Ghost Content Pipeline

Ghost Content Pipeline

Automated pipeline for creating, publishing, optimizing and distributing content on a self-hosted Ghost CMS. Designed to run as cron jobs or to be invoked by agents.

Dependencies

Required

GHOST_URL=https://your-ghost.com
GHOST_ADMIN_API_KEY=id:secret

Optional (per feature)

# SEO Research
SERPER_API_KEY=xxx              # Google SERP data (serper.dev)

# Indexing
GOOGLE_INDEXING_KEY_FILE=/path  # Google Indexing API service account
INDEXNOW_KEY=xxx                # IndexNow API key

# Image generation
OPENAI_API_KEY=xxx              # DALL-E
IDEOGRAM_API_KEY=xxx            # Ideogram
# or any other configured image API

# Social distribution
TWITTER_BEARER_TOKEN=xxx        # X/Twitter API
PINTEREST_TOKEN=xxx             # Pinterest API

Setup

cd $SKILL_DIR && npm install

Workflows

1. Create and Publish a New Post

Full content-creation pipeline:

1. Research the topic
   → scripts/content-research.js --topic="topic" --check-competition
   Output: { keyword, difficulty, paa_questions[], related_topics[], existing_posts[] }

2. Check whether it already exists on the site
   → scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts search --query="topic"
   If it exists: abort or suggest an update

3. Generate the content
   → The agent (LLM) generates the post HTML following the template in references/post-template.md
   Input: research from step 1
   Output: { title, html, meta_title, meta_description, tags[], custom_excerpt }

4. Generate a feature image (optional)
   → scripts/generate-image.js --prompt="..." --output=/tmp/feature.webp
   → scripts/ghost-content-ops.js images upload --file=/tmp/feature.webp

5. Publish
   → scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts create --json='{...}'
   Status: "published" (immediate) or "scheduled" with published_at

6. Submit for indexing
   → scripts/submit-indexing.js --url="https://your-ghost.com/new-post/"

7. Distribute on social networks (optional)
   → scripts/social-distribute.js --post-url="..." --platforms=twitter,pinterest

2. Improve an Existing Post (Content Improver)

To run as a cron job, improving the oldest post on each execution:

1. Fetch the oldest / most outdated post
   → scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts list --order=updated_at+asc --limit=1 --status=published

2. Analyze current quality
   → scripts/content-analyzer.js --url="post-url" --check-seo --check-readability
   Output: { score, missing_h2s, missing_faq, word_count, missing_images, suggestions[] }

3. Research fresh data
   → scripts/content-research.js --topic="post-topic" --paa-only
   Output: { paa_questions[], fresh_data }

4. Generate the improved version (via LLM)
   Rules: references/improvement-rules.md
   - Keep the original URL/slug
   - Add an FAQ with real PAA data
   - Improve the H2 structure
   - Add internal links
   - Improve the meta description

5. Generate new images if needed
   → scripts/generate-image.js + upload

6. Update the post
   → scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts update --id=xxx --json='{...}'

7. Resubmit for indexing
   → scripts/submit-indexing.js --url="post-url"

3. Bulk Operations

For mass operations on existing posts:

# Update meta descriptions of every post that has none
→ scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts list --filter="meta_description:null" --limit=all
→ For each: generate a meta description via LLM → update

# Add a tag to posts matching a filter
→ scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts bulk-tag --filter="tag:-optimized" --add-tag="optimized"

# Reprocess every feature image to WebP
→ scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts list --fields=id,feature_image --limit=all
→ For each: download → convert to WebP → re-upload → update post

# Generate custom_excerpt for posts without an excerpt
→ scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts list --filter="custom_excerpt:null" --limit=all
→ For each: extract the first paragraph → generate an excerpt via LLM → update

4. Content Calendar

Content planning and scheduling:

1. Generate a topic calendar
   → scripts/content-research.js --generate-calendar --weeks=4 --niche="your-niche"
   Output: calendar.json with topics, dates, keywords

2. For each calendar item:
   → Run the "Create and Publish a New Post" workflow
   → Use status "scheduled" with the published_at from the calendar

3. Monitor scheduled publications
   → scripts/ghost-content-ops.js posts list --status=scheduled --order=published_at+asc

Recommended Post Structure

See references/post-template.md for the full template. Summary (headings shown in English — localize them to the blog's language):

<!-- Answer Capsule (featured snippet bait) -->
<div class="answer-capsule">
  <p><strong>Quick answer:</strong> ...</p>
</div>

<!-- H2s written as real user questions -->
<h2>What is [topic]?</h2>
<p>...</p>

<h2>How does [action] work?</h2>
<p>...</p>

<!-- Comparison table -->
<table>...</table>

<!-- FAQ with real PAA data -->
<h2>Frequently Asked Questions</h2>
<h3>Real question from Google PAA?</h3>
<p>Answer...</p>

<!-- Internal links -->
<h2>Read also</h2>
<ul>
  <li><a href="/related-post/">Title</a></li>
</ul>

Shared Library

Content ops scripts import JWT/HTTP utilities from the selfhost-admin shared lib:

require('../../ghost-selfhost-admin/lib/ghost-api')

References

• SEO-optimized post template → references/post-template.md
• Content improvement rules → references/improvement-rules.md
• Cron job setup → references/cron-setup.md
• Ghost Admin API reference → ../ghost-selfhost-admin/references/ghost-admin-api.md

Integration with the Celebrity Dev Agent Team

This skill is the engine of the Celebrity Dev Content Pipeline sub-team:

• Topic Scout uses content-research.js to discover topics
• SEO Optimizer uses content-analyzer.js for audits and improvements
• Long-form/Short-form Draft Writers produce content following post-template.md
• Repurposer uses social-distribute.js for distribution
• Visual Director uses generate-image.js for visual assets

The Brand Voice Guardian and Content Strategist (Claude API) validate the output before publishing.

Golden Rules

1. Never publish without review — drafts first, publish after validation
2. Real PAA data, never invented — use Serper/SERP API for FAQs
3. Optimized images — always WebP, max 1280px, < 200KB
4. Internal linking — every post must link to at least 2 related posts
5. updated_at is mandatory — Ghost requires it for conflict detection on updates
6. Social rate limits — respect the limits of the social network APIs
7. Monitor indexing — check that posts were indexed after submission
8. Backup before bulk ops — export content before mass operations