Social Media Posts From The Archive

Background

Whilst checking my Bluesky feed I noticed someone posting links to, and images from, their blog. Not new posts, but posts from years ago. It struck me this was good use of a blog archive. However, I didn't want to do this manually: even daily posts would soon pall.

In January I removed over one hundred low‑value posts, improved the underlying HTML code, and brought the layout of all the remaining posts up to my current standard. Today there are 464 posts on this blog, which is more than enough for a lengthy series of recycled posts. I just needed a suitable script I could automate.

Thanks to the perplexity.ai, I now have working python scripts, for both bluesky and the fediverse, that produce posts like this:

Read on if you are running Linux (Xubuntu 24.04) and you'd like to try them (at your own risk of course).

Instructions

[1] Create a venv folder

As Ubuntu 24.04 (and all its variants) is quite fussy about running python scripts it's best to set up a dedicated virtual environment (venv) for the scripts. Both scripts use the same venv. This isolates the script as well as holding all the required libraries.

The first step is to install python3-venv, if it isn't already installed:

sudo apt install python3-venv

Next create the venv in a suitable folder and install the required libraries with these commands in a terminal:

python3 -m venv ~/.local/share/pipx/venvs/archive_bots
source ~/.local/share/pipx/venvs/archive_bots/bin/activate
pip install requests beautifulsoup4 Pillow

Please note: I created the archive_bots folder in a hidden directory with all the others I've created, but you can use any folder in your home folder.

[2] Bluesky script

First, copy this script and save it somewhere in your home folder. I used ~/System/scripts/random_bsky_post.py

import os
import random
import requests
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

# Use environment variables for safety
HANDLE = "bsky_handle"
APP_PASSWORD = "app_password"
SITEMAP_URL = "https://yourblog.blogspot/sitemap.xml"

def get_urls(sitemap_url):
    xml = requests.get(sitemap_url, timeout=30)
    xml.raise_for_status()
    root = ET.fromstring(xml.text)
    ns = {"sm": "http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"}
    return [loc.text.strip() for loc in root.findall(".//sm:loc", ns)]

def get_og_metadata(url):
    try:
        resp = requests.get(url, timeout=15)
        resp.raise_for_status()
        soup = BeautifulSoup(resp.text, "html.parser")

        title = soup.find("meta", property="og:title")
        title = title["content"].strip() if title else "Blog post"

        desc = soup.find("meta", property="og:description")
        desc = desc["content"].strip()[:300] if desc else "15mm historical wargaming"

        img = soup.find("meta", property="og:image")
        img_url = img["content"].strip() if img else None

        return title, desc, img_url
    except:
        return "Blog post", "15mm historical wargaming", None

def upload_blob(access_jwt, image_url):
    if not image_url:
        return None

    img_resp = requests.get(image_url, timeout=30)
    img_resp.raise_for_status()

    resp = requests.post(
        "https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.repo.uploadBlob",
        headers={
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_jwt}",
            "Content-Type": img_resp.headers.get("Content-Type", "image/jpeg"),
        },
        data=img_resp.content,
        timeout=30,
    )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return resp.json()["blob"]

urls = get_urls(SITEMAP_URL)
pick = random.choice(urls)
title, description, image_url = get_og_metadata(pick)

session = requests.post(
    "https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.server.createSession",
    json={"identifier": HANDLE, "password": APP_PASSWORD},
    timeout=30,
)
session.raise_for_status()
session = session.json()

thumb_blob = upload_blob(session["accessJwt"], image_url)

text = f"""A post from my blog archive:
{title}
{pick}
#tabletop #wargames #miniatures"""

facets = []
url_start = len(text[:text.find(pick)].encode("utf-8"))
url_end = url_start + len(pick.encode("utf-8"))
facets.append({
    "index": {"byteStart": url_start, "byteEnd": url_end},
    "features": [{"$type": "app.bsky.richtext.facet#link", "uri": pick}],
})

for tag in ["#tabletop", "#wargames", "#miniatures"]:
    pos = text.find(tag)
    if pos != -1:
        start = len(text[:pos].encode("utf-8"))
        end = start + len(tag.encode("utf-8"))
        facets.append({
            "index": {"byteStart": start, "byteEnd": end},
            "features": [{"$type": "app.bsky.richtext.facet#tag", "tag": tag[1:]}],
        })

record = {
    "$type": "app.bsky.feed.post",
    "text": text,
    "createdAt": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z"),
    "facets": facets,
    "embed": {
        "$type": "app.bsky.embed.external",
        "external": {
            "uri": pick,
            "title": title,
            "description": description,
        }
    }
}

if thumb_blob:
    record["embed"]["external"]["thumb"] = thumb_blob

resp = requests.post(
    "https://bsky.social/xrpc/com.atproto.repo.createRecord",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {session['accessJwt']}"},
    json={
        "repo": session["did"],
        "collection": "app.bsky.feed.post",
        "record": record,
    },
    timeout=30,
)
resp.raise_for_status()

print(resp.json()["uri"])

The script requires three pieces of information to work: your Bluskey handle (or username), an app password and the url of your blog's sitemap.

Your Bsky handle is on your profile page (don't add the @). You can create an app password via Settings|Privacy and Security|App passwords (don't use your regular password). The final piece is you blog's name (if on Blogger) or url (if not on Blogger).

Once you have this information, edit this section accordingly:

# Use environment variables for safety
HANDLE = "bsky_handle"
APP_PASSWORD = "app_password"
SITEMAP_URL = "https://yourblog.blogspot/sitemap.xml"

Then edit these sections to reflect your blog's content:

return "Blog post", "15mm historical wargaming", None

#tabletop #wargames #miniatures

The script is now ready for testing.

[3] Fediverse script

First copy this script and save it somewhere in your home folder. I used ~/System/scripts/random_fedi_post.py

import os
import random
import requests
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

MASTODON_BASE_URL = "https://your_instance.social"
MASTODON_TOKEN = "your_access_token"
SITEMAP_URL = "https://yourblog.blogspot/sitemap.xml"

def get_urls(sitemap_url):
    xml = requests.get(sitemap_url, timeout=30)
    xml.raise_for_status()
    root = ET.fromstring(xml.text)
    ns = {"sm": "http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"}
    return [loc.text.strip() for loc in root.findall(".//sm:loc", ns)]

def get_og_metadata(url):
    try:
        resp = requests.get(url, timeout=15)
        resp.raise_for_status()
        soup = BeautifulSoup(resp.text, "html.parser")

        title = soup.find("meta", property="og:title")
        title = title["content"].strip() if title else "Blog post"

        desc = soup.find("meta", property="og:description")
        desc = desc["content"].strip() if desc else "15mm historical wargaming"

        img = soup.find("meta", property="og:image")
        img_url = img["content"].strip() if img else None

        return title, desc, img_url
    except:
        return "Blog post", "15mm historical wargaming", None

def upload_media(image_url):
    if not image_url:
        return None

    img_resp = requests.get(image_url, timeout=30)
    img_resp.raise_for_status()

    filename = image_url.split("?")[0].rsplit("/", 1)[-1] or "image.jpg"
    files = {
        "file": (filename, img_resp.content)
    }

    resp = requests.post(
        f"{MASTODON_BASE_URL}/api/v2/media",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {MASTODON_TOKEN}"},
        files=files,
        timeout=30,
    )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return resp.json()["id"]

urls = get_urls(SITEMAP_URL)
pick = random.choice(urls)
title, description, image_url = get_og_metadata(pick)

status = f"""A post from my blog archive:
{title}
{pick}
#tabletop #wargames #miniatures"""

data = {
    "status": status,
    "visibility": "public",
}

resp = requests.post(
    f"{MASTODON_BASE_URL}/api/v1/statuses",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {MASTODON_TOKEN}"},
    data=data,
    timeout=30,
)
resp.raise_for_status()
print(resp.json()["url"])

The script requires three pieces of information to work: the name of your fediverse (Mastodon) instance, an access token and the url of your blog's sitemap.

You can create an access token via Preferences|Development|Your applications page from your Mastodon home page

Once you have this information, edit this section accordingly:

# Use environment variables for safety
MASTODON_BASE_URL = "https://your_instance.social"
MASTODON_TOKEN = "your_access_token"
SITEMAP_URL = "https://yourblog.blogspot/sitemap.xml"

Then edit these sections to reflect your blog's content:

return "Blog post", "15mm historical wargaming", None

#tabletop #wargames #miniatures

The script is now ready for testing.

[4] Testing

To test both scripts run these commands in a terminal:

/home/$USER/.local/share/pipx/venvs/archive_bots/bin/python /home/$USER/System/scripts/random_bsky_post.py
/home/$USER/.local/share/pipx/venvs/archive_bots/bin/python /home/$USER/System/scripts/random_fedi_post.py

Edit the script and venv locations if you used anything different.

If they don't work I suggest checking the three lines that contain your credentials and blog information.

[5] Automation with cron

I chose to run each script every three hours with these lines in my list of cron jobs:

0 */3 * * * /home/user/.local/share/pipx/venvs/archive_bots/bin/python /home/user/System/scripts/random_bsky_post.py
5 */3 * * * /home/user/.local/share/pipx/venvs/archive_bots/bin/python /home/user/System/scripts/random_fedi_post.py
   

Edit the commands to use your username, and if you've changed the script and venv locations.

This usually means I post three or four times a day as my computer is not always on. You can adjust the frequency of the cron jobs or set it to post once a day, week or month: whatever works best for your content.

If you want to keep the list of cron jobs short, place the two commands above in a simple bash script and call that in cron.

Close all

Related posts

• Social Media Posts From The Archive (April 2026)
• Crossposting To Bluesky (November 2024)
• Quality Time (July 2023)
• Twitter, RSS feeds and "Getting a Life" (May 2023)
• Social Media Changeover (November 2022)

Be sure to read the comments as I've updated each one as things changed.