Publishing (Phase 4)

Goal: Push AI-generated content to WordPress automatically via wp-cli, then finalize in the WordPress editor.

How It Works

Content generation produces markdown files locally. A wp-cli script reads the markdown, converts it to HTML, and creates WordPress posts automatically — including categories, tags, and status. No manual copy-paste needed.

Data Flow

Markdown file (local)  →  wp-cli script  →  WordPress post (draft)
                                              ↓
                                        Final editing in WordPress:
                                        - Add images
                                        - Add admonitions
                                        - Add internal links
                                        - Add featured image
                                        - Publish live

wp-cli Post Creation

# Create a post from markdown content
wp post create \
  --post_title="How to Read a Balance Sheet" \
  --post_content="$(cat FS-0001.md | markdown-to-html)" \
  --post_status=draft \
  --post_category="Financial Statements" \
  --tags_input="balance sheet, financial statements"

Key wp-cli parameters:

Parameter	Source
--post_title	From generated markdown frontmatter or first H1
--post_content	Markdown converted to HTML
--post_status	draft (default) — you publish after final edits
--post_category	Maps from Topic column in pipeline CSV
--tags_input	From WP Tag column
--porcelain	Returns new post ID for tracking

Publishing Status Flow

Pipeline Status:  Writing → Editing → Scheduled → Published
WP Status:                 Draft   → Scheduled → Published

1. Script runs — reads pipeline CSV for rows in Writing status
2. Post created — wp-cli creates the post as draft in WordPress
3. You edit — log into WordPress, add images, admonitions, internal links, featured image
4. You publish — set status to Published in WordPress
5. Link tracked — paste the WordPress permalink back into the pipeline CSV

What You Do in WordPress

The automated publish creates a clean draft. You handle the visual polish:

• Images — add featured image and inline media
• Admonitions — use generateblocks or greenshift-animation-and-page-builder-blocks for styled callouts
• Internal links — link to other relevant posts
• Table of Contents — auto-generated by wpstrategist-greenshift-toc-automation
• Mermaid diagrams — rendered by wpstrategist-mermaid-js
• Code blocks — styled by code-block-pro
• Final review — check formatting, fix any HTML artifacts

Available Plugins (opshell.dev)

Plugin	Purpose
generateblocks + generateblocks-pro	Block-based page builder
gp-premium	GeneratePress theme premium features
greenshift-animation-and-page-builder-blocks	Animation and layout blocks
greenshiftseo	On-page SEO meta
greenshiftquery	Dynamic content queries
wp-seopress + wp-seopress-pro	SEO metadata, XML sitemaps
code-block-pro	Syntax-highlighted code blocks
opshell-docusaurus-admonitions	Docusaurus-style admonition blocks
opshell-gp-elements-organizer	GP elements management
wpstrategist-mermaid-js	Mermaid diagram rendering
wpstrategist-greenshift-toc-automation	Auto table of contents
wpstrategist-authority-contents-sidebars	Authority content sidebars
wpstrategist-seo-architecture	SEO architecture management
advanced-custom-fields-pro	Custom fields and meta boxes
admin-columns-pro	Admin column management
perfmatters	Performance optimization
litespeed-cache	Caching and optimization
suremembers + suremembers-core	Membership and access control
fluent-cart + fluent-cart-pro	E-commerce cart
fluent-affiliate + fluent-affiliate-pro	Affiliate management

Taxonomy Management

• Categories map to the Topic column and must be pre-created in WordPress
• Tags are defined in the WP Tag column as comma-separated values
• Pillar Pages are WordPress Pages, regular content is Posts

tip

Always publish as Draft first, then do your visual editing in WordPress before publishing live. Use the --porcelain flag with wp-cli to get the post ID for CSV tracking.