Creating New Posts (Script)

Relevant source files

The following files were used as context for generating this wiki page:

• scripts/new-post.js
• package.json
• README.md
• src/content/config.ts
• src/content/posts/2018-10-30/Charlotte-Markdown.md
• frontmatter.json

The new-post.js script is a command-line utility designed to streamline the creation of new blog posts. It automates the generation of a new Markdown file, pre-populated with a standard frontmatter template. This ensures consistency across all posts and reduces the manual setup required for authors.

The script is intended to be run via a package manager command, which is defined in the project's package.json file. Its primary function is to create a file in the correct content directory with a valid structure, ready for content to be added.

Sources: scripts/new-post.js, README.md:32-35, package.json:10

Script Execution and Usage

The script is executed from the command line using pnpm. It requires a single argument, which is the desired filename for the new post.

pnpm new-post <filename>

Sources: README.md:35

This command is an alias defined in package.json which executes the Node.js script.

"scripts": {
  "new-post": "node scripts/new-post.js"
}

Sources: package.json:10

The following diagram illustrates the user-facing execution flow.

Core Logic and Flow

The script follows a clear, sequential process to validate input and create the new post file. It includes checks to prevent errors, such as overwriting existing files or failing to provide a filename.

The internal logic of the new-post.js script is detailed in the flowchart below.

This diagram shows the step-by-step process from argument parsing to file creation.
Sources: scripts/new-post.js:14-56

Key Steps:

1. Argument Parsing: The script retrieves the filename from the command-line arguments. If no filename is provided, it logs an error and exits.
   Sources: scripts/new-post.js:14-19
2. Filename Normalization: It checks if the filename already has a .md or .mdx extension. If not, it appends .md.
   Sources: scripts/new-post.js:22-25
3. Path and Existence Check: The script constructs the full path to the target file within src/content/posts/. It then checks if a file at this path already exists. If it does, the script logs an error and exits to prevent accidental overwrites.
   Sources: scripts/new-post.js:27-33
4. Directory Creation: It ensures that the target directory for the post exists. If the filename includes a path (e.g., 2023-01-01/my-post), it will create the necessary subdirectories recursively.
   Sources: scripts/new-post.js:36-39
5. File Generation: The script creates the file content, which consists of a YAML frontmatter block. The title is derived from the filename argument, and the published date is set to the current date.
   Sources: scripts/new-post.js:44-54
6. File Writing: Finally, the generated content is written to the new file on the filesystem.
   Sources: scripts/new-post.js:56

Generated File Structure

File Location

All new posts are created within the ./src/content/posts/ directory. The script supports creating posts in subdirectories, which is a common pattern for organizing posts and their associated assets.

src/content/posts/
├── post-1.md
└── post-2/
    ├── cover.png
    └── index.md

Sources: scripts/new-post.js:27, src/content/posts/2018-10-30/Charlotte-Markdown.md:29-34

Frontmatter Content

The script generates a Markdown file with a predefined frontmatter block. This structure is essential for how the Astro content collection processes and renders posts.

const content = `---
title: ${args[0]}
published: ${getDate()}
description: ''
image: ''
tags: []
category: ''
draft: false 
lang: ''
---
`;

Sources: scripts/new-post.js:44-54

The generated fields correspond directly to the post schema defined in the project.

Field	Default Value (from script)	Description	Schema Type
title	<filename>	The title of the post.	string
published	Current date (YYYY-MM-DD)	The publication date.	date
description	'' (empty string)	A short summary of the post.	string (optional)
image	'' (empty string)	Path to the post's cover image.	string (optional)
tags	[] (empty array)	A list of tags associated with the post.	array(string) (optional)
category	'' (empty string)	The category of the post.	string (optional)
draft	false	If true, the post will not be published in production.	boolean (optional)
lang	'' (empty string)	The language of the post.	string (optional)

This structure is validated against the postsCollection schema defined in src/content/config.ts.
Sources: scripts/new-post.js:44-54, src/content/config.ts:4-19, frontmatter.json:28-86

Dependencies

The script relies exclusively on built-in Node.js modules for its functionality, requiring no external packages.

• node:fs: Used for filesystem operations like checking for file existence (fs.existsSync), creating directories (fs.mkdirSync), and writing files (fs.writeFileSync).
• node:path: Used for handling and transforming file paths, such as joining path segments (path.join) and getting the directory name (path.dirname).

Sources: scripts/new-post.js:3-4