prautoblogger/ARCHITECTURE.md

PRAutoBlogger — Architecture

Cross-app context: decisions that affect multiple plugins (Cloudflare AI Gateway routing, OpenRouter account sharing, the interface pattern, image-generation stack, social distributor choice) are recorded in Peptide Repo CTO/docs/engineering/decisions/. The incident runbook for cross-app failure modes is at Peptide Repo CTO/docs/engineering/INCIDENT-RUNBOOK.md. Engineer PRAutoBlogger should read both before making decisions that cross plugin boundaries.

PRAutoBlogger is a WordPress plugin that monitors social media (starting with Reddit) for recurring questions, complaints, and comparisons in a configured niche, uses LLM agents (via OpenRouter) to generate high-quality blog articles from those insights, runs them through a chief editor agent for quality review, and auto-publishes them on a configurable daily schedule. All collected data and generation metrics are stored for a self-improvement feedback loop.

---

Data Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    WP-Cron / Action Scheduler                          │
│                    (Daily trigger, configurable)                        │
└────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  1. Source Collector     │  Pulls data from enabled sources:
│  (Reddit + LLM Research)│  - Reddit RSS/Atom (primary) / .json (fallback)
│                         │  - LLM Deep Research (reasoning model)
│                         │  Stores raw data in `ab_source_data` table
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  2. Content Analyzer    │  LLM call (cheap model) to detect:
│  (Analysis Agent)       │  - Recurring questions
│                         │  - Complaints / pain points
│                         │  - Product comparisons
│                         │  Stores analysis in `ab_analysis_results` table
│                         │  Outputs ranked article ideas
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  3. Idea Scorer &       │  Deduplicates against existing posts
│     Deduplicator        │  Scores ideas by relevance, frequency, freshness
│                         │  Picks top N ideas (N = daily article target)
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  4. Writer Agent        │  Configurable pipeline:
│  (Content Generator)    │  Single-pass: one LLM call → complete article
│                         │  Multi-step: outline → draft → polish
│                         │  Uses quality model via OpenRouter
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  5. Chief Editor Agent  │  LLM-powered editorial review:
│                         │  - Checks quality, accuracy, tone
│                         │  - Checks SEO (title, headings, keyword density)
│                         │  - Can request rewrites or approve
│                         │  - Approved → publish; Rejected → flag for human
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  6. Publisher           │  Creates/updates WordPress post
│                         │  Sets categories, tags, featured image
│                         │  Stores generation metadata in post_meta
│                         │  Logs cost/tokens in `prab_generation_log` table
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  6b. Image Pipeline     │  Generates two A/B images in parallel:
│  (optional, if enabled) │  - Image A: article-driven (featured)
│                         │  - Image B: source-driven (post meta)
│                         │  Provider derived from the saved Image Model
│                         │  via Image_Model_Registry::provider_for().
│                         │  NSFW-blocked slots (CF error code 3030) are
│                         │  retried once with a rule-based fallback
│                         │  prompt via Image_NSFW_Retry; a second block
│                         │  logs WARNING and publishes without that image.
│                         │  Sideloads to media library, logs costs.
└────────────┬────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌─────────────────────────┐
│  7. Metrics Collector   │  Tracks post-publish performance:
│  (Separate cron job)    │  - WordPress native (views, comments)
│                         │  - GA4 (pageviews, bounce rate, time on page)
│                         │  - Composite "content score"
│                         │  Feeds back into Analysis step for self-improvement
└─────────────────────────┘

---

File Tree

prautoblogger/
├── prautoblogger.php                  # Plugin bootstrap — minimal, only hook registration
├── uninstall.php                      # Clean removal of ALL plugin data
├── readme.txt                         # WordPress.org standard readme
├── composer.json                      # Autoloading (PSR-4) and dependencies
├── ARCHITECTURE.md                    # This file
├── CONVENTIONS.md                     # Naming patterns, extension guides
├── CHANGELOG.md                       # Semantic versioning changelog
│
├── assets/
│   ├── css/
│   │   ├── admin.css                  # Admin page styles (wp-admin conventions)
│   │   └── posts-widget.css           # Frontend posts widget styles (uses theme CSS vars)
│   └── js/
│       ├── admin.js                   # Admin page interactivity (vanilla JS / Alpine.js)
│       └── posts-widget.js            # React component for frontend post cards (wp.element)
│
├── includes/
│   ├── class-prautoblogger.php        # Main orchestrator — registers all hooks, delegates execution
│   ├── class-executor.php             # Cron handlers, generation AJAX (start + status), model registry
│   ├── class-ajax-handlers.php        # Non-generation AJAX: images, models, test connections
│   ├── class-generation-lock.php      # DB-level atomic mutex for single-writer generation
│   ├── class-activator.php            # Activation: create DB tables, set defaults, schedule cron
│   ├── class-deactivator.php          # Deactivation: clear cron, cleanup transients
│   ├── class-autoloader.php           # PSR-4-style autoloader for plugin classes
│   │
│   ├── admin/
│   │   ├── class-admin-page.php       # Main settings page (tabbed SaaS-style UI)
│   │   ├── class-settings-fields.php  # Declarative settings: sections + core fields (API/Models/Content/Sources)
│   │   ├── class-settings-fields-extended.php # Operational fields: schedule, publishing, display, analytics, images
│   │   ├── class-image-model-registry.php # Static list of image generation models for the model picker
│   │   ├── class-admin-notices.php    # Onboarding notices, error alerts, budget warnings
│   │   ├── class-dashboard-widget.php # WP Dashboard widget showing generation status
│   │   ├── class-post-metabox.php     # Metabox on posts showing generation metadata
│   │   ├── class-metrics-page.php     # Admin page for cost dashboard and content scores
│   │   ├── class-ideas-browser.php    # Browse all analysis results (article ideas)
│   │   ├── class-review-queue.php     # Approve/edit/reject queue for generated drafts
│   │   └── class-log-viewer.php       # Activity log viewer with level filtering
│   │
│   ├── core/
│   │   ├── class-scheduler.php        # WP-Cron / Action Scheduler job management
│   │   ├── class-source-collector.php # Orchestrates data collection from all sources
│   │   ├── class-content-analyzer.php # LLM-powered analysis of collected social data
│   │   ├── class-analysis-prompts.php # System/user prompt builders + performance context for analyzer
│   │   ├── class-idea-scorer.php      # Ranks and deduplicates article ideas (delegates to Semantic_Dedup)
│   │   ├── class-semantic-dedup.php   # Embedding-based cosine similarity dedup with keyword fallback
│   │   ├── class-content-generator.php# Writer agent — manages the generation pipeline
│   │   ├── class-content-prompts.php  # Builds all LLM prompts for content generation (system, stage, linking rules)
│   │   ├── class-peptide-linker.php   # Deterministic post-processor: hyperlinks peptide mentions to /peptides/ pages
│   │   ├── class-chief-editor.php     # Editor agent — LLM-powered editorial review
│   │   ├── class-publisher.php        # Creates WordPress posts from approved content
│   │   ├── class-post-assembler.php   # Post-creation helpers: taxonomy, log linking, images, sanitization
│   │   ├── class-image-pipeline.php   # Orchestrates A/B image generation (parallel via batch)
│   │   ├── class-image-prompt-builder.php # Generates visual prompts from article/source data
│   │   ├── class-image-media-sideloader.php # Imports images into WordPress media library
│   │   ├── class-cost-tracker.php     # Logs all API costs, enforces budget limits
│   │   ├── class-logger.php           # Structured logging singleton (error/warning/info/debug)
│   │   ├── class-article-worker.php   # Single-article generation (content + edit + publish)
│   │   ├── class-pipeline-runner.php  # Orchestrates pipeline; chains per-article cron jobs
│   │   ├── class-ga4-client.php       # Google Analytics 4 API client (OAuth + Data API)
│   │   └── class-metrics-collector.php# Collects post performance data (WP + GA4)
│   │
│   ├── providers/
│   │   ├── interface-llm-provider.php    # Contract for any LLM provider
│   │   ├── class-open-router-provider.php # OpenRouter API implementation (chat completions)
│   │   ├── class-open-router-embedding-provider.php # Text embeddings for semantic dedup
│   │   ├── class-open-router-pricing.php  # Model pricing lookup and cost estimation
│   │   ├── interface-source-provider.php # Contract for any social media source
│   │   ├── class-reddit-json-client.php  # Reddit HTTP client — RSS (primary) + .json (fallback)
│   │   ├── class-llm-research-provider.php # LLM deep research source (reasoning models)
│   │   ├── class-reddit-provider.php     # Reddit data collection orchestrator (RSS primary)
│   │   ├── interface-image-provider.php  # Contract for any image generation provider (incl. batch)
│   │   ├── class-open-router-image-provider.php  # OpenRouter image gen (single + batch dispatch)
│   │   ├── class-open-router-image-batch.php     # Parallel curl_multi execution for batch image gen
│   │   ├── class-open-router-image-support.php   # API key, response parsing, retry/backoff helpers
│   │   ├── class-open-router-image-pricing.php   # Model resolution + per-image cost estimation
│   │   ├── class-open-router-config.php          # API base URL (direct vs AI Gateway)
│   │   ├── class-open-router-request-builder.php # Header building + Hostinger cURL auth workaround
│   │   ├── class-cloudflare-image-provider.php   # Cloudflare Workers AI (sequential batch fallback)
│   │   ├── class-cloudflare-image-pricing.php    # Model alias + per-MP cost estimation
│   │   ├── class-cloudflare-image-validator.php  # Non-destructive credential + connectivity check
│   │   ├── class-cloudflare-image-support.php    # Token, account, URL, and log helpers for CF provider
│   │   └── (new providers go here — see CONVENTIONS.md)
│   │
│   ├── services/
│   │   ├── interface-model-registry.php           # Contract for provider-specific model registries
│   │   ├── class-open-router-model-registry.php    # Fetches, caches, queries the OpenRouter model list
│   │   ├── class-open-router-model-normalizer.php  # Maps raw OpenRouter data → standardized record shape
│   │   └── (Phase 3: class-cloudflare-workers-ai-model-registry.php)
│   │
│   ├── frontend/
│   │   ├── class-article-typography.php # Inline CSS for font, size, table borders on generated posts
│   │   └── class-posts-widget.php     # [prautoblogger_posts] shortcode + REST endpoint
│   │
│   └── models/
│       ├── class-source-data.php      # Value object: raw social media post/comment
│       ├── class-analysis-result.php  # Value object: analyzed topic with scores
│       ├── class-article-idea.php     # Value object: scored article idea
│       ├── class-content-request.php  # Value object: generation request with params
│       ├── class-editorial-review.php # Value object: editor verdict, scores, revised content
│       ├── class-generation-log.php   # Value object: log entry for a generation run
│       └── class-content-score.php    # Value object: composite performance score
│
├── templates/
│   └── admin/
│       ├── settings-page.php          # Settings page template (tabbed sidebar layout)
│       ├── metrics-page.php           # Metrics/cost dashboard template
│       ├── review-queue.php           # Review queue table template
│       ├── log-viewer.php             # Activity log viewer template
│       └── metabox-generation-info.php# Post metabox template
│
├── languages/
│   └── prautoblogger.pot              # i18n translation template
│
└── tests/
    ├── unit/                          # PHPUnit tests (mocked dependencies)
    └── integration/                   # WordPress integration tests

---

Frontend Widget Data Flow

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  WordPress Page/Post         │  Contains [prautoblogger_posts] shortcode
│  (e.g. Home page)            │
└────────────┬─────────────────┘
             │  Shortcode renders:
             │  1. <div id="prab-posts-root"></div>
             │  2. Enqueues posts-widget.js + posts-widget.css
             │  3. Passes config via wp_localize_script
             ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  React Component (wp.element)│  Mounts into #prab-posts-root
│  posts-widget.js             │  Shows loading skeleton on mount
└────────────┬─────────────────┘
             │  Fetches asynchronously
             ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  REST API Endpoint           │  GET /wp-json/prautoblogger/v1/posts
│  class-posts-widget.php      │  Queries published posts with
│                              │  _prautoblogger_generated = '1' meta
│                              │  Returns slim JSON (id, title, excerpt,
│                              │  url, date, category, image, word_count)
│                              │  5-minute Cache-Control header
└──────────────────────────────┘

Shortcode Attributes

Attribute	Default	Description
count	6	Posts to display (max 12)
category	(all)	Filter by category slug
title	"Latest Research & Insights"	Widget heading
subtitle	"Evidence-based articles..."	Widget subheading

CSS Integration

The widget CSS (posts-widget.css) uses the Peptide Starter theme's CSS custom properties (--color-*, --spacing-*, --text-*, --radius-*, --transition-*) with hardcoded fallbacks. This means:

• On sites using Peptide Starter: widget automatically adapts to light/dark mode via data-theme.
• On other themes: fallback values render a sensible dark-themed design.

---

Background Generation Flow (v0.3.0)

The "Generate Now" button runs the pipeline in a background WP-Cron process to avoid Hostinger's 120-second LiteSpeed connection timeout. The frontend polls for status.

┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  Admin clicks "Generate Now" │  admin.js sends AJAX to on_ajax_generate_now()
└────────────┬─────────────────┘
             │  Handler returns immediately (< 1 second):
             │  1. Writes "running" transient with started timestamp
             │  2. Schedules one-shot cron: prautoblogger_manual_generation
             │  3. Fires non-blocking loopback to wp-cron.php
             │  4. Returns JSON success to browser
             ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  admin.js starts polling     │  setInterval every 5 seconds
│  on_ajax_generation_status() │  Shows stage text + spinner
└────────────┬─────────────────┘
             │
             ▼ (separate PHP process)
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  on_manual_generation()      │  WP-Cron fires this in a new request
│  (class-executor.php)        │  1. ignore_user_abort(true) — survives HTTP kill
│                              │  2. set_time_limit(300)
│                              │  3. Acquires PRAutoBlogger_Generation_Lock
│                              │  4. Runs PRAutoBlogger_Pipeline_Runner::run()
│                              │     (pipeline broadcasts stage updates to transient)
│                              │  5. Writes final result to transient
│                              │  6. Releases lock
└────────────┬─────────────────┘
             │
             ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│  Poller detects completion   │  Reads transient: status = 'complete' or 'error'
│  Shows result message        │  Resets button to idle state
└──────────────────────────────┘

Fallback detection: If Hostinger kills the PHP process before it updates the transient (despite ignore_user_abort), the status endpoint detects the orphan after 180 seconds by checking for recently-created posts with _prautoblogger_run_id meta. It also releases any stale generation lock. After 600 seconds (STATUS_TTL), it gives up unconditionally and reports a timeout.

---

Database Schema

Custom Tables

All tables use $wpdb->prefix + prautoblogger_ prefix.

ab_source_data — Raw social media data

Column	Type	Description
id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	Auto-increment PK
source_type	VARCHAR(50)	'reddit' (extensible for future providers)
source_id	VARCHAR(255)	Platform-specific unique ID (post/comment ID)
subreddit	VARCHAR(255)	Subreddit or channel name (nullable)
title	TEXT	Post/video title
content	LONGTEXT	Post body / comment text / transcript
author	VARCHAR(255)	Original author username
score	INT	Upvotes/likes/engagement metric
comment_count	INT	Number of comments/replies
permalink	VARCHAR(500)	URL to original content
collected_at	DATETIME	When we collected this data
metadata_json	LONGTEXT	Platform-specific extra data (JSON)

• INDEX: source_type, collected_at
• UNIQUE INDEX: source_type, source_id

ab_analysis_results — Analyzed topics and patterns

Column	Type	Description
id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	Auto-increment PK
analysis_type	VARCHAR(50)	'question', 'complaint', 'comparison'
topic	VARCHAR(500)	Detected topic/theme
summary	TEXT	LLM-generated summary of the pattern
frequency	INT	How many source posts mention this
relevance_score	FLOAT	LLM-assigned relevance score (0-1)
source_ids_json	LONGTEXT	JSON array of ab_source_data.id references
analyzed_at	DATETIME	When analysis was performed
metadata_json	LONGTEXT	Extra analysis data (JSON)

• INDEX: analysis_type, relevance_score
• INDEX: analyzed_at

prab_generation_log — API cost and generation tracking

Column	Type	Description
id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	Auto-increment PK
post_id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	WordPress post ID (nullable, set after publish)
run_id	VARCHAR(36)	UUID linking all entries from one pipeline run
stage	VARCHAR(50)	'analysis', 'outline', 'draft', 'edit', 'review'
provider	VARCHAR(50)	'openrouter'
model	VARCHAR(100)	Model identifier used
prompt_tokens	INT	Input tokens consumed
completion_tokens	INT	Output tokens generated
estimated_cost	DECIMAL(10,6)	Estimated USD cost
request_json	LONGTEXT	Full request payload (for debugging)
response_status	VARCHAR(20)	'success', 'error', 'timeout'
error_message	TEXT	Error details if failed (nullable)
created_at	DATETIME	When the API call was made

• INDEX: post_id
• INDEX: run_id
• INDEX: created_at
• INDEX: stage

prab_event_log — Structured application logging

Column	Type	Description
id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	Auto-increment PK
level	VARCHAR(10)	'error', 'warning', 'info', 'debug'
context	VARCHAR(100)	Origin: 'pipeline', 'reddit', 'ga4', etc.
message	TEXT	Human-readable log message
meta_json	LONGTEXT	Optional structured data (nullable)
created_at	DATETIME	When the event occurred

• INDEX: level, created_at
• INDEX: created_at

ab_content_scores — Post performance metrics

Column	Type	Description
id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	Auto-increment PK
post_id	BIGINT UNSIGNED	WordPress post ID
pageviews	INT	Total pageviews (WP native or GA4)
avg_time_on_page	FLOAT	Average seconds on page (GA4)
bounce_rate	FLOAT	Bounce rate percentage (GA4)
comment_count	INT	WordPress comment count
composite_score	FLOAT	LLM-computed content quality score (0-100)
score_factors_json	LONGTEXT	JSON breakdown of what contributed to score
measured_at	DATETIME	When metrics were collected

• INDEX: post_id
• INDEX: measured_at
• INDEX: composite_score

WordPress Options (wp_options)

All prefixed with prautoblogger_:

Option Key	Description
prautoblogger_openrouter_api_key	Encrypted OpenRouter API key
prautoblogger_ai_gateway_base_url	Optional Cloudflare AI Gateway URL (proxies OpenRouter); empty = direct
prautoblogger_ai_gateway_cache_ttl	Seconds Cloudflare may cache identical LLM responses (0 = off)
prautoblogger_ga4_property_id	Google Analytics 4 property ID
prautoblogger_ga4_credentials_json	Encrypted GA4 service account credentials
prautoblogger_analysis_model	OpenRouter model for analysis (default: cheap)
prautoblogger_writing_model	OpenRouter model for writing (default: quality)
prautoblogger_editor_model	OpenRouter model for chief editor (default: quality)
prautoblogger_daily_article_target	Number of articles per day (1-10, default: 1)
prautoblogger_writing_pipeline	'single_pass' or 'multi_step' (default: multi_step)
prautoblogger_niche_description	Text description of the site's niche
prautoblogger_target_subreddits	JSON array of subreddits to monitor
prautoblogger_monthly_budget_usd	Monthly API spend limit in USD
prautoblogger_tone	Content tone (informational, conversational, etc.)
prautoblogger_min_word_count	Minimum article word count (default: 800)
prautoblogger_max_word_count	Maximum article word count (default: 2000)
prautoblogger_topic_exclusions	JSON array of topics to never write about
prautoblogger_enabled_sources	JSON array of active source types
prautoblogger_auto_publish	Toggle: auto-publish approved posts (default: '0')
prautoblogger_default_author	WP user ID for generated post authorship
prautoblogger_default_category	WP category ID fallback for generated posts
prautoblogger_log_level	Logging threshold: error/warning/info/debug
prautoblogger_db_version	Schema version for migrations
prautoblogger_schedule_time	Daily generation time (HH:MM, default: '03:00')
prautoblogger_cloudflare_ai_token	Encrypted Cloudflare Workers AI API token
prautoblogger_cloudflare_account_id	Cloudflare account UUID (plaintext — identifier, not secret)
prautoblogger_image_model	Image model slug from Image_Model_Registry::get_models(); provider is derived from this on save
prautoblogger_image_provider	Derived from the chosen model on save (v0.8.0+); not editable in admin UI
prautoblogger_image_prompt_instructions	System prompt given to the image rewriter LLM (v0.8.0+); falls back to Image_Prompt_Builder::REWRITER_SYSTEM_PROMPT when empty
prautoblogger_image_nsfw_retry	Toggle: retry NSFW-blocked image slots with a rule-based fallback prompt (default: '1')
prautoblogger_migrated_image_provider_v080	One-shot migration flag — auto-heals mismatched provider/model pairs on first admin_init after v0.8.0 upgrade
prautoblogger_article_font_family	Font family key: 'default', 'inter', 'georgia', 'merriweather', 'lora', 'open_sans', 'roboto', 'system'
prautoblogger_article_font_size	Body font size in px (0 = theme default). Recommended: 16–18.
prautoblogger_table_borders	Toggle: add borders/padding/striping to tables (default: '1')
prautoblogger_image_style_suffix	Text appended to every image prompt (default: CEO-locked 90s infomercial prompt)
prautoblogger_openrouter_model_registry	Normalized OpenRouter model list (JSON array, daily refresh, serves as durable cache)
prautoblogger_openrouter_model_registry_fetched_at	Unix timestamp of last successful model registry refresh

Post Meta

Stored on every PRAutoBlogger-generated post:

Meta Key	Description
_prautoblogger_generated	Boolean flag — '1' if generated by plugin
_prautoblogger_analysis_id	FK to ab_analysis_results.id
_prautoblogger_source_ids	JSON array of source data IDs used
_prautoblogger_model_used	Model that generated the content
_prautoblogger_pipeline_mode	'single_pass' or 'multi_step'
_prautoblogger_total_cost	Total USD cost for this post
_prautoblogger_total_tokens	Total tokens consumed for this post
_prautoblogger_editor_verdict	'approved', 'revised', 'rejected'
_prautoblogger_editor_notes	Chief editor's review notes
_prautoblogger_generated_at	ISO 8601 timestamp of generation
_prautoblogger_research_sources	JSON array of source URLs used

---

External API Integrations

Service	Purpose	Auth	Rate Limit	Code
OpenRouter	All LLM calls (analysis, writing, editing)	API key (encrypted in wp_options)	Per-model	providers/class-open-router-provider.php, providers/class-open-router-pricing.php
Cloudflare AI Gateway (optional)	Transparent proxy in front of OpenRouter — adds response caching, cost logging, rate limiting, provider fallback	Same OpenRouter key; gateway URL in prautoblogger_ai_gateway_base_url	Gateway-side quotas	Same provider file; activated when gateway URL option is non-empty
Reddit RSS	Primary Reddit data source — Atom feeds for subreddit hot posts	None (unauthenticated)	No known rate limit; reliable from datacenter IPs	providers/class-reddit-json-client.php
Reddit .json	Fallback for posts + only source for comments	None (unauthenticated)	~10 req/min (datacenter IPs often blocked)	providers/class-reddit-json-client.php
Google Analytics 4	Post performance metrics	OAuth2 service account	Standard GA4 limits	core/class-ga4-client.php, core/class-metrics-collector.php
Cloudflare Workers AI	Image generation (FLUX.1 schnell / dev) for article hero, thumbnail, and IG placements	API token (encrypted in wp_options) + account ID	Workers AI per-account quotas	providers/class-cloudflare-image-provider.php, providers/class-cloudflare-image-pricing.php, providers/class-cloudflare-image-validator.php

---

Key Decisions

#1: OpenRouter over direct provider APIs

Gives access to many models through one API, simplifies provider management, and lets the user switch models without code changes. Trade-off: slight latency overhead and dependency on OpenRouter's availability.

#2: Reddit as first social source (RSS primary, .json fallback)

Reddit has rich discussion data ideal for identifying recurring questions and pain points. Reddit RSS/Atom feeds are the primary data source — they work reliably from datacenter IPs (Hostinger) where .json endpoints return 403. The .json endpoints serve as a fallback for posts and are the only source for comment fetching (RSS doesn't include comments). Trade-off: RSS lacks engagement metrics (score, comment count), but post titles and content are sufficient for topic analysis.

#3: Chief editor agent instead of human review queue

The user wants full automation — a second LLM pass reviews quality, SEO, and accuracy before publishing. Posts that fail editorial review are flagged for human intervention rather than published. Trade-off: doubles the LLM cost of the "review" step, but catches quality issues.

#4: Configurable pipeline (single-pass vs. multi-step)

Some users want cheap/fast, others want high quality. Making this configurable avoids forcing one approach. Trade-off: more code paths to maintain.

#5: Composite content score using LLM

Rather than just tracking raw metrics, we periodically have the LLM evaluate what made high-performing posts succeed and low-performing posts fail. This feeds back into the analysis and generation prompts. Trade-off: additional API cost for scoring, but enables the self-improvement loop.

#6: Source provider interface for future platforms

Reddit is the only implemented source, but the interface pattern means adding a new source (YouTube, TikTok, etc.) is one class implementation plus a settings checkbox. We removed the old stub provider files (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) because dead code confuses AI agents and humans alike — the interface is the contract, not empty classes. Trade-off: slight over-engineering for day one, but pays off immediately at source #2.

#7: Custom tables for high-volume data

Source data, analysis results, and generation logs are high-write, time-series data. WordPress post_meta and options are wrong for this. Custom tables with proper indexes. Trade-off: more complex activation/uninstall, but correct.

#8: All API keys encrypted at rest

Using wp_salt() as encryption key with OpenSSL. Not bulletproof (salt is in wp-config.php) but significantly better than plaintext in wp_options. Trade-off: adds complexity to option get/set, but necessary for security.

#9: Structured logger instead of raw error_log()

All application logging flows through PRAutoBlogger_Logger singleton, which writes to the prab_event_log table and forwards errors/warnings to PHP's error_log(). This gives users an in-admin Activity Log page with filtering by level, search, and pagination — much more accessible than server logs. Trade-off: one extra DB write per log entry, but the table is prunable and indexed.

#10: Database-level atomic mutex for generation lock

Uses INSERT IGNORE on wp_options (which has a UNIQUE index on option_name) instead of transient-based locking. This eliminates the TOCTOU race condition where two concurrent cron runs could both read the transient as "not locked" before either sets it. Expired locks older than 1 hour are cleaned up first to prevent permanent deadlock.

#11: wp.element for frontend React (no build step)

The posts widget uses WordPress-bundled React (wp.element) with raw createElement calls instead of JSX. This avoids requiring a Node.js build pipeline for what is a simple card grid. Trade-off: more verbose component code, but zero tooling dependencies for the plugin consumer.

#12: REST API for frontend data fetching

The widget fetches posts asynchronously from a dedicated REST endpoint rather than rendering server-side. This keeps initial page load fast and allows the endpoint to be cached independently (5-minute Cache-Control). The permission callback uses a filter (prautoblogger_rest_posts_public) so sites can restrict access if needed.

#13: Run-ID based log linking

Each pipeline execution generates a UUID (run_id) that tags every prab_generation_log entry. When a post is published, link_generation_logs() uses UPDATE WHERE run_id = X to associate entries with the post_id. This is more reliable than the previous timestamp-window approach, especially in batch runs where multiple posts are generated in quick succession.

#14: Reddit RSS replaces PullPush.io (and earlier Reddit OAuth)

Reddit rejected our OAuth API application (April 2026). We initially switched to PullPush.io, but its index was frequently stale or unavailable. Reddit's RSS/Atom feeds (/r/{sub}/hot.rss) proved the most reliable option — they work from datacenter IPs where .json gets 403, require no auth, and have no apparent rate limit. The .json endpoints are kept as a fallback for posts and as the sole source for comment data. Each collected item's metadata includes a data_source field (reddit_rss or reddit_json) for auditability.

#18: OpenRouter model registry — daily refresh, WP option + transient cache, zero-coupling

The admin model picker (v1) needs to list OpenRouter models with pricing and capabilities. We fetch https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models (free, unauthenticated) once daily and store the normalized payload in a WP option fronted by a 24h transient. On stale-and-fetch-fails, we serve last-good + surface a warning. The registry class (class-open-router-model-registry.php) takes all config via constructor (option name, transient name, endpoint URL) — no PRAUTOBLOGGER_* constants inside the class body. Phase 2 lifts it into a shared Composer package with zero internal edits. Phase 3 adds a parallel Cloudflare_WorkersAI_Model_Registry behind the same interface. Capability vocabulary: text→text, text+image→text, text+audio→text, text→image, text→audio, text→video, text→embedding. Cost: $0/month.

#16: Image generation via Cloudflare Workers AI (FLUX.1), direct (not via AI Gateway)

The image-generation layer (started 2026-04-15, tracked in convo/prautoblogger/threads/2026-04-image-pipeline/) uses FLUX.1 [schnell] on Cloudflare Workers AI as its default model, chosen for its ~$0.0011/MP cost and 2–3 sec latency. FLUX.1 [dev] is a ~4× cost upgrade exposed as a dropdown for specific posts that warrant it. Calls go directly to https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{id}/ai/run/@cf/black-forest-labs/..., not through the Cloudflare AI Gateway that we use for OpenRouter — the gateway route to Workers AI currently 403s (pre-existing open issue). The provider lives behind PRAutoBlogger_Image_Provider_Interface, so the decision is trivially reversible: switching to a different image API (DALL-E, Replicate, a future AI Gateway route) is a new class implementation plus a one-line swap in the pipeline wiring. Trade-off: we run two different Cloudflare integration paths (gateway for OpenRouter LLMs, direct for Workers AI images) until the gateway route stabilizes — minor cognitive overhead, zero functional downside.

#15: Optional Cloudflare AI Gateway in front of OpenRouter

We already use Cloudflare for DNS/CDN on peptiderepo.com, so layering AI Gateway in front of OpenRouter is zero marginal infrastructure. It gives us response caching (meaningful for repeated classification/scoring calls), a unified cost/latency dashboard, rate limiting, and provider fallback — all of which we would otherwise have to build ourselves to satisfy the CTO cost-tracking rules. Kept as an opt-in URL setting (prautoblogger_ai_gateway_base_url) so the plugin still works unchanged out of the box and can be bypassed instantly if the gateway misbehaves. The gateway is a transparent OpenRouter-compatible proxy; no new provider class is needed, and the response parsing path (usage, choices[0].message.content) is unchanged.

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Cross-System LLM Budget Coordination

PRAutoBlogger and Peptide News both call OpenRouter and may share a single API key / billing account. Their combined spend should be considered when setting per-plugin budgets.

Plugin	Default Models	Typical Daily Spend	Budget Control
PRAutoBlogger	Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite (analysis + editing), Claude Sonnet 4 (writing)	$0.05–$0.30 depending on article count	Hard-stop monthly budget in plugin settings
Peptide News	Google Gemini 2.0 Flash (keywords + summaries)	$0.01–$0.05	No hard budget yet (planned)

Important: If your OpenRouter account has a global spending limit, set each plugin's budget to less than half the total. PRAutoBlogger will hard-stop when its budget is exhausted, but Peptide News currently has no budget enforcement — a spike in news fetches could consume shared quota.

Future improvement: A shared wp_options key (e.g., ecosystem_monthly_llm_budget) that both plugins read, with each plugin reserving its allocation on startup. This requires coordination at the ecosystem level and is tracked as a medium-term goal.