DEV Community: Ankit Gaur

Publishing to dev.to Programmatically in 2026: What Actually Works

Ankit Gaur — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 05:43:40 +0000

Generated with Claude (Anthropic) based on a real session with @ankitg12.

Tags: #claude #ai #aiassisted

This is the second post in a two-part series. The first post covers getting Unix tools (grep, ls -lt, sed, awk) working in PowerShell — and cost ~102,000 tokens to figure out. Once the post was written, the natural next question was: can we skip the browser and publish it programmatically?

Turns out — yes, but not how you'd expect. Here's what we tried and what actually worked.

Attempt 1: Medium API — Dead on Arrival

Medium was the first choice. They used to have a clean REST API. Not anymore.

"Medium will not be issuing any new integration tokens for our API and will not allow any new integrations."

The GitHub repo was archived in March 2023. Existing tokens still work — but if you don't already have one, you can't get one. A paid membership doesn't help either.

Workaround: Publish to dev.to first, then use Medium's Import a Story tool to pull the URL in. Medium even sets the canonical URL back to dev.to, which is good for SEO.

Attempt 2: devto-cli — Almost

devto-cli by sinedied is the right idea — a purpose-built npm CLI for publishing markdown files to dev.to:

npm install -g @sinedied/devto-cli
dev push article.md

Hit this immediately:

No GitHub repository provided.
Use --repo option or .env file to provide one.

devto-cli requires a GitHub repo because it rewrites relative image URLs to point to raw GitHub content. Smart for image hosting — but unnecessary overhead for a text-only post with no images.

Could pass --repo username/repo and move on, but at this point it felt like the tool was doing more than needed.

Attempt 3: curl — Works, No Ceremony

dev.to has a straightforward REST API. The API key is still alive and well (unlike Medium's). A minimal test first:

curl -s -w "\nHTTP:%{http_code}" \
  -X POST https://dev.to/api/articles \
  -H "api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"article":{"title":"test","body_markdown":"hello","published":false}}'

Got HTTP:201. No firewall, no issues.

For the real article, build the JSON payload with Python (to handle escaping cleanly) and pass it via --data @file:

import json

with open("article.md", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    content = f.read()

# Strip H1 title — dev.to uses the title field separately
body = "\n".join(content.split("\n")[2:]).strip()

payload = {
    "article": {
        "title": "Your Article Title",
        "body_markdown": body,
        "published": False,   # draft first
        "tags": ["powershell", "windows", "tutorial", "ai"]
    }
}

with open("payload.json", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    json.dump(payload, f)

Then publish:

curl -s -X POST https://dev.to/api/articles \
  -H "api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data @payload.json

To update an existing draft (get the article ID from /api/articles/me/unpublished):

# Get draft IDs
curl -s -H "api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://dev.to/api/articles/me/unpublished \
  | python3 -c "
import sys, json
for a in json.load(sys.stdin):
    print(a['id'], a['title'])
"

# Update draft
curl -s -X PUT https://dev.to/api/articles/ARTICLE_ID \
  -H "api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data @payload.json

One Gotcha: Draft Preview URLs

The URL returned by the API is not directly accessible:

https://dev.to/username/article-slug-temp-slug-XXXX

To preview a draft, go to dev.to/dashboard, open the draft, and dev.to generates a preview URL with a token:

https://dev.to/username/slug?preview=<long_token>

This is expected behavior — drafts are private until published.

The Full Flow

Write markdown locally
       ↓
python3 build_payload.py       # build payload.json
       ↓
curl --data @payload.json      # POST to dev.to (draft)
       ↓
Review on dev.to dashboard
       ↓
Hit Publish
       ↓
Import URL into Medium         # medium.com/p/import

Summary

Method	Status	Notes
Medium API	Dead	No new tokens since 2023
devto-cli	Works	Needs GitHub repo even for no-image posts
curl + Python payload	Works	Simplest, no dependencies
Python `urllib`	403	SSL/TLS difference vs curl on Windows
Medium Import tool	Works	Pull from dev.to URL after publishing

Getting Unix Tools to Work in PowerShell: A Debugging War Story

Ankit Gaur — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 05:33:32 +0000

Generated by Claude (Anthropic) based on a real debugging session with @ankitg12. This post exists because it took ~102,000 tokens of back-and-forth to get Unix tools working in PowerShell — every pitfall documented here was actually hit. The goal: save you those tokens. All code was tested and verified working on PowerShell Core 7.5.4 / Windows 11.

Tags: #claude #llm #aiassisted

You'd think getting ls -lt or grep to work in PowerShell would be a five-minute job. It wasn't. This post documents every pitfall hit along the way so you don't have to burn the same time.

The Goal

Get common Unix commands — ls -lt, grep, sed, awk, head, tail — working with real Unix-style flags in PowerShell Core 7.x on Windows 11.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel — Existing Tools First

Before writing any code, the right tools already exist:

Tool	What It Does	Stars	Install
uutils/coreutils	Rust rewrite of GNU coreutils, native Windows `.exe`	~22.7k	`scoop install uutils-coreutils`
PowerShell-WSL-Interop	Wraps real Linux binaries from WSL into PS functions	~447	`Install-Module WslInterop`
unix-pwsh	Drop-in profile with 30+ Unix aliases	~87	Copy profile snippet
Nushell	Cross-platform shell replacement with Unix ergonomics	~34k	`scoop install nu`

We went with Scoop to install individual GNU tools — no WSL required, small installs, real binaries:

scoop install uutils-coreutils   # ls, cat, head, tail, wc, sort, uniq, touch, du, df
scoop install grep                # GNU grep 3.11
scoop install sed                 # GNU sed 4.9
scoop install gawk                # GNU awk 5.3.2 (aliased as awk)

This should have been it. It wasn't.

Pitfall 1: uutils-coreutils Doesn't Include grep

The scoop package for uutils-coreutils installs a single multicall binary (coreutils.exe) — similar to BusyBox. Check what's actually bundled:

coreutils --list

grep, sed, awk, and find are not in the list. They need separate scoop packages (above). If you add function grep { coreutils grep @args } thinking it'll work, you'll get:

grep: function/utility not found

That's coreutils itself telling you the subcommand doesn't exist. The fix: install them separately and don't write any function wrappers at all.

Pitfall 2: Function Wrappers Shadow Real Binaries

PowerShell's command resolution order is:

Alias > Function > Cmdlet > External binary (.exe)

So if you write function grep { ... } in your profile, it beats grep.exe in PATH regardless of PATH ordering. Same for function sort, function uniq — PowerShell has built-in aliases sort → Sort-Object and uniq → Get-Unique.

Rule: If a scoop shim exists for the binary, don't add a function wrapper. Just fix PATH if needed. For tools only available via coreutils multicall (head, tail, wc, du, df), use functions — but remove any conflicting aliases first:

# Remove PS aliases that beat functions in resolution order
'sort','uniq' | ForEach-Object { Remove-Item "Alias:$_" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
Remove-Item Alias:ls -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function head  { coreutils head  @args }
function tail  { coreutils tail  @args }
function wc    { coreutils wc    @args }
function sort  { coreutils sort  @args }
function uniq  { coreutils uniq  @args }
function touch { coreutils touch @args }
function du    { coreutils du    @args }
function df    { coreutils df    @args }

Pitfall 3: Git's Bundled grep Shadows Scoop's grep

Git for Windows ships its own grep.exe (v3.0, ancient) in C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\. If Git's path appears before scoop's shims in PATH, Git's grep wins. Check with:

Get-Command grep -All

Fix — add scoop shims to the front of PATH in your profile, but make it idempotent so reloading profile doesn't keep prepending:

if ($env:PATH -notlike "*\scoop\shims*") {
    $env:PATH = "$env:USERPROFILE\scoop\shims;" + $env:PATH
}

Pitfall 4: CRLF vs LF in Profile Files

PowerShell profile files on Windows use CRLF (\r\n) line endings. Many editors, tools, and (notably) Claude's Edit tool write LF (\n) only. Mixing them in the same file causes silent parse failures — often reported far from the actual problem line.

After editing a .ps1 file programmatically, normalize:

$f = $PROFILE
$c = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText($f, [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8)
$c = $c -replace "`r`n","`n" -replace "`n","`r`n"
[System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($f, $c, [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8)

Verify the profile parses cleanly before testing anything:

$errors = $null
$null = [System.Management.Automation.Language.Parser]::ParseFile($PROFILE, [ref]$null, [ref]$errors)
$errors  # empty = clean

Pitfall 5: Emoji in Profile Files Are a Trap

This one cost significant debugging time. A profile line like:

Write-Host "📁 Session saved: $path"

The emoji 📁 is UTF-8 bytes F0 9F 93 81. If the file is ever read/written as Windows-1252, byte 0x93 becomes " (LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK). PowerShell's parser sees this as closing the string, breaking everything that follows:

Write-Host "ðŸ" Session saved: $path"
#              ^ parser sees this as end of string
#                everything after is broken

The parse error is reported ~80 lines later with a completely unrelated message. Use only ASCII in profile files.

Pitfall 6: Diagnose in the Actual Shell, Not a Subprocess

The biggest time-waster: running diagnostics via a subprocess:

# DON'T — this spawns Windows PowerShell 5.x, not your pwsh 7.x session
powershell.exe -File diagnose.ps1

powershell.exe = Windows PowerShell 5.x. pwsh = PowerShell Core 7.x. They have:

Different $PROFILE paths (WindowsPowerShell\ vs PowerShell\)
Different command resolution
Different module paths

So the subprocess shows completely different results. Always diagnose inline in the actual session:

# DO — run directly in your pwsh session
$PSVersionTable.PSVersion          # confirm which PS you're running
Get-Command grep -All              # see ALL resolution candidates in priority order
(Get-Command grep).Source          # which binary actually wins

Pitfall 7: ls Needs Special Handling

ls is a built-in PowerShell alias for Get-ChildItem. Since aliases beat functions, you must remove it before defining a custom ls. Also, Format-Table inside a function conflicts with PowerShell's outer formatter when the function output is piped — use Select-Object to emit plain objects instead:

Remove-Item Alias:ls -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function ls {
    $flags = ""; $paths = @()
    foreach ($a in $args) {
        if ($a -match '^-') { $flags += $a.TrimStart('-') }
        else                { $paths += $a }
    }
    if ($paths.Count -eq 0) { $paths = @('.') }

    $showHidden = $flags -match 'a'
    $longFormat = $flags -match 'l'
    $sortByTime = $flags -match 't'
    $reverse    = $flags -match 'r'

    foreach ($p in $paths) {
        $items = Get-ChildItem -Path $p -Force:$showHidden
        if ($sortByTime) { $items = $items | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending:(!$reverse) }
        else             { $items = $items | Sort-Object Name -Descending:$reverse }

        if ($longFormat) {
            $items | Select-Object Mode,
                @{N='Modified'; E={$_.LastWriteTime.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm')}},
                @{N='Size';     E={if($_.PSIsContainer){'<DIR>'}else{$_.Length}}},
                Name
        } else { $items.Name }
    }
}

Supports: ls -lt, ls -la, ls -ltr, ls -a, ls /some/path.

The Final Working Setup

# Install (run once)
scoop install uutils-coreutils grep sed gawk

# Profile additions
# 1. Idempotent PATH fix
if ($env:PATH -notlike "*\scoop\shims*") {
    $env:PATH = "$env:USERPROFILE\scoop\shims;" + $env:PATH
}

# 2. coreutils multicall wrappers (remove conflicting aliases first)
'sort','uniq' | ForEach-Object { Remove-Item "Alias:$_" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
Remove-Item Alias:ls -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

function head  { coreutils head  @args }
function tail  { coreutils tail  @args }
function wc    { coreutils wc    @args }
function sort  { coreutils sort  @args }
function uniq  { coreutils uniq  @args }
function touch { coreutils touch @args }
function du    { coreutils du    @args }
function df    { coreutils df    @args }

# 3. ls with Unix flag support
function ls {
    $flags = ""; $paths = @()
    foreach ($a in $args) {
        if ($a -match '^-') { $flags += $a.TrimStart('-') } else { $paths += $a }
    }
    if ($paths.Count -eq 0) { $paths = @('.') }
    $showHidden = $flags -match 'a'; $longFormat = $flags -match 'l'
    $sortByTime = $flags -match 't'; $reverse    = $flags -match 'r'
    foreach ($p in $paths) {
        $items = Get-ChildItem -Path $p -Force:$showHidden
        if ($sortByTime) { $items = $items | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending:(!$reverse) }
        else             { $items = $items | Sort-Object Name -Descending:$reverse }
        if ($longFormat) {
            $items | Select-Object Mode,
                @{N='Modified';E={$_.LastWriteTime.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm')}},
                @{N='Size';E={if($_.PSIsContainer){'<DIR>'}else{$_.Length}}},Name
        } else { $items.Name }
    }
}

Result:

grep --version  → grep.exe (GNU grep) 3.11
sed --version   → GNU sed 4.9
awk --version   → GNU Awk 5.3.2
ls -lt          → files sorted by time, long format
ls -la          → all files including hidden
head/tail/wc/sort/uniq/touch/du/df  → via uutils-coreutils

Summary of Pitfalls

#	Pitfall	Fix
1	uutils-coreutils doesn't bundle grep/sed/awk	Install them as separate scoop packages
2	Function wrappers shadow .exe binaries	Don't wrap what scoop already installs; remove aliases before functions
3	Git's grep shadows scoop's grep	Prepend scoop shims to PATH (idempotently)
4	Mixed CRLF/LF breaks PS parser	Normalize file to CRLF after any programmatic edit
5	Emoji corrupts as Windows-1252 quote	Use only ASCII in profile files
6	`powershell.exe -File` is a different shell than `pwsh`	Diagnose inline in the actual session
7	`Format-Table` inside functions breaks pipes	Use `Select-Object` to emit plain objects