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5 Things I Automated This Week That Used to Take Me Hours

#ai #automation #productivity #showdev

5 Things I Automated This Week That Used to Take Me Hours

I'm a solo developer. I don't have a marketing team, a video editor, or a content writer. What I do have is an AI agent with access to 100+ models — and this week, it ran my entire content operation while I wrote code.

Here's what I automated, how long it used to take, and what it takes now.

1. YouTube Videos: From URL to Upload in 3 Minutes

Before: 4-6 hours. Watch source video, write script, record voiceover, generate visuals, edit in Premiere, export, upload, write title/description/tags.

Now: One command.

node video-workflow.js https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123
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My pipeline extracts the transcript (no video download needed), generates a 10-segment script with hooks and CTAs, creates TTS voiceover, AI video clips, background music, and a thumbnail — then assembles everything with ffmpeg and uploads directly to YouTube.

The script generation alone uses prompts I spent weeks tuning. Every hook follows a formula: specific number + bold claim + curiosity gap. Every segment is 7-10 seconds for maximum retention.

I've uploaded 4 videos this way. All 1080p with word-by-word subtitles, Ken Burns effects, and crossfade transitions.

2. SEO Blog Posts That Actually Rank

Before: 2-3 hours per article. Keyword research, outline, write, edit, format, publish.

Now: Fully automated pipeline.

I built seo-content-generator.js that takes a topic cluster, generates keyword-optimized articles, and seo-content-publisher.js that formats and publishes them. The articles follow SEO best practices — proper heading hierarchy, internal linking, meta descriptions, the works.

I generated 10 drafts in one batch. The quality is good enough that I only need a 5-minute review before hitting publish.

3. Dev.to Articles on Autopilot

Before: 1-2 hours writing, plus formatting for Dev.to's markdown.

Now: I have a devto-reviewer.js that checks article quality before publishing, and publish-devto-article.js that handles the API call. Write the draft (or let AI write it), review, publish — all from the terminal.

The reviewer scores articles on hook strength, technical depth, readability, and CTA effectiveness. If it scores below 80, it rewrites the weak sections automatically.

4. Multi-Platform Content Distribution

Before: Manually adapting the same content for LinkedIn, Dev.to, Hacker News, Reddit. Each platform has different formatting, tone, and length requirements. 30-60 minutes per platform.

Now: One piece of content, automatically adapted for each platform:

  • LinkedIn — Professional tone, shorter, with a hook in the first line
  • Hacker News — Technical, no marketing fluff, Show HN format
  • Reddit — Community-friendly, value-first, follows subreddit rules
  • Dev.to — Tutorial-style with code blocks and practical takeaways

I have generators for each: hn-post-generator.js, platform-specific templates, and even a Reddit growth strategy doc that maps which subreddits to target and what content works in each.

5. Team Notifications Without the Team

Before: Manually updating stakeholders. "Hey, I published a new video." "Here's this week's content calendar."

Now: Lark (Feishu) integration handles everything:

  • lark-notifier.js — Sends alerts when content is published
  • lark-daily-mkt.js — Pushes daily marketing task summaries
  • lark-approval.js — Routes content through an approval workflow before it goes live

Even as a solo dev, having an automated approval flow means I catch mistakes before they're public. The bot sends me a preview, I approve in Lark, and it publishes.

The Stack Behind All This

Everything runs through SkillBoss — a single API gateway that connects to 100+ AI models. One install, one API key:

curl -fsSL https://skillboss.co/install.sh | bash
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Here's what gets called under the hood across these automations:

Task Model Used
Script writing Claude 4.5 Sonnet
Content analysis Gemini 2.5 Flash
Voiceover MiniMax Speech-01-Turbo
Video clips Veo 3.1
Thumbnails Gemini 3 Pro Image
Background music ElevenLabs Music
SEO optimization Claude Haiku 4
Web search Perplexity Sonar Pro

No model switching. No managing 8 different API keys. The agent picks the right model for each task automatically.

The Numbers

Time saved per week:

  • Video production: ~20 hours → ~15 minutes (4 videos)
  • Blog/SEO content: ~10 hours → ~30 minutes (10 articles)
  • Social distribution: ~5 hours → ~10 minutes
  • Team updates: ~3 hours → 0 (fully automated)

Total: ~38 hours → ~1 hour. That's an entire work week I got back.

What I Learned

Automation isn't about replacing creativity — it's about removing the repetitive parts. I still decide what topics to cover, what angle to take, what message to push. But I don't manually export video timelines, copy-paste between platforms, or format markdown for the 100th time.

The biggest unlock wasn't any single AI model. It was having them all accessible through one interface, so building a pipeline that chains 5 different AI capabilities takes minutes instead of days.

If you're a solo developer doing your own marketing — stop doing it manually. The tools exist. String them together.

What's the most tedious part of your workflow that you wish you could automate? Drop it in the comments — I might build it next. 👇

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