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Shrisab Shrestha
Shrisab Shrestha

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Turn one devlog into posts for every channel with n8n + AI

#gamedev #automation #n8n #notion

If you're a solo game developer, you know the drill: you ship an update, write a devlog… and then you have to rewrite it four times. A punchy tweet. A longer Reddit post that doesn't sound like an ad. A casual Discord ping. A newsletter blurb. By the third rewrite you've lost the will to post at all.

I automated the rewriting with n8n, Google Gemini, and Notion. I write the devlog once, hit run, and get channel-ready drafts waiting in Notion. It doesn't auto-post, it makes drafts I review and send myself, which keeps everything authentic and inside each platform's rules.

Here's a short demo of the finished workflow:
👉 https://www.loom.com/share/f108f0a003b448b2bc414a8be742d772

What it does

For one devlog you paste in, it:

  1. Sends your update to Gemini
  2. Reformats it for four channels: Twitter/Bluesky, Reddit, Discord, newsletter
  3. Parses the result into separate fields
  4. Saves them as one Notion row with a draft per channel

The flow looks like this:

Manual Trigger
  → Devlog Input
  → AI Reformat (Gemini)
  → Parse Drafts
  → Save Drafts to Notion
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What you need

  • n8n running locally (Docker is easiest)
  • A Notion account + an internal integration
  • A Google Gemini API key (free tier is fine to start)

Step 1 - Run n8n 

docker volume create n8n_data

docker run -d --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
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Open http://localhost:5678 and create your account.

Step 2 - The devlog input

Add a Code node where you write your update once. Keeping it in a Code node means you just edit two variables each time:

const devlog_title = "Update 0.3 — Online Co-op";
const devlog_body = `We just shipped online co-op for up to 4 players,
fixed the save-corruption bug, and added 2 new levels.
Next up: controller support and a Steam demo.`;

return [{ json: { devlog_title, devlog_body } }];
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(Later you can swap this for a Form Trigger so you get a little web form, or a Notion Trigger that fires when you add a devlog page.)

Step 3 - Reformat with Gemini

Add the Google Gemini node. The trick is to make it return strict JSON so the next node can split it cleanly:

You are a social media manager for a solo indie game developer.

Here is a devlog update:
Title: {{ $json.devlog_title }}
Body: {{ $json.devlog_body }}

Rewrite it for each channel. Return ONLY valid JSON (no markdown,
no code fences, no text outside the JSON) with these exact keys:
{
  "twitter": "280 characters max, punchy, 1-2 relevant hashtags",
  "reddit": "friendly longer post for r/IndieDev, first person, no hashtags, no hard selling",
  "discord": "casual short announcement for a community server, 1-2 emojis ok",
  "newsletter": "2-3 sentence email blurb"
}
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Step 4 - Parse the drafts

LLMs sometimes wrap JSON in code fences, so a small Code node cleans and parses it, with a fallback so you never lose output:

const raw = ($json.content?.parts?.[0]?.text) || "";

// \x60 is a backtick (char code 96). This strips a code fence
// if the model wraps its JSON output in one.
let clean = raw.trim()
  .replace(/^\x60{3}json\s*/i, "")
  .replace(/^\x60{3}\s*/, "")
  .replace(/\x60{3}$/, "")
  .trim();

let parsed;
try {
  parsed = JSON.parse(clean);
} catch (e) {
  parsed = { twitter: "", reddit: raw, discord: "", newsletter: "" };
}

const input = $('Devlog Input').item.json;

return [{
  json: {
    devlog_title: input.devlog_title,
    twitter: parsed.twitter || "",
    reddit: parsed.reddit || "",
    discord: parsed.discord || "",
    newsletter: parsed.newsletter || "",
  }
}];
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Step 5 - Save to Notion

Create a Notion database called Devlog Drafts with these properties: Name (title), Twitter (text), Reddit (text), Discord (text), Newsletter (text), Status (text), Created (date).

Create an internal integration at notion.so/my-integrations, connect it to the database, then map the fields in n8n's Notion node. Set the title to {{ $json.devlog_title }} and each channel field to its matching value ({{ $json.twitter }}, etc.).

Run the workflow and you'll get a new row with four drafts - review, tweak, and post whenever you like.

Gotchas

  • All text lands in the Reddit field → the model didn't return clean JSON that run. Re-run, or tighten the prompt ("Return ONLY valid JSON"). The fallback in Step 4 keeps your output safe.
  • Empty Notion rows → property names must match exactly.
  • Very long drafts → normal devlogs are fine; extremely long posts may get truncated in Notion text fields.

Want the done-for-you version?

I packaged this, plus a Steam competitor-tracking workflow - into an importable pack with setup guides, the AI prompts, troubleshooting, and example screenshots:

👉 https://shrisab.gumroad.com/l/indie-launch-ops/LAUNCH

Either way, write the devlog once, and stop dreading the four rewrites. Questions welcome in the comments.

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