Setting Up GitHub Secrets for Auto-Tweet

Once you have your 4 X (Twitter) API credentials from the previous guide, follow these steps to add them to GitHub.

Step 1: Go to Your Repository Settings

1. Open your browser and go to: https://github.com/NightOwlCoder/NightOwlCoder.github.io
2. Click the “Settings” tab (far right)
3. In the left sidebar, click “Secrets and variables” → “Actions”

Step 2: Add Each Secret

You need to add 4 secrets. For each one:

1. Click “New repository secret” button
2. Enter the Name (exactly as shown below)
3. Paste the corresponding Value from your X API credentials
4. Click “Add secret”

Secret 1: TWITTER_API_KEY

• Name: TWITTER_API_KEY
• Value: Your API Key (also called Consumer Key)

Secret 2: TWITTER_API_SECRET

• Name: TWITTER_API_SECRET
• Value: Your API Key Secret (also called Consumer Secret)

Secret 3: TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN

• Name: TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN
• Value: Your Access Token

Secret 4: TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET

• Name: TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET
• Value: Your Access Token Secret

Step 3: Verify All Secrets Are Added

After adding all 4 secrets, you should see them listed:

• ✓ TWITTER_API_KEY
• ✓ TWITTER_API_SECRET
• ✓ TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN
• ✓ TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET

Note: You won’t be able to see the secret values after saving them (for security), but that’s normal!

✅ You’re Done!

The automation is now set up. Here’s what happens next:

1. You create a new blog post in _posts/
2. Add an excerpt: field to your front matter (optional but recommended)
3. Commit and push to GitHub
4. GitHub Actions automatically tweets your new post! 🎉

---

How to Add an Excerpt to Your Posts

When creating a blog post, add an excerpt: field to the front matter like this:

---
layout: post
title: "Your Post Title"
date: 2025-10-25 19:50:00 -0700
categories: category1 category2
excerpt: "A short 1-2 sentence summary that will appear in the tweet"
---

Without excerpt: Tweet will just have title + link
With excerpt: Tweet will have title + your custom summary + link

---

Testing the Automation

Want to test it? Here’s how:

1. Create a simple test post in _posts/
2. Add an excerpt
3. Commit and push
4. Go to your repo → Actions tab
5. Watch the workflow run
6. Check your Twitter feed! (@OwlCoder)

If something goes wrong, check the Actions logs for error messages.