freek-dev-blog

freek.dev Blog Posts

API

All post operations use the freek.dev Blog Posts API. No browser automation needed.

Base URL

https://freek.dev/api

Authentication

Bearer token in the Authorization header. Token location: .secrets/blog-freek-dev.md

Authorization: Bearer <token>

Endpoints

List posts — GET /api/posts

Query parameters (all optional):

• published (0 or 1): filter by published status
• original_content (0 or 1): filter by original content
• tag (string): filter by tag name
• search (string): search by title

Returns paginated results.

Get a post — GET /api/posts/{id}

Create a post — POST /api/posts

Body (JSON):

• title (string, required)
• text (string, required, markdown)
• publish_date (ISO 8601 date, nullable)
• published (boolean, default false)
• original_content (boolean, default false)
• external_url (URL string, nullable)
• tags (array of strings)
• send_automated_tweet (boolean, default false)
• author_twitter_handle (string, nullable)
• series_slug (string, nullable)

Returns 201 with the created post.

Update a post — PUT /api/posts/{id}

Same fields as create, all optional. Only send fields you want to change.

Delete a post — DELETE /api/posts/{id}

Returns 204 No Content.

Response Format

All responses are wrapped in a data key:

{
  "data": {
    "id": 1,
    "title": "...",
    "slug": "...",
    "text": "...",
    "html": "...",
    "publish_date": "2026-03-02T14:00:00+00:00",
    "published": true,
    "original_content": false,
    "external_url": null,
    "series_slug": null,
    "author_twitter_handle": null,
    "send_automated_tweet": false,
    "tags": ["laravel", "php"],
    "url": "https://freek.dev/1-post-slug",
    "preview_url": "https://freek.dev/1-post-slug?preview_secret=abc123",
    "created_at": "2026-03-02T12:00:00+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2026-03-02T12:00:00+00:00"
  }
}

API Usage Examples

Create a link post:

curl -X POST https://freek.dev/api/posts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Article title here",
    "text": "Short summary of the linked content.",
    "external_url": "https://example.com/article",
    "send_automated_tweet": true
  }'

Schedule a post (set publish_date + published):

curl -X PUT https://freek.dev/api/posts/3040 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "publish_date": "2026-03-03T13:30:00+00:00",
    "published": true
  }'

Update post text:

curl -X PUT https://freek.dev/api/posts/3040 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Updated markdown content here."}'

Creating a Link Post

90% of posts are link posts (external content with a summary).

Steps

1. Create the post via POST /api/posts with:
   • title: Use the original article title or a clear variant
   • text: 2 sentences max summarizing the linked content. No links in the text.
   • external_url: The full URL being linked
   • original_content: false (it's a link post)
   • send_automated_tweet: true
2. Before scheduling, ALWAYS inspect the existing unpublished queue (GET /api/posts?published=0) and look at publish_date values. Do not assume the next slot is today.
3. Schedule sequentially after the last already-scheduled post, usually one post per day, around 14:30 CET/CEST unless the existing queue clearly follows a different pattern.
4. To schedule, set publish_date to the chosen future time. Do NOT set published: true (the blog auto-publishes when the date arrives).
5. Always confirm by displaying the created title, full summary text, and preview URL back to the user (so Freek can review what was written)

Link Post Text Guidelines

• Keep it to 2 sentences max
• Summarize what's interesting about the linked content
• No links in the summary text (the external URL field handles linking)
• No code blocks unless essential
• Write in third person ("They've released..." not "I found...")
• Never use em dashes in summaries or titles. Use commas, periods, or "and" instead.

Creating an Original Content Post

For posts written by Freek (package announcements, tutorials, opinions).

Steps

1. Create the post via POST /api/posts with:
   • title: The post title
   • text: Full markdown content (see write-freek-dev-blogpost skill for writing style)
   • original_content: true
   • send_automated_tweet: true (usually)
   • tags: Relevant tags as array of strings
2. Share the preview_url from the response for review
3. Schedule when Freek approves

Creating a YouTube Video Post

When Freek shares a YouTube link for the blog.

Steps

1. Get the video ID from the YouTube URL (e.g. dQw4w9WgXcQ from youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)
2. Get the video title via oembed API: youtube.com/oembed?url=VIDEO_URL&format=json
3. Create the post via POST /api/posts with:
   • title: Use the video title
   • text: Summary text followed by a blank line and the YouTube iframe embed:

     Summary text here.
     
     <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
     

   • external_url: null (the embed IS the content)
   • original_content: false
   • author_twitter_handle: Set if known
   • send_automated_tweet: true
4. Always confirm by displaying the title, full summary text, and preview URL

YouTube Embed Notes

• If the original URL has a timestamp (t=24 or start=24), add ?start=24 to the embed src
• Use width="560" height="315" as standard dimensions

Creating a Tweet Embed Post

When Freek wants to embed a Twitter/X thread on the blog.

Steps

1. Gather the tweet IDs from the thread
2. Create the post via POST /api/posts with:
   • title: Descriptive title (e.g. "A Twitter thread about laravel-permission v7")
   • text: Minimal blockquotes with data-conversation="none":

     <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
       <a href="https://twitter.com/USERNAME/status/TWEET_ID"></a>
     </blockquote>
     
     <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">
       <a href="https://twitter.com/USERNAME/status/TWEET_ID_2"></a>
     </blockquote>
     
     <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
     

   • external_url: null
   • original_content: true (it's Freek's own content)
   • author_twitter_handle: Tweet author (e.g. freekmurze)
   • send_automated_tweet: false (the tweets already exist)
3. Confirm with the preview URL so Freek can verify the embeds render

Tweet Embed Notes

• data-conversation="none" prevents showing the parent tweet above each reply
• Use ONE <script> tag at the end, not per-blockquote
• Twitter's widget.js renders the blockquotes client-side into rich embeds

Scheduling Convention

Standard scheduling: sequential daily at ~14:30 CET (13:30 UTC in winter, 12:30 UTC in summer).

⚠️ CRITICAL: NEVER set published: true for scheduled posts. Setting published: true publishes IMMEDIATELY and triggers the automated tweet. The blog auto-publishes posts when their publish_date arrives.

To schedule a new post: Create with published: false (or omit, it defaults to false) and set publish_date to the desired future date.

To schedule an existing post: Update with published: false and publish_date:

PUT /api/posts/{id}
{"published": false, "publish_date": "2026-03-03T13:30:00+00:00"}

Example Link Post

Title: SQL performance improvements: automatic detection & regression testing

Text:

The final part of Oh Dear's series on SQL performance. Mattias introduces phpunit-query-count-assertions, a package that catches N+1 queries, duplicate queries, and missing indexes in your test suite.

External url: https://ohdear.app/news-and-updates/...