A script that creates a new Jekyll post and populates it with YAML frontmatter, and also makes a curl call to add a Rebrandly shortlink
- What the script does
- Step 1: Create a post.sh shell script
- Step 2: Add API key to .zshrc or .bashrc file
- Step 3: Create the task in the VS Code Studio Command Palette (optional)
- Test it out
What the script does
The script, run in Visual Studio Code, does the following:
- Creates a new file and categorizes it in the directory yyyy/mm
- Populates the file with custom YAML frontmatter
- Prompts you for the title and slug (URL)
- Makes a curl call to a URL shortener called Rebrandly to get a shortlink for the post based on the slug
The Rebrandly step allows me to easily track clicks on the post when I include the link in a newsletter or when I share it on social media. Rebrandly is a URL shortener that works quite well and is free for up to 5,000 links.
By the way, this process isn’t specific to Jekyll. It just automates the creation of a file with yaml frontmatter. It could easily be adapted for most static site generators.
Step 1: Create a post.sh shell script
Create a shell script file called post.sh in the root directory of your Jekyll site. Include these contents in the file:
#!/bin/bash
# Make sure API key loads from .zshrc file
source ~/.zshrc
# Get current date, year, and month
DATE=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
YEAR=$(date +"%Y")
MONTH=$(date +"%m")
# Get title from user input
echo "Enter the post title:"
read TITLE
echo "Enter the post slug:"
read SLUG
# Create year and month directories if they don't exist
mkdir -p _posts/$YEAR/$MONTH
# Create the file with YAML frontmatter
cat > _posts/$YEAR/$MONTH/$DATE-$SLUG.md <<EOL
---
* TOC
{:toc}
title: "$TITLE"
permalink: /blog/$SLUG
date: $DATE
categories:
- technical-writing
- ai
keywords:
rebrandly: https://idbwrtng.com/$SLUG
description: ""
---
* TOC
{:toc}
EOL
# get API key from .zshrc file
REBRANDLY_KEY="${REBRANDLY_API_KEY}"
# make API call to Rebrandly to create shortlink
data=$(printf '
{
"domain": {
"fullName": "idbwrtng.com"
},
"destination": "https://idratherbewriting.com/%s",
"slashtag": "%s",
"title": "%s"
}' "$SLUG" "$SLUG" "$TITLE")
response=$(curl --request POST \
--url https://api.rebrandly.com/v1/links \
--header 'accept: application/json' \
--header "apikey: $REBRANDLY_KEY" \
--header 'content-type: application/json' \
--data "$data"
)
echo "Response:" $response
Customize the script as needed. For example, customize the categories and permalink path in the yaml frontmatter. In the Rebrandly script, customize the domain fullName and destination. Change the domain obviously. See the Rebrandly link endpoint documentation for details.
Notice how the API key is passed in from the .zshrc or .bashrc file rather than being embedded directly in the script. This ensures that your API key won’t be included when you commit this script into a public repo.
Also notice that the data is passed in a bit differently from the basic curl call shown in the Rebrandly docs. This is because I had some trouble with variable substitution and so settled on this approach to make sure the values are passed into the variables properly.
After you create the post.sh file, run chmod +x post.sh on it to make it executable.
Step 2: Add API key to .zshrc or .bashrc file
Open your .zshrc or .bashrc file (it’s in ~/) and add the following, replacing the value with your actual Rebrandly API key:
export REBRANDLY_API_KEY="123456789"
Reload your terminal session or run source ~/.zshrc or source ~/.bashrc.
Step 3: Create the task in the VS Code Studio Command Palette (optional)
This step is optional. If you want to run the command by typing ./post.sh in your terminal, you don’t need to complete this section. If you want to access the command from the Command Palette, however, complete the following steps.
In this step, you’ll create a new option in VS Code studio Command Palette that has the Create Jekyll Post option.
In your VS Code files, open .vscode > tasks.json and include the following in the tasks array:
{
"label": "Create Jekyll Post",
"type": "shell",
"command": "./post.sh",
"problemMatcher": [],
"group": "none",
"presentation": {
"echo": true,
"reveal": "always",
"focus": true,
"panel": "shared",
"showReuseMessage": true,
"clear": false
}
}
If the .vscode > tasks.json directory and file don’t exist, create them and include this code:
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"type": "java (build)",
"paths": [
"${workspace}"
],
"isFullBuild": true,
"group": "build",
"problemMatcher": [],
"label": "java (build): Build Workspace",
"detail": "$(tools) Build all the Java projects in workspace."
},
{
"label": "Create Jekyll Post",
"type": "shell",
"command": "./post.sh",
"problemMatcher": [],
"group": "none",
"presentation": {
"echo": true,
"reveal": "always",
"focus": true,
"panel": "shared",
"showReuseMessage": true,
"clear": false
}
}
]
}
Test it out
In VS Code, go to View > Command Palette > Tasks > Run Task. Click Create Jekyll Post. Alternatively, just run ./post.sh in your terminal (easier). The terminal asks you for the post name input. Then if successful, it creates the new post and the Rebrandly short url. Check Rebrandly to see if the shortlink was created.
(BTW, I used Phind.com and ChatGPT for help with this code.)
About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.
If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me. Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.