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b2o2i edited this page Apr 12, 2026 · 1 revision

Discourse Posting Workflows

st-post publishes to any of your configured Discourse sites. This page covers common workflows — from a quick single post to managing a full cross-product run.

Before You Post

Your Discourse credentials live in ~/.crossenv:

DISCOURSE_SITE=crossai.dev           ← startup default site
DISCOURSE={"sites":[{...},{...}]}    ← all sites; each entry is self-contained

Each site entry contains: slug, url, username, api_key, category_id, private_category_id, private_category_slug. Nothing else is needed.

Set up with st-admin --setup or st-admin --discourse-setup.
Manage categories with st-admin --discourse.

Switching Between Sites

Inside st, the Post submenu key n cycles through your configured sites in a round-robin:

st ai:gemini s:1 f:None Post> n
  Site → myforum   [crossai.dev, *myforum*, devforum, archive]

The selection persists for the rest of the st session. On next launch, st returns to the site named in DISCOURSE_SITE.

From the CLI, pass --site directly:

st-post --site myforum top_10_ai.json
st-post --site crossai.dev -s 2 top_10_ai.json

Workflow 1 — Private Draft → Edit in Place → Promote

Best for: polished single posts where you want a chance to review formatting before the audience sees it.

# 1. Generate and check the report
st-gen top_10_ai.prompt                # writes top_10_ai.json
st-edit --view-only -s 1 top_10_ai.json   # browser preview before posting

# 2. Post to your private category (the default after --discourse-setup)
st-post -s 1 top_10_ai.json           # posts to your private category

# 3. Open the post in your browser, edit in place on Discourse if needed
#    — fix formatting, add images, adjust the title

# 4. From the Discourse post editor: change Category → your target category
#    and add relevant Tags, then Save

Why private first: Your private category is only visible to you and staff. It gives you a clean preview of the rendered post (embeds, code blocks, audio players) before it goes public.

Workflow 2 — Direct Post to a Category

Best for: confident posts, automated pipelines, or test posts.

# Switch to your target category first
st-admin --discourse     # choose category 3 (custom ID) → enter your cat ID
# — or —
# set category_id directly in DISCOURSE JSON for a permanent change

st-post top_10_ai.json

Or one-liner without changing the default:

# Post story 1 to a specific site that already has the right category_id set
st-post --site devforum top_10_ai.json

Workflow 3 — Fix → Post (Most Common)

Best for: taking the best story from a multi-AI run, fixing any errors, then publishing.

# 1. Generate with all providers
st-bang top_10_ai.prompt           # parallel: all AI → top_10_ai.json

# 2. Pick the best story (st lists scores after bang)
st-ls top_10_ai.json               # see story scores

# 3. Fix with fact-check feedback
st-fact -s 2 top_10_ai.json        # fact-check story 2
st-fix  -s 2 top_10_ai.json        # apply fixes

# 4. Post the fixed story
st-post -s 2 top_10_ai.json

Inside st this is g→b (Bang), then a→f (fact-check), e→x (fix), then p→p (post).

Workflow 4 — Cross-Product 5×5 → Down-Select → Post

Best for: benchmark runs or when you want the definitive best story.

# 1. Generate all 25 combinations (5 stories × 5 AIs)
st-cross top_10_ai.prompt          # 5 stories × cross-fact-check all AI

# 2. View the leaderboard
st-verdict top_10_ai.json          # which AI + story scored highest

# 3. Down-select: post the winner
st-post -s 3 top_10_ai.json        # post story 3 (the winner)

Tip: 25 combinations → 30 total posts (25 stories + 5 cross-product summaries) is usually too much. Pick 1–2 to share publicly.

Workflow 5 — Companion Posts (Story + Fact-Check + Cross-Product)

Best for: full transparency — show readers both the report and how different AIs rated its accuracy.

# Post the main report (story 1)
st-post -s 1 top_10_ai.json

# Post the fact-check as a reply to the main topic
st-post -s 1 -f 1 top_10_ai.json  # -f flag: post fact-check as a reply

# Optionally post the cross-product summary
st-post -s 5 top_10_ai.json        # story 5 is typically the cross-product report

Inside st: Post menu → p (post story), then f (post fact-check reply).

Workflow 6 — Audio Report

Best for: sharing a spoken version of the report.

# Render to MP3 first
st-speak -s 1 top_10_ai.json       # writes top_10_ai.mp3

# Post with audio embed
st-post -s 1 top_10_ai.mp3 top_10_ai.json

Inside st: Post menu → a (post story with audio).

The MP3 is uploaded to Discourse and an audio player embed is prepended to the post body automatically.

Quick Reference

Goal Command
Post story 1 to default site st-post file.json
Post story 2 st-post -s 2 file.json
Post to a specific site st-post --site myforum file.json
Post with audio st-post -s 1 file.mp3 file.json
Post fact-check as reply st-post -s 1 -f 1 file.json
Verify credentials st-post --check
Switch default site st-admin --discourse
Change default site temporarily st → p → n
See all site slugs st-admin --show

Setting a Persistent Default Site

DISCOURSE_SITE in ~/.crossenv controls which site st and st-post use on startup. Change it with:

st-admin --discourse    # interactive — also lets you change default category

Or directly:

# Edit ~/.crossenv and set:
DISCOURSE_SITE=myforum

Related: st-post · st-admin · st-fix · st-speak

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