Substack API Python Script

generator.py

import os
import json
import time
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import requests
from substack import Api
from substack.post import Post
from substack.exceptions import SubstackAPIException
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

def login_to_substack(email, password):
    """
    Log in to Substack using Selenium and save cookies in JSON format.
    """
    chrome_options = Options()
    chrome_options.add_argument("--start-maximized")

    service = Service("/usr/local/bin/chromedriver")  # Adjust path if needed
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service, options=chrome_options)

    try:
        driver.get("https://substack.com/sign-in")

        wait = WebDriverWait(driver, 20)
        email_field = wait.until(EC.presence_of_element_located((By.NAME, "email")))
        email_field.send_keys(email)

        sign_in_link = wait.until(
            EC.element_to_be_clickable((By.LINK_TEXT, "Sign in with password"))
        )
        sign_in_link.click()

        password_field = wait.until(
            EC.presence_of_element_located((By.NAME, "password"))
        )
        password_field.send_keys(password)
        password_field.send_keys(Keys.RETURN)

        time.sleep(5)  # Adjust if needed for slower connections

        cookies = driver.get_cookies()
        with open("substack_cookies.json", "w") as file:
            json.dump(cookies, file)
        print("Cookies saved to 'substack_cookies.json'.")

    finally:
        driver.quit()

def retry_on_502(func, max_retries=3, delay=1):
    """
    Retry function on 502 error with exponential backoff.
    """
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return func()
        except SubstackAPIException as e:
            if "502 Bad Gateway" in str(e) and attempt < max_retries - 1:
                time.sleep(delay * (2 ** attempt))
                continue
            raise

def retry_on_error(func, max_retries=3, delay=1):
    """
    Retry function on general Substack API errors with exponential backoff.
    """
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return func()
        except SubstackAPIException as e:
            if attempt < max_retries - 1:
                time.sleep(delay * (2 ** attempt))
                continue
            raise

def publish_newsletter_to_substack(api, title, content, topics):
    """
    Publish the newsletter using python-substack.
    """
    profile = retry_on_502(lambda: api.get_user_profile())
    user_id = profile.get("id")
    if not user_id:
        raise ValueError("Could not get user ID from profile")

    post = Post(title=title, subtitle=f"Topics: {', '.join(topics)}", user_id=user_id)

    # Add content
    for section in content:
        post.add({"type": "paragraph", "content": section})
        post.add({"type": "divider"})

    print(f"Draft content: {post.get_draft()}")  # For debugging

    # Create draft
    draft = retry_on_error(lambda: api.post_draft(post.get_draft()))
    draft_id = draft.get("id")
    if not draft_id:
        raise ValueError("Failed to create draft - no ID returned")

    # Pre-publish checks
    retry_on_error(lambda: api.prepublish_draft(draft_id))

    # Uncomment if you want to fully publish:
    # retry_on_error(lambda: api.publish_draft(draft_id))

    print("Newsletter published (drafted) successfully!")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    email = "[email protected]"
    password = "your_password"
    cookies_path = "substack_cookies.json"

    # Step 1: If cookies file doesn’t exist, perform login via Selenium
    if not os.path.exists(cookies_path):
        login_to_substack(email, password)

    # Step 2: Convert Selenium cookies (list of dicts) to {name: value}
    with open(cookies_path, "r") as f:
        selenium_list = json.load(f)

    cookie_dict = {}
    for c in selenium_list:
        cookie_dict[c["name"]] = c["value"]

    with open("selenium_cookies.json", "w") as f:
        json.dump(cookie_dict, f)

    # Step 3: Initialize the Api with the re-formatted cookies
    try:
        api = Api(
            cookies_path="selenium_cookies.json",
            publication_url="https://YOUR_SUBDOMAIN.substack.com"
        )
        print("Successfully authenticated with Substack API")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Authentication failed: {e}")
        raise

    # Step 4: Prepare your newsletter data
    newsletter_title = "My First Newsletter"
    newsletter_content = [
        "Hello subscribers!",
        "This is just a short example newsletter content.",
        "Stay tuned for more updates."
    ]
    newsletter_topics = ["Greetings", "Update", "Community"]

    # Step 5: Publish (or create a draft) on Substack
    publish_newsletter_to_substack(api, newsletter_title, newsletter_content, newsletter_topics)