We built a pipeline that generates content and ships it to several platforms. Generation turned out to be the easy half. Publishing is where the real engineering was — and where I burned the most hours. Here is what I'd tell my past self.
The rule I landed on: API when it exists, browser only when it doesn't
Not every platform exposes a publishing API. The tempting shortcut is to drive a headless browser everywhere. Don't. Two reasons:
Some platforms explicitly forbid it. X's automation rules are blunt: "Non-API-based forms of automation, such as scripting the X website, may result in permanent suspension." If an API exists, scripting the site is not a clever workaround — it's a ban waiting to happen.
Browser automation is inherently fragile. It breaks the moment someone renames a CSS class.
