiderali.co",
    "posts_directory": "_posts",
    "default_read_time": 8,
    "default_image": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1551650975-87deedd944c3?w=1200&h=630&fit=crop"
  }
}

Topics and Templates

The system includes 20 UX topics and 4 article templates:

Topics: User Research, Design Systems, Mobile UX, Accessibility, etc.

Templates:

Guide: “The Complete Guide to {topic} in 2024”
Tips: “10 Essential {topic} Tips Every Designer Should Know”
Trends: “The Future of {topic}: Trends Shaping UX in 2024”
Case Study: “How {topic} Transformed Our User Experience”

🤖 Automation

GitHub Actions

The system runs automatically via GitHub Actions:

Schedule: Every day at 9:00 AM UTC
Workflow: .github/workflows/daily-article.yml
Manual Trigger: Available in GitHub Actions tab

Local Cron Job (Alternative)

If you prefer to run it locally instead of GitHub Actions:

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run daily at 9 AM
0 9 * * * cd /path/to/your/blog/scripts && python daily_article_generator.py

📧 Email Notifications

You’ll receive an email every day with:

Article title
Article URL
Publication date
Filename

Example email:

Subject: New Blog Post Published: The Complete Guide to User Research in 2024

Hello Haider!

Your daily blog post has been successfully generated and published!

📝 Article Details:
- Title: The Complete Guide to User Research in 2024
- Filename: 2024-01-15-the-complete-guide-to-user-research-in-2024.md
- URL: https://haiderali.co/2024/01/15/the-complete-guide-to-user-research-in-2024/
- Published: 2024-01-15 09:00:00

The article has been automatically added to your Jekyll site and should appear in the latest section of your blog.

🔍 Monitoring

Check GitHub Actions

Go to your repository on GitHub
Click on “Actions” tab
Look for “Daily Article Generator” workflow
Check the latest run status

Check Generated Articles

Articles are created in the _posts/ directory with the format:

YYYY-MM-DD-article-title.md

Check Email Logs

The script logs email sending status. Check the GitHub Actions logs for email delivery status.

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Email not sending
- Check EMAIL_PASSWORD environment variable
- Verify Gmail app password is correct
- Check GitHub Actions secrets
Git push failing
- Ensure GitHub token has write permissions
- Check if there are merge conflicts
Article not appearing on site
- Check if Jekyll build is successful
- Verify GitHub Pages deployment
- Check article front matter format

Debug Mode

Run with debug output:

python daily_article_generator.py --debug

📈 Customization

Adding New Topics

Edit config.json and add topics to the topics array:

{
  "topics": [
    "User Research",
    "Design Systems",
    "Your New Topic"
  ]
}

Creating New Templates

Add new templates to config.json:

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "type": "tutorial",
      "title_template": "Step-by-Step {topic} Tutorial",
      "intro_template": "Learn {topic} with this comprehensive tutorial..."
    }
  ]
}

Modifying Article Content

Edit the generate_article_content() function in daily_article_generator.py to customize the article structure and content.

🔒 Security

Email passwords are stored as GitHub Secrets
No sensitive data is committed to the repository
All external links use HTTPS
Git operations use secure tokens

📞 Support

If you encounter any issues:

Check the GitHub Actions logs
Run the test script: python test_automation.py
Verify your configuration in config.json
Check your email settings and app password

Happy blogging! 🎉