Blog Image Automation

This tool automates the process of finding, resizing, and adding images to your blog posts, with a focus on compatibility with macOS environments.

Quick Start

# Make the script executable (only needed once)
chmod +x setup_blog_images_venv.sh

# Run with default settings
./setup_blog_images_venv.sh _posts/your-blog-post.md

# Run with custom search terms
./setup_blog_images_venv.sh _posts/your-blog-post.md --search "relevant keywords for your post"

This will automatically:

• Find relevant images on Unsplash
• Resize them to the right dimensions for thumbnails and headers
• Add them to your blog repository
• Update your blog post’s front matter with the image paths and credits
• Commit and push everything to your GitHub repository

Prerequisites

• Python 3.6+
• An Unsplash API key (free to obtain at https://unsplash.com/developers)

Installation

The system has been configured to work with virtual environments on macOS, which is the recommended approach for package management.

1. Ensure the scripts are executable:

   chmod +x setup_blog_images_venv.sh
   chmod +x blog_image_setup.py
   

2. (Optional) The Python script has an API key pre-configured, but you can edit it if you want to use your own:

   # In blog_image_setup.py
   UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY = "YOUR_UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY"  # Replace with your key
   

Usage

Use the virtual environment wrapper (recommended for macOS):

./setup_blog_images_venv.sh PATH_TO_MARKDOWN_FILE [options]

This script will:

• Create a Python virtual environment if it doesn’t exist
• Install all required packages
• Run the blog image setup script
• Clean up when done

Options

• --search "your search terms": Specify search terms for Unsplash (default: “code programming ai technology”)
• --no-commit: Skip the Git commit and push steps
• --api-key YOUR_KEY: Provide Unsplash API key via command line instead of using the one in the script

Example

./setup_blog_images_venv.sh _posts/2025-03-11-history-of-generative-ai.md --search "generative ai history timeline technology"

For specific types of blog posts, try these search term suggestions:

• AI posts: "artificial intelligence neural network blue technology"
• Programming: "code programming developer software computer"
• Cloud/DevOps: "cloud computing server network technology"
• Data Science: "data visualization analytics charts dashboard"

What the Script Does

1. Extracts information from your blog post’s front matter
2. Searches Unsplash for images matching your search terms
3. Downloads and resizes the images:
   • Thumbnail: 600 x 400 pixels
   • Header: 1200 x 600 pixels
4. Saves the images to the appropriate directories:
   • /assets/img/blog/thumbnails/
   • /assets/img/blog/headers/
5. Updates your post’s front matter with the image paths and proper attribution
6. Commits and pushes the changes to your repository

Customization

You can modify the script to change:

• Image dimensions
• Default search terms
• Commit message format
• Image quality settings

The settings are located at the top of the Python script (blog_image_setup.py).

Troubleshooting

Package Installation Issues

If you encounter package installation problems:

1. The virtual environment approach (setup_blog_images_venv.sh) should solve most macOS package problems
2. If you still have issues, try installing the required packages manually:

   python3 -m pip install --user pyyaml requests pillow
   

Permission Issues

If you see “Permission denied” errors:

1. Make sure the scripts are executable:

   chmod +x blog_image_setup.py
   chmod +x setup_blog_images_venv.sh
   

Unsplash API Issues

If the script fails to connect to Unsplash:

1. Check that the API key in the script is valid
2. Try using your own API key with the --api-key parameter
3. Verify your internet connection

Git Commit Issues

If the git operations fail:

1. Make sure you’re in a git repository
2. Check that the paths to images are correct
3. Use the --no-commit flag to skip the git operations and handle them manually