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

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Publish articles to Dev.to

• Update existing articles

• Manage drafts

• Fetch your published articles

Prerequisites

• Go to https://dev.to/settings/extensions

• Scroll to "DEV Community API Keys"

• Generate a new API key

export DEVTO_API_KEY="your-api-key"

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"'

How to Use

All examples below assume you have DEVTO_API_KEY set.

1. Publish an Article

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "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"] } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | 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:

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "title": "Published Article", "body_markdown": "Content here...", "published": true, "tags": ["tutorial"] } }

Then run:

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

3. Publish with Cover Image

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "title": "Article with Cover", "body_markdown": "Content here...", "published": true, "tags": ["webdev", "tutorial"], "main_image": "https://example.com/cover.png" } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | jq '{id, url}'

4. Publish from Markdown File

To publish from a markdown file, first convert it to JSON:

cat article.md | jq -Rs '.' > /tmp/content.json

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "title": "My Article Title", "body_markdown": "Your article content here...", "published": false, "tags": ["programming"] } }

Then run:

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

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

Replace <your-article-id> 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).

bash -c 'curl -s "https://dev.to/api/articles/&#x3C;your-article-id>" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}"' | jq '{id, title, url, published}'

9. Update an Article

Replace <your-article-id> 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).

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "title": "Updated Title", "body_markdown": "Updated content..." } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X PUT "https://dev.to/api/articles/&#x3C;your-article-id>" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | jq '{id, url}'

10. Publish a Draft

Replace <your-article-id> 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).

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "published": true } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X PUT "https://dev.to/api/articles/&#x3C;your-article-id>" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | jq '{id, url, published}'

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

Examples

Tech Tutorial

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "title": "Getting Started with Docker", "body_markdown": "## What is Docker?\n\nDocker is a platform for developing...\n\n## Installation\n\nbash\nbrew install docker\n\n\n## Your First Container\n\nbash\ndocker run hello-world\n", "published": true, "tags": ["docker", "devops", "tutorial", "beginners"] } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | jq '{url}'

Cross-post from Blog

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "article": { "title": "My Blog Post", "body_markdown": "Content from my blog...", "published": true, "canonical_url": "https://myblog.com/original-post", "tags": ["webdev"] } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | jq '{url}'

Article in a Series

Write to /tmp/devto_request.json :

{ "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"] } }

Then run:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "https://dev.to/api/articles" -H "api-key: ${DEVTO_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/devto_request.json' | jq '{url}'

Guidelines

• Max 4 tags: Dev.to limits articles to 4 tags

• Lowercase tags: Tags should be lowercase without spaces

• Escape markdown: Use jq -Rs to properly escape markdown content

• Cover images: Must be URLs, not local files

• Draft first: Set published: false to review before publishing

• Check response: Always verify the returned URL