https://derekarmstrong.dev/tags/n8n/N8nHugo Blox Builder (https://hugoblox.com)en-usThu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://derekarmstrong.dev/media/sharing.pnghttps://derekarmstrong.dev/tags/n8n/https://derekarmstrong.dev/projects/blog-cross-post-automation/Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://derekarmstrong.dev/projects/blog-cross-post-automation/<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2> <p>Every time I publish a blog post, I want it to reach readers on Dev.to and Hashnode too — without spending time manually reformatting and reposting. So I built an N8N workflow that handles the entire syndication pipeline.</p> <p>The workflow triggers when a new post appears on the blog, formats it for each platform&rsquo;s API, publishes it with a canonical link back to the source, and tracks state so nothing gets duplicated or lost.</p> <h2 id="how-it-works">How It Works</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Trigger</strong>: Detects new blog posts via RSS feed or file watch</li> <li><strong>Transform</strong>: Converts markdown to each platform&rsquo;s required format</li> <li><strong>Publish</strong>: Posts to Dev.to and Hashnode simultaneously via their APIs</li> <li><strong>Canonical</strong>: Sets canonical URLs pointing back to derekarmstrong.dev</li> <li><strong>Track</strong>: Records publication state to prevent duplicates and enable re-posts</li> </ul> <h2 id="why-it-matters">Why It Matters</h2> <p>Content syndication is a numbers game. One article, three distributions. But the manual effort adds up fast — reformatting, managing API keys, tracking which posts went where. Automating it means the content does the work, not me.</p> <p>The canonical URL setup is critical: search engines need to know the original source to avoid duplicate content penalties. Every cross-post points back to the blog.</p> <h2 id="technologies">Technologies</h2> <ul> <li>N8N (workflow automation)</li> <li>Dev.to API</li> <li>Hashnode API</li> <li>Markdown transformation</li> <li>State tracking and deduplication</li> </ul>