Dev.to Publisher

Use the Dev.to API via direct curl calls to publish and manage articles.

Official docs: https://developers.forem.com/api/v1

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When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Publish articles to Dev.to
• Update existing articles
• Manage drafts
• Fetch your published articles

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Prerequisites

1. Go to https://dev.to/settings/extensions
2. Scroll to "DEV Community API Keys"
3. Generate a new API key

export DEVTO_API_KEY="your-api-key"

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Important: When using $VAR in a command that pipes to another command, wrap the command containing $VAR in bash -c '...'. Due to a Claude Code bug, environment variables are silently cleared when pipes are used directly.

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.example.com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"' | jq .

How to Use

All examples below assume you have DEVTO_API_KEY set.

1. Publish an Article

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "My Awesome Article",
  "body_markdown": "## Introduction\n\nThis is my article content.\n\n## Conclusion\n\nThanks for reading!",
  "published": false,
  "tags": ["javascript", "webdev"]
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{id, url, published}'"'"''

Response:

{
  "id": 123456,
  "url": "https://dev.to/username/my-awesome-article-abc",
  "published": false
}

2. Publish Immediately

Set published: true to publish right away:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "Published Article",
  "body_markdown": "Content here...",
  "published": true,
  "tags": ["tutorial"]
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{id, url, published}'"'"''

3. Publish with Cover Image

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "Article with Cover",
  "body_markdown": "Content here...",
  "published": true,
  "tags": ["webdev", "tutorial"],
  "main_image": "https://example.com/cover.png"
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{id, url}'"'"''

4. Publish from Markdown File

TITLE="My Article Title"
CONTENT=$(cat article.md | jq -Rs '.')

curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{
  \"article\": {
  \"title\": \"${TITLE}\",
  \"body_markdown\": ${CONTENT},
  \"published\": false,
  \"tags\": [\"programming\"]
  }
  }" | jq '{id, url, published}'

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Managing Articles

5. Get Your Articles

bash -c 'curl -s "https://dev.to/api/articles/me?per_page=10" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}"' | jq '.[] | {id, title, published, url}'

6. Get Published Articles Only

bash -c 'curl -s "https://dev.to/api/articles/me/published?per_page=10" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}"' | jq '.[] | {id, title, url}'

7. Get Unpublished (Drafts)

bash -c 'curl -s "https://dev.to/api/articles/me/unpublished" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}"' | jq '.[] | {id, title}'

8. Get Single Article

Note: Replace 123456 with an actual article ID from the "List My Articles" response (example 5) or from the id field in the create article response (example 1).

ARTICLE_ID="123456"

bash -c 'curl -s "https://dev.to/api/articles/${ARTICLE_ID}" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}"' | jq '{id, title, url, published}'

9. Update an Article

Note: Replace 123456 with an actual article ID from the "List My Articles" response (example 5) or from the id field in the create article response (example 1).

ARTICLE_ID="123456"

bash -c 'curl -s -X PUT "https://dev.to/api/articles/${ARTICLE_ID}" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "Updated Title",
  "body_markdown": "Updated content..."
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{id, url}'"'"''

10. Publish a Draft

Note: Replace 123456 with an actual article ID from the "List My Articles" response (example 5) or from the id field in the create article response (example 1).

ARTICLE_ID="123456"

bash -c 'curl -s -X PUT "https://dev.to/api/articles/${ARTICLE_ID}" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "published": true
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{id, url, published}'"'"''

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Article Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
title	string	Article title (required)
body_markdown	string	Content in Markdown
published	boolean	true to publish, false for draft
tags	array	Up to 4 tags (lowercase, no spaces)
main_image	string	Cover image URL
canonical_url	string	Original article URL (for cross-posts)
series	string	Series name to group articles

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Examples

Tech Tutorial

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "Getting Started with Docker",
  "body_markdown": "## What is Docker?\n\nDocker is a platform for developing...\n\n## Installation\n\n```bash\nbrew install docker\n```\n\n## Your First Container\n\n```bash\ndocker run hello-world\n```",
  "published": true,
  "tags": ["docker", "devops", "tutorial", "beginners"]
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{url}'"'"''

Cross-post from Blog

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "My Blog Post",
  "body_markdown": "Content from my blog...",
  "published": true,
  "canonical_url": "https://myblog.com/original-post",
  "tags": ["webdev"]
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{url}'"'"''

Article in a Series

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "article": {
  "title": "React Hooks - Part 1: useState",
  "body_markdown": "First part of the series...",
  "published": true,
  "series": "React Hooks Deep Dive",
  "tags": ["react", "javascript", "hooks"]
  }
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'{url}'"'"''

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Guidelines

1. Max 4 tags: Dev.to limits articles to 4 tags
2. Lowercase tags: Tags should be lowercase without spaces
3. Escape markdown: Use jq -Rs to properly escape markdown content
4. Cover images: Must be URLs, not local files
5. Draft first: Set published: false to review before publishing
6. Check response: Always verify the returned URL