WordPress Remote News Publisher

Skill: WordPress Remote News Publisher

> Automated news article generation and publishing to WordPress via SSH and WP-CLI.

Folder Structure

WordPress-Remote-News-Publisher/
  SKILL.md
  config.json
  scripts/
    download_cover.py
    optimize_image.sh
    upload_media_remote.sh
    publish_wp_remote.sh

Metadata

---
name: wordpress-remote-news-publisher
description: |
  Automatically generates and publishes news articles to a remote WordPress 
  installation via SSH using public key authentication. Downloads and optimizes 
  cover images from Unsplash, transfers them via SCP, and publishes articles 
  with SEO metadata (Yoast).
user-invocable: true
triggers:
  - cron: "0 10 * * 1-5"  # Weekdays at 10:00
  - cron: "0 16 * * 1-5"  # Weekdays at 16:00
  - manual: "/wordpress-remote-news-publisher [topic]"
metadata:
  emoji: "📰"
  version: "1.0.0"
  author: "ClawHub Community"
  license: "MIT"
  openclaw:
    requires:
      bins:
        - ssh
        - scp
        - python3
        - curl
        - convert
      env:
        - WP_SSH_HOST
        - WP_SSH_USER
        - WP_SSH_KEY
        - WP_SSH_PORT
        - WP_REMOTE_PATH
        - WP_REMOTE_TMP
        - WP_AUTHOR_ID
        - UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY

Overview

This skill enables automated news content creation and publication to WordPress websites hosted on remote servers. It leverages SSH with public key authentication for secure, passwordless connections, and WP-CLI for all WordPress operations on the server side.

Key Features

Required Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | Required | Example | |----------|-------------|----------|---------| | WP_SSH_HOST | Remote server hostname or IP | Yes | 203.0.113.10 or example.com | | WP_SSH_USER | SSH username on remote server | Yes | deploy, www-data, wpcli | | WP_SSH_KEY | Absolute path to SSH private key | Yes | /home/user/.ssh/id_ed25519_wp | | WP_SSH_PORT | SSH port (default: 22) | No | 22 | | WP_REMOTE_PATH | Absolute path to WordPress installation | Yes | /var/www/html/wordpress | | WP_REMOTE_TMP | Writable temp directory on remote | No | /tmp | | WP_AUTHOR_ID | WordPress author ID for posts | Yes | 1 | | UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY | Unsplash API access key | Yes | AbC123... |

Editorial Philosophy

Every article MUST adhere to these rules:

1. Write like a senior journalist, not an AI assistant 2. Use variable sentence length: Alternate short periods with complex constructions 3. Lead with a clear thesis in the first paragraph (lede) 4. Include attributed quotes from real sources when available 5. Avoid AI-sounding phrases: Never use "it's important to note," "in the digital age," "in today's world," "in conclusion," "obviously," "clearly," or similar formulas 6. Specific titles: No clickbait. The title must contain the main fact

Complete Procedure

Phase 1: Topic Selection

If no topic is provided as argument:

1. Read config.json for the configured topic list 2. Select the topic with the oldest publication date (round-robin) 3. Use that topic for content generation

Phase 2: SSH Connection Verification

Before any operation, verify SSH connectivity:

ssh -i "$WP_SSH_KEY" -p "${WP_SSH_PORT:-22}" \
    -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
    -o BatchMode=yes \
    -o ConnectTimeout=10 \
    "$WP_SSH_USER@$WP_SSH_HOST" \
    "wp --info --path=$WP_REMOTE_PATH"

If this fails, abort and notify via Telegram with error details.

Phase 3: Research and Fact Gathering

1. Web Search: Query "[topic] latest news [current month]" and English equivalents for international sources

2. Fact Collection (only verifiable facts): - Numerical data with source attribution - Statements from real people with name and role - Specific dates and events - Avoid unattributed speculation

3. Store Facts: Save to /tmp/wp_facts.json

Phase 4: Article Generation

#### Mandatory Editorial Structure

TITLE (max 65 characters)

LEDE (first paragraph, 40-60 words)

BODY (600-900 total words)

META DESCRIPTION (max 155 characters) SEO TAGS (3-5 tags, without #) PRIMARY KEYWORD (1 keyword)

#### Output Format

Save to /tmp/wp_article.json:

{
  "title": "...",
  "content": "...",
  "excerpt": "...",
  "tags": ["..."],
  "meta_desc": "...",
  "keyword": "...",
  "topic": "..."
}

Phase 5: Cover Image

1. Determine Visual Keyword: Derive from article topic (e.g., "server room technology")

2. Download from Unsplash (local machine):

   python3 {baseDir}/scripts/download_cover.py '[keyword]' /tmp/cover.jpg
   

3. Optimize Locally:

   bash {baseDir}/scripts/optimize_image.sh /tmp/cover.jpg /tmp/cover_opt.jpg
   

4. Transfer and Import:

   bash {baseDir}/scripts/upload_media_remote.sh /tmp/cover_opt.jpg
   

Phase 6: Publishing to Remote WordPress

1. Create Draft Post:

   bash {baseDir}/scripts/publish_wp_remote.sh
   

2. Verify Status: Wait 30 seconds, check via SSH

3. Publish:

   ssh -i "$WP_SSH_KEY" -p "${WP_SSH_PORT:-22}" "$WP_SSH_USER@$WP_SSH_HOST" \
     "wp post update $(cat /tmp/wp_post_id.txt) \
      --post_status=publish --path=$WP_REMOTE_PATH"
   

4. Retrieve Published URL:

   ssh -i "$WP_SSH_KEY" -p "${WP_SSH_PORT:-22}" "$WP_SSH_USER@$WP_SSH_HOST" \
     "wp post get $(cat /tmp/wp_post_id.txt) --field=url --path=$WP_REMOTE_PATH"
   

5. Send Telegram Confirmation: Title, URL, word count, keyword

Phase 7: Update Registry

Update config.json with the current timestamp for the published topic to ensure proper rotation.

SSH Key Setup (One-Time)

Before using this skill, configure public key authentication:

# 1. Generate a dedicated key pair (ed25519 recommended)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_wp \
    -C "openclaw-wp-publisher" -N ""
2. Copy public key to remote server
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_wp.pub -p 22 deploy@203.0.113.10
3. Verify passwordless connection
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_wp -o BatchMode=yes \
    deploy@203.0.113.10 "wp --info"
4. (Optional) Restrict key in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
command="wp --allow-root",no-port-forwarding,no-X11-forwarding \
    ssh-ed25519 AAAA... openclaw-wp-publisher

> Security Tip: Use a dedicated SSH user (deploy or wpcli) with minimal server permissions. Never use root. If WP-CLI needs write access to /var/www, add the user to the www-data group.

Remote Server Requirements

| Component | Requirement | Verification | |-----------|-------------|--------------| | WP-CLI | Installed and in PATH | wp --info | | PHP | ≥ 7.4 (8.x recommended) | php --version | | Python 3 | For JSON parsing | python3 --version | | Permissions | SSH user writes to WP_REMOTE_PATH | ls -la /var/www/html/wordpress | | SSH Port | Open in firewall | ufw status |

Local Machine Requirements (OpenClaw)

| Component | Requirement | Installation | |-----------|-------------|--------------| | ssh, scp | In PATH | Pre-installed on Linux/macOS | | ImageMagick | convert command | apt install imagemagick | | Python 3 | With requests library | pip install requests |

Configuration Example

OpenClaw Configuration

Add to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "skills": {
    "entries": {
      "wordpress-remote-news-publisher": {
        "env": {
          "WP_SSH_HOST": "203.0.113.10",
          "WP_SSH_USER": "deploy",
          "WP_SSH_KEY": "/home/user/.ssh/id_ed25519_wp",
          "WP_SSH_PORT": "22",
          "WP_REMOTE_PATH": "/var/www/html/wordpress",
          "WP_REMOTE_TMP": "/tmp",
          "WP_AUTHOR_ID": "1",
          "UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY": "your-unsplash-access-key"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "cron": {
    "jobs": [
      {
        "id": "wp-morning-news",
        "schedule": "0 10 * * 1-5",
        "prompt": "Execute wordpress-remote-news-publisher. Select topic from rotation.",
        "channel": "telegram"
      },
      {
        "id": "wp-afternoon-news",
        "schedule": "0 16 * * 1-5",
        "prompt": "Execute wordpress-remote-news-publisher for afternoon edition.",
        "channel": "telegram"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Summary

This skill enables fully automated WordPress publishing without requiring WP-CLI on the local machine. All WordPress operations execute remotely via SSH, images process locally and transfer via SCP, and the connection uses public key authentication for security and automation.