A Record of Implementing a GitHub Action to Detect New Articles and Post Them to X as Twitter Cards

June 13, 2025 · 9 min read

Individual Developer

This article organizes the procedures and troubleshooting records from when I implemented a GitHub Action to detect new articles and post them to X as Twitter Cards.

This article is a record from when it was written. For the continuously maintained procedure, see the technical documentation version.

Feature: Detect new posts with GitHub Actions and post them to X as Twitter Cards.

References: Twitter API v2 https://developer.x.com/en/docs/x-api

Search engine optimization (SEO) https://docusaurus.io/docs/seo

Implementation Record for Automatic X Posting

1. Prerequisites

X Developer App and Credentials:
- App created in the X Developer Portal.
- App permissions set to "Read and Write".
- API Key, API Key Secret, Access Token, and Access Token Secret have been obtained.
GitHub Secrets: The following have been registered in the repository under Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.
- X_API_KEY
- X_API_SECRET
- X_ACCESS_TOKEN
- X_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET
- SITE_URL (e.g., https://hkdocs.com/)
- BASE_URL (e.g., /)

2. Local Development Environment and Dependency Setup

Clean Up Development Environment (if necessary):
- Completely stop Docker containers:
```
docker-compose down --volumes --remove-orphans
```
- Delete node_modules, pnpm-lock.yaml, and .pnpm-store (if it exists) on the host machine.
- Run pnpm install on the host (this regenerates pnpm-lock.yaml).
- Rebuild the Docker image:
```
docker-compose build --no-cache app
```
Install Required Libraries (gray-matter, twitter-api-v2):
- Run the following command:
```
docker-compose run --rm app sh -c "pnpm add -D gray-matter twitter-api-v2 --store-dir /root/.local/share/pnpm/store/v10 && echo 'Libraries added successfully.'"
```
- (Note: The --store-dir path is the pnpm global store path in the build environment. Adjust as necessary.)
Rebuild Docker Image:
- Run the following command:
```
docker-compose build app
```

3. Implementing the GitHub Actions Auto-Posting Feature

Create Workflow File: Create .github/workflows/post-to-x.yml with the following content.

# .github/workflows/post-to-x.yml
name: Post New Articles to X

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - 'blog/**.md'
      - 'blog/**.mdx'
      - 'docs/**.md'
      - 'docs/**.mdx'
      - '!diary/**'

jobs:
  post_to_x:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    concurrency:
      group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
      cancel-in-progress: true
    timeout-minutes: 10
    permissions:
      contents: read

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '22.16.0' # Adjust to your Node.js version

      - name: Enable Corepack and Set up PNPM
        run: |
          corepack enable
          corepack prepare pnpm@10.11.0 --activate # Adjust to your pnpm version
        shell: bash

      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Find New Posts and Post to X
        env:
          X_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.X_API_KEY }}
          X_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.X_API_SECRET }}
          X_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.X_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
          X_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.X_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
          SITE_URL: ${{ secrets.SITE_URL }}
          BASE_URL: ${{ secrets.BASE_URL }}
        run: node ./.github/scripts/post-new-articles.js

Create Posting Script: Create .github/scripts/post-new-articles.js with the following content.

// .github/scripts/post-new-articles.js
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const { execSync } = require('child_process');
const matter = require('gray-matter');
const { TwitterApi } = require('twitter-api-v2');

const MAX_POST_LENGTH = 280;
const ELLIPSIS = '...';
const ARTICLE_PREFIX = '[New Article]';
const LOG_PREFIX = '[PostToX]';
const TARGET_DIRS = ['blog/', 'docs/'];
const TARGET_EXTS = ['.md', '.mdx'];

const {
  X_API_KEY, X_API_SECRET, X_ACCESS_TOKEN, X_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET,
  SITE_URL, BASE_URL, GITHUB_EVENT_BEFORE, GITHUB_SHA, GITHUB_EVENT_NAME
} = process.env;

let rwClient;

function initializeXClient() {
  const requiredEnvVars = {
    X_API_KEY, X_API_SECRET, X_ACCESS_TOKEN, X_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET,
    SITE_URL, BASE_URL, GITHUB_SHA
  };
  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(requiredEnvVars)) {
    if (!value) {
      console.error(`${LOG_PREFIX} Error: Missing required environment variable: ${key}`);
      process.exit(1);
    }
  }
  const xClient = new TwitterApi({
    appKey: X_API_KEY, appSecret: X_API_SECRET,
    accessToken: X_ACCESS_TOKEN, accessSecret: X_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET,
  });
  rwClient = xClient.readWrite;
}

function getAddedFiles(shaBefore, shaCurrent, eventName) {
  let diffCommand;
  console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Determining diff strategy. Event: ${eventName}, shaBefore: ${shaBefore}, shaCurrent: ${shaCurrent}`);

  if (eventName === 'push' && shaBefore && !shaBefore.startsWith('0000000') && shaBefore !== 'undefined' && shaBefore !== null) {
    console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Using 'git diff' between ${shaBefore} and ${shaCurrent} (standard push).`);
    diffCommand = `git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A ${shaBefore} ${shaCurrent}`;
  } else {
    console.warn(`${LOG_PREFIX} shaBefore is unreliable ('${shaBefore}'). Assuming merge commit or similar. Diffing ${shaCurrent} with its first parent.`);
    diffCommand = `git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A ${shaCurrent}^1 ${shaCurrent}`;
  }

  try {
    console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Executing diff command: ${diffCommand}`);
    const diffOutput = execSync(diffCommand, { encoding: 'utf-8' }).toString();
    const files = diffOutput.split('\n').filter(file => file.trim() !== '');
    console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Found ${files.length} files added:`, files);
    return files;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`${LOG_PREFIX} Error getting git diff with command "${diffCommand}":`, error.message);
    if (error.message.toLowerCase().includes('unknown revision or path not in the working tree') ||
        error.message.toLowerCase().includes('bad revision')) {
      console.warn(`${LOG_PREFIX} Diff with parent failed. Attempting to list files in the commit ${shaCurrent} itself.`);
      try {
        const fallbackCommand = `git show --pretty="" --name-only --diff-filter=A ${shaCurrent}`;
        console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Executing fallback diff command: ${fallbackCommand}`);
        const fallbackOutput = execSync(fallbackCommand, { encoding: 'utf-8' }).toString();
        const fallbackFiles = fallbackOutput.split('\n').filter(file => file.trim() !== '');
        console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Fallback (files in commit ${shaCurrent}) found ${fallbackFiles.length} files:`, fallbackFiles);
        return fallbackFiles;
      } catch (fallbackError) {
        console.error(`${LOG_PREFIX} Fallback diff command also failed:`, fallbackError.message);
      }
    }
    return [];
  }
}

function filterContentFiles(files) {
  return files.filter(file =>
    TARGET_DIRS.some(dir => file.startsWith(dir)) &&
    TARGET_EXTS.some(ext => file.endsWith(ext)) &&
    !path.basename(file).startsWith('_')
  );
}

function getArticleUrl(filePath, frontmatter) {
  let relativePath;
  const siteUrl = SITE_URL.endsWith('/') ? SITE_URL.slice(0, -1) : SITE_URL;
  let baseUrlPath = BASE_URL;
  if (!baseUrlPath.startsWith('/')) baseUrlPath = '/' + baseUrlPath;
  if (!baseUrlPath.endsWith('/')) baseUrlPath += '/';
  if (baseUrlPath === '//') baseUrlPath = '/';

  const ext = path.extname(filePath);
  const baseFilename = path.basename(filePath, ext);

  if (filePath.startsWith('blog/')) {
    let slug = frontmatter.slug || baseFilename;
    const dateMatch = slug.match(/^(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})-/);

    if (dateMatch) {
      const year = dateMatch[1];
      const month = dateMatch[2];
      const day = dateMatch[3];
      const actualSlug = slug.substring(dateMatch[0].length);
      relativePath = path.join('blog', year, month, day, actualSlug);
    } else {
      relativePath = path.join('blog', slug);
    }
  } else if (filePath.startsWith('docs/')) {
    const dir = path.dirname(filePath);
    const relativeDir = dir.startsWith('docs/') ? dir.substring('docs/'.length) : dir;
    let id = frontmatter.id || frontmatter.slug || baseFilename;
    if (id.toLowerCase() === 'index' || (relativeDir && id.toLowerCase() === path.basename(relativeDir).toLowerCase())) {
        relativePath = path.join('docs', relativeDir);
    } else {
        relativePath = path.join('docs', relativeDir, id);
    }
  } else {
    return null;
  }
  const fullRelativePath = (baseUrlPath + relativePath.replace(/\\/g, '/')).replace(/\/\//g, '/');
  return siteUrl + fullRelativePath;
}

function createPostText(title, articleUrl, frontmatter) {
  let text = `${ARTICLE_PREFIX}${title}\n${articleUrl}`;
  const hashtags = (frontmatter.tags && Array.isArray(frontmatter.tags))
    ? frontmatter.tags
        .map(tag => `#${tag.replace(/\s+/g, '').replace(/-/g, '_')}`)
        .filter(tag => (text + "\n" + tag).length <= MAX_POST_LENGTH)
        .join(' ')
    : '';
  if (hashtags) text += `\n${hashtags}`;

  if (text.length > MAX_POST_LENGTH) {
    const baseLength = (ARTICLE_PREFIX + '\n' + articleUrl + (hashtags ? '\n' + hashtags : '') + ELLIPSIS).length;
    const maxTitleLength = MAX_POST_LENGTH - baseLength;
    const truncatedTitle = title.length > maxTitleLength ? title.substring(0, Math.max(0, maxTitleLength)) + ELLIPSIS : title;
    text = `${ARTICLE_PREFIX}${truncatedTitle}\n${articleUrl}`;
    if (hashtags && (text + "\n" + hashtags).length <= MAX_POST_LENGTH) {
        text += `\n${hashtags}`;
    }
  }
  return text;
}

async function processArticleFile(filePath) {
  console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Processing file: ${filePath}`);
  try {
    const fileContent = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf8');
    const { data: frontmatter } = matter(fileContent);

    if (frontmatter.draft === true || frontmatter.unlisted === true) {
      console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Skipping draft/unlisted file: ${filePath}`);
      return;
    }
    if (!frontmatter.title) {
      console.warn(`${LOG_PREFIX} Skipping ${filePath}: 'title' not found in frontmatter.`);
      return;
    }

    const articleUrl = getArticleUrl(filePath, frontmatter);
    if (!articleUrl) {
      console.warn(`${LOG_PREFIX} Skipping ${filePath}: Could not determine URL.`);
      return;
    }

    const postText = createPostText(frontmatter.title, articleUrl, frontmatter);
    console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Attempting to post to X: "${postText}"`);

    const { data: createdPost } = await rwClient.v2.tweet({ text: postText });
    console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Successfully posted to X: ${frontmatter.title} (ID: ${createdPost.id}) URL: ${articleUrl}`);

  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`${LOG_PREFIX} Failed to process or post for file ${filePath}:`, error.message);
    if (error.data) {
      console.error(`${LOG_PREFIX} X API Error Details:`, JSON.stringify(error.data, null, 2));
    }
  }
}

async function main() {
  console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Starting script.`);
  initializeXClient();

  const addedFiles = getAddedFiles(GITHUB_EVENT_BEFORE, GITHUB_SHA, GITHUB_EVENT_NAME);
  const newContentFiles = filterContentFiles(addedFiles);

  if (newContentFiles.length === 0) {
    console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} No new content files found to post.`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Found ${newContentFiles.length} new content file(s) to process:`, newContentFiles);

  for (const file of newContentFiles) {
    await processArticleFile(file);
  }
  console.log(`${LOG_PREFIX} Finished processing all new content files.`);
}

main().catch(error => {
  console.error(`${LOG_PREFIX} Unhandled error in main function:`, error);
  process.exit(1);
});

4. Docusaurus Configuration (X Card Optimization)

Check docusaurus.config.ts:
- Ensure url, baseUrl, and themeConfig.image (e.g., img/default-social-card.jpg) are set appropriately for X Card display.
Check Article Front Matter:
- In the article files intended for posting, properly set title, description, image (optional), and tags.
Check with the X Card Validator:
- After deploying the site, test an article URL with the X Card Validator.

5. Testing

Save changes to the local repository (Git commit).
Push changes to the remote repository.
Add a new test article file to the workflow's trigger branch (either by direct push or merge).
Check the GitHub Actions execution log.
Check your X account for the posted content and the X Card display.
If problems occur, refer to "6. Troubleshooting Guide".

6. Troubleshooting Record

Local Development Environment Errors (docusaurus: not found, type errors, etc.):
- Solution: Perform a complete cleanup of Docker containers, host-side node_modules/lockfiles/pnpm store, then run pnpm install on the host, and rebuild the Docker image with the --no-cache option. Restart your IDE/editor.
ERR_PNPM_UNEXPECTED_STORE when adding pnpm libraries:
- Solution: When running docker-compose run ... pnpm add ..., specify the build-time store path with --store-dir <path>.
Resource busy (rm -rf node_modules fails) when adding pnpm libraries:
- Solution: Stop any processes running inside the container (like the development server). If that doesn't work, stop the container with docker-compose stop app before retrying, or delete the target directory/file on the host while the container is stopped.
pnpm: command not found in GitHub Actions:
- Solution: Check that you are using corepack enable and corepack prepare pnpm@<version> --activate in your workflow file.
Article not detected in GitHub Actions (shaBefore is 'undefined'):
- Solution: In the Node.js script's getAddedFiles function, verify the logic that uses git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A ${GITHUB_SHA}^1 ${GITHUB_SHA} when GITHUB_EVENT_BEFORE is unreliable. Also, ensure that fetch-depth: 0 is specified in the actions/checkout step.
Failed to post to X (authentication error, etc.):
- Solution: Check your GitHub Secrets configuration. Verify that the app's permission settings and API keys/tokens are valid in the X Developer Portal. Also, check your X API plan and usage limits. Review the detailed error information from the X API in the script's log output.
Incorrect X Card display:
- Solution: Check the url, baseUrl, and themeConfig.image settings in docusaurus.config.ts. Ensure that title, description, and image are set correctly in the article's front matter. Test with the X Card Validator. Inspect the OGP meta tags (og:title, og:description, og:image, etc.) in the generated HTML source.
Type resolution errors in VS Code (Cannot find module ..., etc.):
- Solution: Completely restart VS Code. From the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P), run TypeScript: Restart TS server.

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Implementation Record for Automatic X Posting​

1. Prerequisites​

2. Local Development Environment and Dependency Setup​

3. Implementing the GitHub Actions Auto-Posting Feature​

4. Docusaurus Configuration (X Card Optimization)​

5. Testing​

6. Troubleshooting Record​