post-publish-folder

name	post-publish-folder
description	Publish text and image posts to social platforms from a local folder. Drop images with caption files or just text files, and this skill publishes to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Trigger when asked to publish posts, schedule content, or automate social posting.

Post Publish — Folder Method

Publish your text and image posts to social platforms from a local folder.

Drop content into ~/Posts/. This skill picks up images with caption files (or plain text files), and publishes to LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, and Instagram.

For creators who write their own posts and want automated cross-platform publishing.

---

Watch Folder

Default: ~/Desktop/Posts/

The skill scans this folder for:

• Image posts: .jpg, .png, .webp with matching .txt caption file
• Text-only posts: .txt files (for platforms that support text-only)

Folder Structure

~/Posts/
  ├── monday-motivation.jpg           ← image to post
  ├── monday-motivation.txt           ← caption for the image
  ├── weekly-update.txt               ← text-only post
  ├── carousel/                       ← carousel folder
  │   ├── slide-1.jpg
  │   ├── slide-2.jpg
  │   └── caption.txt                 ← caption for carousel
  ├── old-post.jpg                    
  ├── old-post.txt
  └── old-post.published.json         ← sidecar (marks as published)

Caption Files

Create a .txt file with the same name as your image:

• Image: product-launch.jpg
• Caption: product-launch.txt

The caption file contains your post text. Use --- to separate platform-specific captions:

This is my LinkedIn post. More professional tone.
#business #startup

---twitter---
Short punchy version for Twitter/X 🚀

---instagram---
Full caption for Instagram with more hashtags
.
.
.
#instagram #content #creator

If no platform separators, the same caption is used everywhere.

---

Usage

# Publish the next unpublished post
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js

# Publish to specific platforms only
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js --platforms "linkedin,twitter"

# Publish a specific file
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js --file "~/Posts/my-post.jpg"

# Preview without publishing
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js --dry-run

# Custom watch folder
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js --folder "~/Desktop/social-posts"

# Publish ALL unpublished posts (batch mode)
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js --all --limit 5

# Schedule for later
node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js --schedule "2026-03-20T09:00:00"

Flags

Flag	Description
--file PATH	Publish a specific image or text file
--folder PATH	Override watch folder (default: ~/Posts/)
--platforms LIST	Comma-separated: linkedin,twitter,facebook,instagram
--schedule DATETIME	ISO datetime to schedule publish
--all	Publish all unpublished posts in folder
--limit N	Max posts in --all mode (default: 10)
--dry-run	Preview post, skip publishing

Supported Platforms

Platform	Image Posts	Text-Only	Carousels
LinkedIn	✅	✅	✅
Twitter/X	✅	✅	❌
Facebook	✅	✅	✅
Instagram	✅	❌	✅

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
LATE_API_KEY	Yes	Late API key for publishing
INSFORGE_CONNECTION_STRING	No	Database for post tracking

Carousels

Create a subfolder with numbered images:

~/Posts/carousel-post/
  ├── 1.jpg (or slide-1.jpg, 01.jpg)
  ├── 2.jpg
  ├── 3.jpg
  └── caption.txt

The skill detects carousel folders and posts as multi-image posts.

Output

After publishing, each post gets a .published.json sidecar:

{
  "source_file": "monday-motivation.jpg",
  "caption_file": "monday-motivation.txt",
  "media_url": "https://cdn.getlate.dev/media/...",
  "late_post_id": "post_abc123",
  "published_at": "2026-03-13T12:00:00Z",
  "published_platforms": ["linkedin", "twitter", "facebook", "instagram"],
  "captions": { "linkedin": "...", "twitter": "...", ... }
}

Cron Schedule (Recommended)

Check for new posts 3x/day:

0 9,13,17 * * * node skills/post-publish-folder/scripts/post-publish-folder.js