WeChat Article Publisher

Publish Markdown or HTML content to WeChat Official Account drafts via API, with automatic format conversion.

Prerequisites

• WECHAT_API_KEY environment variable set (from .env file)
• Python 3.9+
• Authorized WeChat Official Account on wx.limyai.com

Scripts

Located in ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/:

wechat_api.py

WeChat API client for listing accounts and publishing articles:

# List authorized accounts
python wechat_api.py list-accounts

# Publish from markdown file
python wechat_api.py publish --appid <wechat_appid> --markdown /path/to/article.md

# Publish from HTML file (preserves formatting)
python wechat_api.py publish --appid <wechat_appid> --html /path/to/article.html

# Publish with custom options
python wechat_api.py publish --appid <appid> --markdown /path/to/article.md --type newspic

parse_markdown.py

Parse Markdown and extract structured data (optional, for advanced use):

python parse_markdown.py <markdown_file> [--output json|html]

Workflow

Strategy: “API-First Publishing”

Unlike browser-based publishing, this skill uses direct API calls for reliable, fast publishing.

1. Load WECHAT_API_KEY from environment
2. List available WeChat accounts (if user hasn’t specified)
3. Detect file format (Markdown or HTML) and parse accordingly
4. Call publish API to create draft in WeChat
5. Report success with draft details

Supported File Formats:

• .md files → Parsed as Markdown, converted by WeChat API
• .html files → Sent as HTML, formatting preserved

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Check API Key

Before any operation, verify the API key is available:

# Check if .env file exists and contains WECHAT_API_KEY
cat .env | grep WECHAT_API_KEY

If not set, remind user to:

1. Copy .env.example to .env
2. Set their WECHAT_API_KEY value

Step 2: List Available Accounts

Get the list of authorized WeChat accounts:

python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py list-accounts

Output example:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "accounts": [
      {
        "name": "我的公众号",
        "wechatAppid": "wx1234567890",
        "username": "gh_abc123",
        "type": "subscription",
        "verified": true,
        "status": "active"
      }
    ],
    "total": 1
  }
}

Important:

• If only one account, use it automatically
• If multiple accounts, ask user to choose
• Note the wechatAppid for publishing

Step 3: Publish Article

For Markdown files:

python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py publish \
  --appid <wechatAppid> \
  --markdown /path/to/article.md

For HTML files (preserves formatting):

python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py publish \
  --appid <wechatAppid> \
  --html /path/to/article.html

For 小绿书 (image-text mode):

python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py publish \
  --appid <wechatAppid> \
  --markdown /path/to/article.md \
  --type newspic

Success response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "publicationId": "uuid-here",
    "materialId": "uuid-here",
    "mediaId": "wechat-media-id",
    "status": "published",
    "message": "文章已成功发布到公众号草稿箱"
  }
}

Step 4: Report Result

After successful publishing:

• Confirm the draft was created
• Remind user to review and publish manually in WeChat admin panel
• Provide any relevant IDs for reference

API Reference

Authentication

All API requests require the X-API-Key header:

X-API-Key: WECHAT_API_KEY

Get Accounts List

POST https://wx.limyai.com/api/openapi/wechat-accounts

Publish Article

POST https://wx.limyai.com/api/openapi/wechat-publish

Parameters:

Error Codes

Critical Rules

1. NEVER auto-publish – Only save to drafts, user publishes manually
2. Check API key first – Fail fast if not configured
3. List accounts first – User may have multiple accounts
4. Handle errors gracefully – Show clear error messages
5. Preserve original content – Don’t modify user’s markdown unnecessarily

Supported Formats

Markdown Files (.md)

• H1 header (# ) → Article title
• H2/H3 headers (##, ###) → Section headers
• Bold (text)
• Italic (text)
• Links text
• Blockquotes (> )
• Code blocks (...)
• Lists (- or 1.)
• Images → Auto-uploaded to WeChat

HTML Files (.html)

• <title> or <h1> → Article title
• All HTML formatting preserved (styles, tables, etc.)
• <img> tags → Images auto-uploaded to WeChat
• First <p> → Auto-extracted as summary
• Supports inline styles and rich formatting

HTML Title Extraction Priority:

1. <title> tag content
2. First <h1> tag content
3. “Untitled” as fallback

HTML Content Extraction:

• If <body> exists, uses body content
• Otherwise, strips <html>, <head>, <!DOCTYPE> and uses remaining content

Article Types

news (普通文章)

• Standard WeChat article format
• Full Markdown/HTML support
• Rich text with images

newspic (小绿书/图文消息)

• Image-focused format (like Instagram posts)
• Maximum 20 images extracted from content
• Text content limited to 1000 characters
• Images auto-uploaded to WeChat

Example Flow

Markdown File

User: “把 ~/articles/ai-tools.md 发布到微信公众号”

# Step 1: Verify API key
cat .env | grep WECHAT_API_KEY

# Step 2: List accounts
python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py list-accounts

# Step 3: Publish (assuming single account with appid wx1234567890)
python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py publish \
  --appid wx1234567890 \
  --markdown ~/articles/ai-tools.md

# Step 4: Report
# "文章已成功发布到公众号草稿箱！请登录微信公众平台预览并发布。"

HTML File

User: “把这个HTML文章发布到公众号：~/articles/newsletter.html”

# Step 1: Verify API key
cat .env | grep WECHAT_API_KEY

# Step 2: List accounts
python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py list-accounts

# Step 3: Publish HTML (auto-detects format)
python ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-publisher/scripts/wechat_api.py publish \
  --appid wx1234567890 \
  --html ~/articles/newsletter.html

# Step 4: Report
# "文章已成功发布到公众号草稿箱！HTML格式已保留。请登录微信公众平台预览并发布。"

Error Handling

API Key Not Found

Error: WECHAT_API_KEY environment variable not set.

Solution: Ask user to set up .env file with their API key.

Account Not Found

Error: ACCOUNT_NOT_FOUND - 公众号不存在或未授权

Solution: Ask user to authorize their account on wx.limyai.com.

Token Expired

Error: ACCOUNT_TOKEN_EXPIRED - 公众号授权已过期

Solution: Ask user to re-authorize on wx.limyai.com.

WeChat API Error

Error: WECHAT_API_ERROR - 微信接口调用失败

Solution: May be temporary issue, retry or check WeChat service status.

Best Practices

Why use API instead of browser automation?

1. Reliability: Direct API calls are more stable than browser automation
2. Speed: No browser startup, page loading, or UI interactions
3. Simplicity: Single command to publish
4. Portability: Works on any system with Python (no macOS-only dependencies)

Content Guidelines

1. Images: Use public URLs when possible; local images will be uploaded
2. Title: Keep under 64 characters
3. Summary: Auto-extracted from first paragraph if not provided
4. Cover: First image in markdown becomes cover if not specified

Workflow Efficiency

Minimal workflow (1 command):
- list-accounts → get appid → publish → done

Full workflow (with verification):
1. Check .env → list accounts → confirm with user
2. Publish with options → report result

Troubleshooting

Q: How do I get a WECHAT_API_KEY?

A: Register and authorize your WeChat account at wx.limyai.com to get your API key.

Q: Can I publish to multiple accounts?

A: Yes, use list-accounts to see all authorized accounts, then specify the target --appid.

Q: Images not showing in WeChat?

A: Ensure images are accessible URLs. Local images are auto-uploaded but may fail if path is incorrect.

Q: Title is too long?

A: WeChat limits titles to 64 characters. The script will use the first 64 chars of H1.

Q: What’s the difference between news and newspic?

A: news is standard article format; newspic (小绿书) is image-focused with limited text.