Dev.to Integration with SmythOS
Want to automate your content publishing workflow? Connect Dev.to to SmythOS and empower your agents to publish articles and create drafts directly on the popular developer community platform.
List of Dev.to Components
Quickly compare Dev.to components by what they do and their key I/O. Click any component name to jump directly to its detailed guide.
Component | Action | What it Does | Inputs | Key Outputs | Use Case |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Publish Blog | Write | Publishes an article directly to Dev.to. | required title , body , description optional tags | articleId , articleUrl | Automating content distribution. |
Create Draft | Write | Saves an article as a draft in your Dev.to account for later review. | required title , body , description optional tags | articleId , articleUrl | Staging content from other systems. |
Prerequisites
Before you begin, please ensure you have the following:
- An active SmythOS account. (Sign up here).
- A Dev.to account.
- Your Dev.to API Key.
Getting Started With Dev.to
The connection between SmythOS and Dev.to is configured using a secure API Key.
Step 1: Get Your Dev.to API Key
- Log in to your Dev.to account.
- Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner and go to Settings.
- In the left menu, navigate to Account > API Keys. The direct link is
https://dev.to/settings/extensions
. - In the "Forem API Keys" section, give your key a description (e.g., "SmythOS Agent") and click Generate API Key.
- Copy the generated key to your clipboard.
Step 2: Store Your API Key in SmythOS Vault
Your API Key is a sensitive credential. Use the SmythOS Vault
to store it securely.
- In your SmythOS dashboard, navigate to the Vault.
- Create a new secret and paste your Dev.to API Key as the value. Give it a memorable name, like
devto_api_key
. - For more details, see the Vault Documentation.
Step 3: Configure a Dev.to Component
- In your SmythOS agent graph, drag and drop any Dev.to component.
- Click the component to open its Settings panel.
- In the
API Key
field, select the secret you saved in the Vault (e.g.,devto_api_key
). - Your connection is now configured for that component.
Which Dev.to Component Should I Use?
If you need to… | Target | Use this Component | Why this one? |
---|---|---|---|
Immediately publish an article for everyone to see | A complete article | Publish Blog | This component makes the article live on the Dev.to platform as soon as it's executed. |
Save an article for later editing and publishing | An incomplete or final draft | Create Draft | This allows you to programmatically get content into Dev.to without making it public immediately. |
Component Details
This section provides detailed information for each Dev.to component.
Publish Blog
Publishes an article directly to the Dev.to platform, making it live and visible to the community.
Inputs
Field | Type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
title | string | Yes | The title of the article. |
body | string | Yes | The main content of the article, written in Markdown. |
description | string | Yes | A short summary of the article. |
tags | Array of strings | Optional | A list of up to four tags for the article (e.g., ["javascript", "webdev"] ). |
Outputs
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
articleId | integer | The unique ID of the newly published article. |
articleUrl | string | The direct URL to the live article on Dev.to. |
Response | object | The full, raw JSON response from the Dev.to API. |
Headers | object | The HTTP headers from the API response. |
{
"component": "devto.publishBlog",
"title": "A Guide to Building AI Agents",
"body": "## Introduction\\n\\nBuilding AI agents is easier than ever...",
"description": "Learn the fundamentals of creating powerful AI agents with this step-by-step guide.",
"tags": ["ai", "development", "tutorial"]
}
Create Draft
Saves an article as a private draft in your Dev.to account. It will not be visible to the public until you manually publish it.
Inputs
Field | Type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
title | string | Yes | The title of the article draft. |
body | string | Yes | The Markdown content for the draft. |
description | string | Yes | A short summary for the draft. |
tags | Array of strings | Optional | A list of tags to associate with the draft. |
Outputs
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
articleId | integer | The unique ID of the newly created draft. |
articleUrl | string | The direct URL to view and edit the draft in your Dev.to dashboard. |
Response | object | The full, raw JSON response from the Dev.to API. |
Headers | object | The HTTP headers from the API response. |
{
"component": "devto.createDraft",
"title": "DRAFT: Understanding Serverless Computing",
"body": "Serverless computing is a cloud execution model...",
"description": "A draft exploring the pros and cons of serverless.",
"tags": ["serverless", "cloud", "architecture"]
}
Best Practices & Advanced Tips
- Secure Your API Key: Always store your Dev.to API key in the SmythOS
Vault
. - Use Markdown: The
body
input for both components uses Markdown. Your agent can be designed to generate or format content into Markdown before passing it to the component. - Frontmatter: The Dev.to API uses a JSON payload. However, if you were to structure your
body
input with YAML frontmatter (the metadata at the top of a Markdown file), the API can often parse it to set the title, tags, and other properties, which can be an alternative way to structure your input. - Update Articles: To update an existing article, you would need to use a
PUT
request to the/api/articles/{id}
endpoint. This would require a custom API call component in SmythOS where you provide thearticleId
obtained from creating the article.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
-
Error:
401 Unauthorized
- Cause: The API Key is incorrect, has been revoked, or is missing from the request header.
- Solution: Verify that the API Key in your SmythOS Vault is correct and active. Ensure it is correctly selected in the component settings.
-
Error:
422 Unprocessable Entity
- Cause: The request body is malformed. This typically means the
title
orbody
is missing, or thetags
are not in the correct format (e.g., not an array of strings). - Solution: Check that all required inputs are provided and correctly formatted. Ensure the
body
contains valid Markdown.
- Cause: The request body is malformed. This typically means the
-
Article Appears with "Invalid User"
- Cause: This can sometimes happen if the API key is invalid or has issues.
- Solution: Regenerate your API key on Dev.to and update the secret in your SmythOS Vault.
What's Next?
You are now ready to build powerful content automation pipelines with the SmythOS Dev.to Integration!
Consider these ideas:
-
Build an Agent That...
- Connects to your GitHub repository. When you merge a new Markdown file into your
blog
folder, the agent automatically takes the content and creates a draft on Dev.to. - Generates a weekly "Top 5 AI News" summary using an LLM component and a search tool, then publishes the summary as a blog post.
- Connects to your GitHub repository. When you merge a new Markdown file into your
-
Explore Other Integrations:
- After an agent publishes a new article using
Publish Blog
, it can take thearticleUrl
and share it across all your social channels using the Ayrshare Integration. - Keep a log of all published articles by having your agent write the
articleId
andarticleUrl
to a Google Sheet.
- After an agent publishes a new article using