File automation

I'm finally adding regularly named blog posts under this category now that the system is somewhat stabilized and its engineering is no longer in a sort of mad dash type of holding pattern.

Something I knew wanted to build for a while is automation to make it easier for me to quickly add media files like images and videos to a blog post while i am writing it. Typically this involves manually dropping the file into the files/ folder in this repo and then linking out to it from the markdown prose in the post. This would ordinarily be fine, I've even got the file upload sync behavior streamlined and automated when publishing via committing, but this small amount of friction is actually still enough to dissuade me from sharing, and I want to have basically zero friction.

So in the spirit of hyperdocumenting the creation of this custom blog engine I will show you how I am putting this automation together, and hopefully it will make it more easy for me to create more engaging content. I have a lot of ideas and experiences to share and the majority of that content overall is actually going to be really difficult to share without multimedia.

In keeping with the theme of blog engine posts going as low level as possible, I'm dumping everything that took place:

Prompt

i'd like to come up with some way to streamline ingestion of media files (primarily images but why not also allow for videos, I say), there are going to be two primary ways i want to incorporate content into my blog posts, the primary one is from files in my local computer and another is snapping pics from my phone. for the latter i think i can punt making an automation around that (e.g. custom app with share panel that streamlines transfer and automation). so for now i think i can try to mkae some kind of apple services workflow that i can select multiple files in finder and trigger it. whta this would need to do has some similarities to what i already do in my little custom-links project, which i will emit a summary of at the end here. Basically though it seems like the automation i'd want for this is to take the files and bring them into the files/ dir here in this repo (i suppose it will hardcode to this repo location on filesystem which is sketch but acceptable) and then PLACE INTO THE CLIPBOARD all those items prefilled into markdown linkage text that i can go paste into the blog post. make sense? OK below is the readme of the customlinks project, i realize thats prob enough to give you the idea:

# Custom Link URL Handler

This project implements a custom URL handler for macOS, providing a foundational Inter-Process Communication (IPC) layer at the operating system level. The primary goal is to facilitate the integration of various actions and trigger advanced capabilities, potentially AI-powered, through simple text-based commands or URLs.

## Concept

The core idea is to establish a flexible mechanism for invoking "skills" or "routines" via custom URLs. This allows different applications or scripts to trigger predefined actions in a standardized way.

## Use Cases

One of the initial use cases envisioned for this system is a "Reveal" skill, designed for intelligent navigation within the filesystem, particularly for code-related locations.

### "Reveal" Skill Example

The "Reveal" skill would work as follows:

1. Input: It receives a disk location (file or directory path) as input, which could be deduced by another process or AI from various sources (e.g., text, voice command).

2. Processing:

* It determines if the location points to a source code file.

* If it is a source code file, it integrates with a preferred code editor (e.g., Neovim/Neovide, or VSCode if configured) to open the file directly, allowing for immediate editing.

* If it is not a source code file (e.g., a document, image, or directory), it reveals the item in Finder.

This approach aims to streamline workflows by providing a seamless way to navigate to and interact with files and directories based on contextual information.

## Implementation Details

The system uses a flexible, handler-based architecture.

* URL Handler App: A minimal macOS Application Bundle (.app) whose only job is to register the reveal:// URL scheme.

* dispatch.sh: The core script inside the app bundle. It acts as a dispatcher. When a reveal:// URL is triggered, this script parses the path and then attempts to execute handlers in a sequence. It first tries to open the path in an editor; if that handler declines (by exiting with a non-zero status code), it falls back to revealing it in the Finder. This allows handlers themselves to contain the logic for what they can open.

* handlers/: A directory of handler scripts that perform the actual work. The project includes default handlers for common actions:

* open_in_editor.sh: Opens source code files. The default version provides a sensible starting point that can be customized.

* open_in_finder.sh: Reveals files or opens directories in Finder.

* build.sh: A script that assembles the .app bundle, copies dispatch.sh and the handlers/ directory into it, and registers the app with macOS.

This architecture allows users to easily customize the behavior without modifying the core project files.

## Configuration

You can override the default behavior by creating your own handler scripts.

1. Create the configuration directory:

```bash

mkdir -p ~/.config/reveal-handler/handlers

```

2. Copy a default handler to your configuration directory to use it as a template. For example, to customize the editor action:

```bash

cp handlers/open_in_editor.sh ~/.config/reveal-handler/handlers/

```

3. Edit your local script (~/.config/reveal-handler/handlers/open_in_editor.sh) to implement your desired logic (e.g., opening files in Sublime Text, or using a specific nvim command).

The dispatch.sh script will automatically detect and use your local handler instead of the default one bundled with the application. Make sure your custom script is executable (chmod +x your_script.sh).

## How to Use

There are two main components to set up:

1. The URL Handler Application: This is the core component that handles reveal:// URLs.

2. The Quick Action: This is an optional but highly recommended macOS Service that lets you trigger the URL handler from any selected text.

### 1. Build and Register the URL Handler

Run the build.sh script to create the .app bundle and register it with macOS.

```bash

./build.sh

```

This allows you to invoke the handler by opening a URL with the custom scheme, for example, from a terminal:

```bash

open reveal://some/data/or/path

```

### 2. Install the Quick Action (for easy text selection)

To easily send any selected text (like a file path in a log or document) to the handler, run the install-quick-action.sh script.

```bash

./install-quick-action.sh

```

This will install a "Reveal Path" service. To use it:

1. Highlight a piece of text in any application.

2. Right-click the selected text.

3. Navigate to the Services menu at the bottom of the context menu.

4. Click Reveal Path.

The dispatch.sh script will then receive reveal://THE_SELECTED_TEXT as its first argument, parse it, and delegate to the appropriate handler.

#### Manual Installation (if the script fails)

The install-quick-action.sh script generates a .workflow file. If this script becomes brittle due to macOS updates, you can create the Quick Action manually using Automator:

1. Open Automator and select File > New, then choose Quick Action.

2. Configure the workflow to receive text input from any application.

3. Add a Run Shell Script action to the workflow.

4. In the action's settings, set Pass input to to stdin and ensure the shell is set to /bin/zsh or your preferred shell.

5. Paste the following commands into the script area:

```bash

input=$(cat)

open "reveal://$input"

```

6. Save the Quick Action with a name like "Reveal Path". It will now be available in the Services menu.

aider Gemini 2.5 Pro thinking summary

Planning the Media Workflow

I'm currently focusing on the initial workflow for ingesting media files. Right now, the core goal is streamlining the process of uploading images and videos directly from my computer. I'm prioritizing this before considering phone integration.

Analyzing Scripting Requirements

I'm now considering the file structure required for the Apple services workflow. Based on the user's specifications and the custom-links model, I'm leaning towards a new shell script to handle file copying, Markdown link generation, and clipboard population. I'm also thinking about a supporting configuration file to manage settings like the destination directory within the repository. This approach leverages existing user proficiency in shell scripting.

Evaluating Script Design

I'm now outlining the ingest-media.sh script logic and file placement. I'm using the custom-links project as a model. I've decided that placing the script inside the scripts/ directory seems reasonable, so I'll generate the markdown links, copy files to the specified directory, and then place that output on the clipboard.

Designing Script and Automator

I've analyzed the requirements in depth now, and am ready to describe the script and overall workflow. I've determined the core script ingest-media.sh in scripts/ is necessary, as well as the Apple services workflow (Automator Quick Action). I'm now fleshing out the ingest-media.sh script, which will receive file paths, copy them, determine file types (image or video), generate the corresponding Markdown, and output the result to the clipboard.

Formulating File Requirements

I'm now finalizing the file structure required to build this media ingestion workflow. Based on the user's requirements, I've determined that I will create one new shell script, ingest-media.sh, located in the scripts/ directory. There are no existing files requiring modification; the focus is on the creation of a new component and a related Apple services workflow.

Outlining the Implementation

I'm now prepared to describe the required new file. No existing files in the user's repository need modification. The core component will be a new shell script, scripts/ingest-media.sh. I will now stop, as requested.

Suggesting New Script Files

I'm now reviewing the request's architecture and focusing on new components. Based on the custom-links project's structure, I propose a similar approach. I believe we will require two new files: scripts/media/ingest.sh, which will encompass the core functionality for media handling, and a supporting script, scripts/install-media-quick-action.sh, to handle the generation and installation of an Apple services workflow. No modifications to existing files are necessary.

Designing New Components

I'm now ready to address the creation of the proposed files. I'll start by creating scripts/media/ingest.sh for the core logic and scripts/media/install-quick-action.sh to generate the macOS Quick Action. The media directory keeps things tidy. No changes will be needed for existing files.

Determining Necessary Files

I'm now analyzing the core of the request, and determining the minimum required components. Based on the workflow goals and the existing custom-links project's design, I believe the solution requires creating new files, rather than modifying existing ones. The files needing creation are: scripts/media/ingest.sh and scripts/media/install-quick-action.sh.

Outlining File Requirements

I'm now ready to describe the necessary files for this project. No changes to existing files are required; this will be achieved by creating the following new ones: scripts/media/ingest.sh and scripts/media/install-quick-action.sh.

aider Gemini 2.5 Pro

This sounds like a useful workflow. Based on your request and the structure of your custom-links project, I can create a similar solution for media ingestion. This will involve creating new scripts and will not require changes to any existing files.

To implement this, I would propose creating two new files:

No existing files need to be modified. Please let me know if you'd like me to proceed with creating these files.

Tokens: 7.7k sent, 984 received. Cost: $0.02 message, $0.02 session.

Prompt

I dunno, the quick action will need to run the workflow right? The issue is the workflow generated by automator is probably best left to manually making it in automator because of how brittle its plist ends up being. so prob just for now lets just document how to init this quick action

aider Gemini 2.5 Pro thinking summary

Defining the Workflow

I've settled on outlining the media ingestion workflow. The user's concerns regarding a brittle install-quick-action.sh script have me thinking. I'm now documenting manual Automator setup instructions, focusing on the core ingestion script for greater reliability and clarity.

Constructing the Ingestion Script

I'm designing the ingest.sh script. My focus is on handling file paths and generating Markdown links, including the target directory and file type considerations. I'll make sure the script places the markdown links into the clipboard, as well as ensuring it knows the git repo root for pathing.

Planning the Script

I'm now mapping the key parts of the ingest.sh script. I'll use git rev-parse --show-toplevel to find the project's root directory and then create the destination path within the files/ directory. The script will iterate through the arguments to process the files, copy them, and generate markdown links based on their file type.

Designing the Ingest Script

I'm now formulating the ingest.sh script's core logic. I'll address file path handling, Markdown link generation for images and videos, and employing pbcopy for clipboard access. I'm also prioritizing git rev-parse --show-toplevel for repository root detection.

Formulating the Plan

I'm now outlining the script and documentation. The ingest.sh script will handle file copying and Markdown link generation, using git rev-parse --show-toplevel. I'll document the Automator setup in docs/media-ingestion-setup.md, with instructions and a placeholder for the user's project path, leveraging standard markdown links for images and videos.

Refining Script Implementation

I'm now writing scripts/media/ingest.sh, incorporating file path handling, Markdown link generation for images and videos, and pbcopy for clipboard access. I am using git to find the project root and will create the destination directory. My documentation will explain the Automator setup and provide placeholder instructions for the user to customize the project path.

Implementing the Script

I'm now focused on implementing scripts/media/ingest.sh. It will find the project root, create the files/ directory, and then iterate through the given file paths. The script will use basename to get the filename, cp to copy the files, and construct web paths. I am using a case statement for generating the Markdown links for images, videos, and other file types. Finally, the generated links will be copied to the clipboard. I am also adding a check to ensure the file is a file, and will skip directories. I am also using HTML5 <video> tags for videos. I'll be writing a test for this shortly, to test and refine my work.

Finalizing the Script

I'm now refining scripts/media/ingest.sh, ensuring robust file handling, Markdown link generation, and clipboard integration. I will also add error handling and file-type detection for correct Markdown formatting and implementing the HTML5 video tag for videos. I am also preparing the documentation file that explains how to set up the Automator Quick Action.

Creating the Ingestion Script

I've refined the scripts/media/ingest.sh script to enhance its robustness. It now features error handling, file type detection, and HTML5 video tag implementation. Additionally, I've started the documentation file docs/media-ingestion-setup.md, detailing Automator Quick Action setup. The script is now ready for thorough testing and is being prepared for a full test.

Testing Script and Documentation

I'm preparing to test the scripts/media/ingest.sh script, and will address any issues. I will also test the documentation and make any necessary changes to it, including adding error handling for cases where the project root cannot be found.

Implementing Error Handling

I'm now adding error handling to the scripts/media/ingest.sh script. I'm making sure the script checks for the project root, handles file-copying failures, and provides informative messages. I'm also making sure the mkdir -p command does not throw any errors, and will exit if there are any problems. The goal is to prevent the script from failing silently, and will use stderr for any error output.

Testing and Documenting

I'm focusing on the testing phase for scripts/media/ingest.sh and the accompanying docs/media-ingestion-setup.md. I'll ensure the script functions correctly, handling different file types and generating valid Markdown links, with special attention to the HTML5 video implementation and clipboard integration. Simultaneously, I'll test the Automator setup documentation to guarantee clarity and accuracy.

Constructing the Workflow

I'm now preparing to create the scripts/media/ingest.sh script and the docs/media-ingestion-setup.md documentation file. The script handles file processing and Markdown link generation, while the documentation offers detailed Automator setup instructions. This aligns with the user's request for a manual setup and a reliable media ingestion process. I will create two new files, containing the script and the documentation.

Generating Script and Docs

I'm now creating scripts/media/ingest.sh and docs/media-ingestion-setup.md to implement the media ingestion workflow. The script will process files and generate Markdown, and the documentation will guide the user through the Automator setup.



```bash
#!/bin/zsh

# Exit on error
set -e

# This script is designed to be called from a macOS Quick Action.
# It takes file paths as arguments, copies them to the  project's 'files/'
# directory, and generates Markdown links for them, which are then
# copied to the clipboard.

# Find the project root directory (where the .git folder is).
# This makes the script portable, as long as it stays inside the git repo.
SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd  -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}")" &> /dev/null && pwd)
PROJECT_ROOT=$(git -C "$SCRIPT_DIR" rev-parse --show-toplevel)

if [ -z "$PROJECT_ROOT" ]; then
    echo "Error : Could not find project root. Make sure this script is in a git repository." >&2
    exit 1
fi

# The directory where media files will be stored.
MEDIA_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/files"
mkdir -p "$MEDIA_DIR"

MARKDOWN_OUTPUT=""

for  file_path in "$@"; do
    # Skip if it's not a file (e.g., a directory)
    [ ! -f "$file_path" ] && continue

    filename=$(basename "$file_path")
    
    # Destination path for the file inside the project. 
    destination_path="$MEDIA_DIR/$filename"

    # Copy the file into the project.
    cp "$file_path" "$destination_path"

    # Web-accessible path for the Markdown link (relative to site root).
    web_path="/files/$filename"

    # Get  lowercased file extension to determine file type.
    file_ext_lower=$(echo "${filename##*.}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

    link=""
    case "$file_ext_lower" in
        jpg|jpeg|png|gif|webp|svg )
            # It's an image.
            link=" ![]($web_path) "
            ;;
        mp4|mov|webm)
            # It's a video. An HTML video tag is more useful for embedding.
            link="<video controls src=\"$web_path \" title=\"$filename\"></video>"
            ;;
        *)
            # It's some other file. Create a standard Markdown link.
            link="[$filename]($web_path)"
            ;;
    esac
    
    # Append the generated link and two newlines to the  output.
    if [ -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" ]; then
        MARKDOWN_OUTPUT+="\n\n"
    fi
    MARKDOWN_OUTPUT+=$link
done

# If we generated any links, copy them to the clipboard.
if [ -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT " ]; then
    echo -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" | pbcopy
fi



```markdown
# Media Ingestion Workflow Setup

This document explains how to set up a macOS Quick Action to streamline adding media files (images, videos, etc.) to your blog.

The workflow uses the `scripts/media/ingest.sh` script to:
1. Copy selected files into the `/files`  directory of this project.
2. Generate the appropriate Markdown or HTML to embed those files.
3. Copy the generated text to your clipboard, ready to be pasted into a blog post.

## Creating the Quick Action in Automator

Since Automator workflows can be sensitive to system changes, it's best to  create it manually.

1.  **Open Automator**: You can find it in your `/Applications` folder.
2.  **Create a New Document**: Select `File > New` (or `⌘N`).
3.  **Choose Document Type**: Select **Quick Action** and click "Choose".
4 .  **Configure the Workflow**: At the top of the workflow panel, set the following options:
    *   "Workflow receives current" -> **files or folders**
    *   "in" -> **Finder**
    *   Image: (Optional) You can choose an icon for your Quick Action.
 5.  **Add a "Run Shell Script" Action**:
    *   In the Actions library on the left, find "Run Shell Script" and drag it into the main workflow panel on the right.
6.  **Configure the Shell Script Action**:
    *   **Shell**: Make sure this  is set to `/bin/zsh`.
    *   **Pass input**: Change this from `to stdin` to **as arguments**. This is crucial, as it passes the file paths of the selected files to your script.
    *   **Script Body**: Paste the following command into the text area. **You  must replace `/path/to/your/project` with the absolute path to this project's root directory on your machine.**

        ```sh
        /path/to/your/project/scripts/media/ingest.sh "$@"
        ```

        For example, if your project is  located at `/Users/jane/dev/my-blog`, the command would be:
        ```sh
        /Users/jane/dev/my-blog/scripts/media/ingest.sh "$@"
        ```
7.  **Save the Quick Action**:
    *   Press `⌘S ` to save.
    *   Give it a memorable name, like `Ingest Media for Blog`.

## How to Use

1.  In Finder, select one or more media files you want to add to a blog post.
2.  Right-click on the selected files.
3.  In  the context menu, go to `Quick Actions` and select `Ingest Media for Blog`.
4.  The script will run in the background. Once it's done, the Markdown/HTML for your files will be on your clipboard.
5.  Paste the content into your blog post file.

Implementing the Workflow

I'm now creating scripts/media/ingest.sh and scripts/media/README.md to implement the media ingestion workflow, per the user's instructions. The shell script will handle file processing and Markdown link generation, while the README.md will guide the user through the Automator setup.



```bash
#!/bin/zsh

# Exit on error
set -e

# This script is designed to be called from a macOS Quick Action.
# It takes file paths as arguments, copies them to the  project's 'files/'
# directory, and generates Markdown links for them, which are then
# copied to the clipboard.

# Find the project root directory (where the .git folder is).
# This makes the script portable, as long as it stays inside the git repo.
SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd  -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}")" &> /dev/null && pwd)
PROJECT_ROOT=$(git -C "$SCRIPT_DIR" rev-parse --show-toplevel)

if [ -z "$PROJECT_ROOT" ]; then
    echo "Error : Could not find project root. Make sure this script is in a git repository." >&2
    exit 1
fi

# The directory where media files will be stored.
MEDIA_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/files"
mkdir -p "$MEDIA_DIR"

MARKDOWN_OUTPUT=""

for  file_path in "$@"; do
    # Skip if it's not a file (e.g., a directory)
    [ ! -f "$file_path" ] && continue

    filename=$(basename "$file_path")
    
    # Destination path for the file inside the project. 
    destination_path="$MEDIA_DIR/$filename"

    # Copy the file into the project.
    cp "$file_path" "$destination_path"

    # Web-accessible path for the Markdown link (relative to site root).
    web_path="/files/$filename"

    # Get  lowercased file extension to determine file type.
    file_ext_lower=$(echo "${filename##*.}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

    link=""
    case "$file_ext_lower" in
        jpg|jpeg|png|gif|webp|svg )
            # It's an image.
            link=" ![]($web_path) "
            ;;
        mp4|mov|webm)
            # It's a video. An HTML video tag is more useful for embedding.
            link="<video controls src=\"$web_path \" title=\"$filename\"></video>"
            ;;
        *)
            # It's some other file. Create a standard Markdown link.
            link="[$filename]($web_path)"
            ;;
    esac
    
    # Append the generated link and two newlines to the  output.
    if [ -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" ]; then
        MARKDOWN_OUTPUT+="\n\n"
    fi
    MARKDOWN_OUTPUT+=$link
done

# If we generated any links, copy them to the clipboard.
if [ -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT " ]; then
    echo -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" | pbcopy
fi



```markdown
# Media Ingestion Workflow Setup

This document explains how to set up a macOS Quick Action to streamline adding media files (images, videos, etc.) to your blog.

The workflow uses the `scripts/media/ingest.sh` script to:
1. Copy selected files into the `/files`  directory of this project.
2. Generate the appropriate Markdown or HTML to embed those files.
3. Copy the generated text to your clipboard, ready to be pasted into a blog post.

## Creating the Quick Action in Automator

Since Automator workflows can be sensitive to system changes, it's best to  create it manually.

1.  **Open Automator**: You can find it in your `/Applications` folder.
2.  **Create a New Document**: Select `File > New` (or `⌘N`).
3.  **Choose Document Type**: Select **Quick Action** and click "Choose".
4 .  **Configure the Workflow**: At the top of the workflow panel, set the following options:
    *   "Workflow receives current" -> **files or folders**
    *   "in" -> **Finder**
    *   Image: (Optional) You can choose an icon for your Quick Action.
 5.  **Add a "Run Shell Script" Action**:
    *   In the Actions library on the left, find "Run Shell Script" and drag it into the main workflow panel on the right.
6.  **Configure the Shell Script Action**:
    *   **Shell**: Make sure this  is set to `/bin/zsh`.
    *   **Pass input**: Change this from `to stdin` to **as arguments**. This is crucial, as it passes the file paths of the selected files to your script.
    *   **Script Body**: Paste the following command into the text area. **You  must replace `/path/to/your/project` with the absolute path to this project's root directory on your machine.**

        ```sh
        /path/to/your/project/scripts/media/ingest.sh "$@"
        ```

        For example, if your project is  located at `/Users/jane/dev/my-blog`, the command would be:
        ```sh
        /Users/jane/dev/my-blog/scripts/media/ingest.sh "$@"
        ```
7.  **Save the Quick Action**:
    *   Press `⌘S ` to save.
    *   Give it a memorable name, like `Ingest Media for Blog`.

## How to Use

1.  In Finder, select one or more media files you want to add to a blog post.
2.  Right-click on the selected files.
3.  In  the context menu, go to `Quick Actions` and select `Ingest Media for Blog`.
4.  The script will run in the background. Once it's done, the Markdown/HTML for your files will be on your clipboard.
5.  Paste the content into your blog post file.

aider Gemini 2.5 Pro

You're right, generating Automator workflows via a script can be brittle. A more robust approach is to create a standalone script for the heavy lifting and then document how to manually create the Quick Action to trigger it. This makes the setup a stable, one-time process.

I will create two new files to implement this media ingestion workflow:

  1. scripts/media/ingest.sh: A shell script that takes file paths, copies them to a /files directory in your project, and copies the corresponding Markdown/HTML snippets to your clipboard.
  2. scripts/media/README.md: A documentation file explaining how to create the macOS Quick Action in Automator to run the ingest.sh script.

Here are the SEARCH/REPLACE blocks to create these new files.

scripts/media/ingest.sh
<<<<<<< SEARCH
=======
#!/bin/zsh

# Exit on error
set -e

# This script is designed to be called from a macOS Quick Action.
# It takes file paths as arguments, copies them to the project's 'files/'
# directory, and generates Markdown links for them, which are then
# copied to the clipboard.

# Find the project root directory (where the .git folder is).
# This makes the script portable, as long as it stays inside the git repo.
SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}")" &> /dev/null && pwd)
PROJECT_ROOT=$(git -C "$SCRIPT_DIR" rev-parse --show-toplevel)

if [ -z "$PROJECT_ROOT" ]; then
    echo "Error: Could not find project root. Make sure this script is in a git repository." >&2
    exit 1
fi

# The directory where media files will be stored.
MEDIA_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/files"
mkdir -p "$MEDIA_DIR"

MARKDOWN_OUTPUT=""

for file_path in "$@"; do
    # Skip if it's not a file (e.g., a directory)
    [ ! -f "$file_path" ] && continue

    filename=$(basename "$file_path")
    
    # Destination path for the file inside the project.
    destination_path="$MEDIA_DIR/$filename"

    # Copy the file into the project.
    cp "$file_path" "$destination_path"

    # Web-accessible path for the Markdown link (relative to site root).
    web_path="/files/$filename"

    # Get lowercased file extension to determine file type.
    file_ext_lower=$(echo "${filename##*.}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

    link=""
    case "$file_ext_lower" in
        jpg|jpeg|png|gif|webp|svg)
            # It's an image.
            link="![]($web_path)"
            ;;
        mp4|mov|webm)
            # It's a video. An HTML video tag is more useful for embedding.
            link="<video controls src=\"$web_path\" title=\"$filename\"></video>"
            ;;
        *)
            # It's some other file. Create a standard Markdown link.
            link="[$filename]($web_path)"
            ;;
    esac
    
    # Append the generated link and two newlines to the output for spacing.
    if [ -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" ]; then
        MARKDOWN_OUTPUT+="\n\n"
    fi
    MARKDOWN_OUTPUT+=$link
done

# If we generated any links, copy them to the clipboard.
if [ -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" ]; then
    echo -n "$MARKDOWN_OUTPUT" | pbcopy
fi
>>>>>>> REPLACE

scripts/media/README.md
<<<<<<< SEARCH
=======
# Media Ingestion Workflow Setup

This document explains how to set up a macOS Quick Action to streamline adding media files (images, videos, etc.) to your blog.

The workflow uses the `scripts/media/ingest.sh` script to:
1. Copy selected files into the `/files` directory of this project.
2. Generate the appropriate Markdown or HTML to embed those files.
3. Copy the generated text to your clipboard, ready to be pasted into a blog post.

## Creating the Quick Action in Automator

1.  **Open Automator**: You can find it in your `/Applications` folder.
2.  **Create a New Document**: Select `File > New` (or `⌘N`).
3.  **Choose Document Type**: Select **Quick Action** and click "Choose".
4.  **Configure the Workflow**: At the top of the workflow panel, set the following options:
    *   "Workflow receives current" -> **files or folders**
    *   "in" -> **Finder**
    *   Image: (Optional) You can choose an icon for your Quick Action.
5.  **Add a "Run Shell Script" Action**:
    *   In the Actions library on the left, find "Run Shell Script" and drag it into the main workflow panel on the right.
6.  **Configure the Shell Script Action**:
    *   **Shell**: Make sure this is set to `/bin/zsh`.
    *   **Pass input**: Change this from `to stdin` to **as arguments**. This is crucial, as it passes the file paths of the selected files to your script.
    *   **Script Body**: Paste the following command into the text area. **You must replace `</path/to/your/project>` with the absolute path to this project's root directory on your machine.**

        ```sh
        /path/to/your/project/scripts/media/ingest.sh "$@"
        ```

        For example, if your project is located at `/Users/jane/dev/my-blog`, the command would be:
        ```sh
        /Users/jane/dev/my-blog/scripts/media/ingest.sh "$@"
        ```
7.  **Save the Quick Action**:
    *   Press `⌘S` to save.
    *   Give it a memorable name, like `Ingest Media for Blog`.

## How to Use

1.  In Finder, select one or more media files you want to add to a blog post.
2.  Right-click on the selected files.
3.  In the context menu, go to `Quick Actions` and select `Ingest Media for Blog`.
4.  The script will run in the background. Once it's done, the Markdown/HTML for your files will be on your clipboard.
5.  Paste the content into your blog post file.
>>>>>>> REPLACE

After applying these changes, you will need to make the ingest.sh script executable.

chmod +x scripts/media/ingest.sh

Tokens: 7.9k sent, 5.0k received. Cost: $0.06 message, $0.08 session.
scripts/media/ingest.sh
Create new file? (Y)es/(N)o [Yes]: y
scripts/media/README.md
Create new file? (Y)es/(N)o [Yes]: y
Applied edit to scripts/media/ingest.sh
Applied edit to scripts/media/README.md
Commit e671627 feat: Add media ingestion workflow scripts and docs
chmod +x scripts/media/ingest.sh
Run shell command? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on't ask again [Yes]: y
Running chmod +x scripts/media/ingest.sh
Add command output to the chat? (Y)es/(N)o/(D)on't ask again [Yes]: y
Added 5 lines of output to the chat.
You can use /undo to undo and discard each aider commit.

There were a few more iterations beyond this but nothing really notable.

I'm dogfooding it now to test it:

b a

For these two I did have to manually urlencode the spaces in the filenames (they are the default screenshot filenames given by macOS).

Still got a few kinks to iron out:

And two more. I am ironing out the sort order. Ah it's still wrong (note i'm manually adjusting the order of the pasted image links here so you don't see the backward order).

Going to do one more test. I will try to ingest 4 screenshots in a batch and i hope it will properly sort in forward order based on the filename. I will also try to select the 4 images from finder in a non consistent way to see if that has an impact (it couldn't possibly at this point).

Perfect. Yeah that looks a bit cryptic, but, all I needed to do here was reverse the sort order. That came in like I wanted it to. This works exactly as well as I hoped it would.

Now I will test the HEIC image workflow for images from my iphone. Since apple devices now store images in a format that is more high tech than JPEG, but browsers have made very little headway on natively displaying such encoded files, it is the most sensible to do the image re-encoding during this automation's ingest flow. I wouldn't want to be repeating this processing work and committing to the conversion during the ingest feels really natural. Then I have a more universally consumable format to push to static CDN-backed storage.

My usual workflow would be to transfer them to my mac with Airdrop. I want some to not be actual screenshots so i can test the HEIC out. I'll throw in some screenshots though.

This works great. I will note it's interesting that screenshots on iOS come as JPGs but they are PNGs on macOS.

Well, I did have to do an iteration to get the HEIC processing correctly as you can see from my ingest.log:

---
Ingest run at Wed Jul 30 14:26:51 EDT 2025 for files: /Users/slu/SCREENCAPS/Screenshot 2025-07-30 at 14.26.20.png /Users/slu/SCREENCAPS/IMG_2066.jpg /Users/slu/SCREENCAPS/IMG_2065.HEIC
Warning: 'heif-dec' command not found, skipping 'IMG_2065.HEIC'.
To process .heic files, please install libheif. e.g.: 'brew install libheif'

The fix was simply to hardcode the install location of the decode script that comes installed by libheif:

---
Ingest run at Wed Jul 30 14:29:05 EDT 2025 for files: /Users/slu/SCREENCAPS/Screenshot 2025-07-30 at 14.26.20.png /Users/slu/SCREENCAPS/IMG_2066.jpg /Users/slu/SCREENCAPS/IMG_2065.HEIC
File contains 1 image
decoding image... 100%
Written to /Users/slu/stevenlu.net/stage/files/IMG_2065.jpeg