BlogHelper9000

A CLI + TUI toolkit + MCP server for Jekyll blogging with an embedded Neovim editor

BlogHelper9000 is a .NET toolset for managing Jekyll blog posts. It ships as three executables: a CLI tool (bloghelper) for scripting and quick operations, a TUI workspace with an embedded Neovim editor for an integrated writing experience, and an MCP server (bloghelper-mcp) that exposes blog management capabilities to AI agents (like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and VS Code) — all from your terminal.

Features

CLI tool — Create posts & drafts, publish drafts, inspect blog stats, and batch-fix YAML front matter
TUI workspace — Full terminal UI with file browser, command palette, and embedded Neovim editor
MCP server — Expose blog management tools to AI agents via the Model Context Protocol (stdio transport)
Embedded Neovim — Real Neovim running headless via MsgPack-RPC, rendered as a Terminal.Gui view with full mode/cursor support
Featured image generation — Search Unsplash, download images, and generate branded featured images with ImageSharp
YAML front matter management — Parse, serialise, and bulk-fix front matter (published status, descriptions, tags)
Safe mode — Run the TUI with --no-nvim for a plain-text editor fallback when Neovim isn't available

Installation

As a .NET global tool

dotnet tool install --global BlogHelper9000

Once installed, the bloghelper command is available globally.

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/sgrassie/BlogHelper9000.git
cd BlogHelper9000
./build.sh

Quick Start

All CLI commands operate on a Jekyll blog directory. Pass --base-directory to point at your blog root, or configure it in bloghelper9000.json.

Get blog info

bloghelper info --base-directory /path/to/blog

Shows total post count, drafts, days since last post, and recent posts.

Create a new draft

bloghelper add "My New Post" --base-directory /path/to/blog --is-draft

Create a published post

bloghelper add "My New Post" --base-directory /path/to/blog

Publish a draft

bloghelper publish "my-draft-post" --base-directory /path/to/blog

Moves the draft from _drafts/ into _posts/<year>/, sets the published date, and updates the YAML front matter.

Fix metadata across all posts

# Fix published status (extract dates from filenames)
bloghelper fix --base-directory /path/to/blog --status

# Migrate legacy descriptions
bloghelper fix --base-directory /path/to/blog --description

# Normalize and de-duplicate tags
bloghelper fix --base-directory /path/to/blog --tags

Add a featured image from Unsplash

bloghelper add-image "my-post" --image-query "mountains" --base-directory /path/to/blog

Configure Unsplash credentials

bloghelper unsplash-credentials --access-key YOUR_KEY --secret-key YOUR_SECRET

Credentials are stored in ~/Documents/bloghelper9000.json.

TUI Workspace

The TUI provides a full terminal workspace for writing and managing blog posts. It uses Terminal.Gui v2 and embeds a real Neovim instance for editing.

Launch

dotnet run --project BlogHelper9000.Tui -- --base-directory /path/to/blog

Launch without Neovim (safe mode)

dotnet run --project BlogHelper9000.Tui -- --no-nvim --base-directory /path/to/blog

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+B`	Toggle file browser
`Ctrl+P`	Open command palette
`Ctrl+Q`	Quit

Command Palette

Press Ctrl+P to open the command palette. It provides filtered access to blog operations:

Command	Description
New Draft	Create a new draft post
New Post	Create a new published post
Publish Draft	Publish an existing draft
Blog Info	Show blog statistics
Fix Metadata: Status	Fix published status on all posts
Fix Metadata: Description	Migrate legacy descriptions
Fix Metadata: Tags	Fix and normalize tags

MCP Server

The MCP server exposes BlogHelper9000's blog management capabilities to AI agents via the Model Context Protocol. This allows AI assistants like Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, and VS Code to directly manage your Jekyll blog posts.

Available MCP Tools

Tool Name	Description
`add_post`	Create a new blog post or draft with title and metadata
`publish_post`	Publish a draft from `_drafts/` to `_posts/` with date prefix
`get_blog_info`	Get blog statistics (post count, drafts, recent posts, days since last post)
`list_drafts`	List all draft blog posts in the `_drafts/` directory
`fix_metadata`	Batch-fix YAML front matter (published status, descriptions, tags)
`add_featured_image`	Generate and apply a featured image from Unsplash with title overlay

Installation

Install as a .NET global tool:

dotnet tool install --global BlogHelper9000.Mcp

Or run directly from source:

dotnet run --project BlogHelper9000.Mcp

Configuration

The MCP server reads the blog base directory from:

BLOG_BASE_DIRECTORY environment variable
First positional argument
Current working directory (fallback)

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bloghelper9000": {
      "command": "bloghelper-mcp",
      "args": ["/path/to/your/jekyll/blog"]
    }
  }
}

Or use the environment variable approach:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bloghelper9000": {
      "command": "bloghelper-mcp",
      "env": {
        "BLOG_BASE_DIRECTORY": "/path/to/your/jekyll/blog"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Copilot

Add to your workspace or user settings (.vscode/settings.json):

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "bloghelper9000": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["run", "--project", "/path/to/BlogHelper9000.Mcp"],
      "env": {
        "BLOG_BASE_DIRECTORY": "/path/to/your/jekyll/blog"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example Usage

Once configured, you can ask your AI assistant to:

"Create a new draft post titled 'Understanding MCP'"
"List all my draft posts"
"Show me blog statistics"
"Publish the draft 'understanding-mcp'"
"Add a featured image about 'programming' to my latest post"

The AI will use the appropriate MCP tool to execute your request.

Solution Architecture

BlogHelper9000.sln
├── BlogHelper9000.Core/           Core domain logic
├── BlogHelper9000.Imaging/        Image processing
├── BlogHelper9000/                CLI executable
├── BlogHelper9000.Mcp/            MCP server executable
├── BlogHelper9000.Nvim/           Neovim client
├── BlogHelper9000.Tui/            TUI executable
├── BlogHelper9000.Tests/          CLI tests
├── BlogHelper9000.Mcp.Tests/      MCP server tests
├── BlogHelper9000.Nvim.Tests/     Neovim tests
├── BlogHelper9000.Tui.Tests/      TUI tests
└── BlogHelper9000.TestHelpers/    Shared test infra

Project	Type	Description
BlogHelper9000.Core	classlib	Domain logic — `PostManager`, `MarkdownHandler`, `YamlConvert`, `BlogService`. No UI dependencies.
BlogHelper9000.Imaging	classlib	Featured image generation — `ImageProcessor`, `UnsplashClient`, `FontManager`. Uses SixLabors.ImageSharp.
BlogHelper9000	exe	CLI tool using TimeWarp.Nuru mediator pattern. Packaged as a `dotnet tool`.
BlogHelper9000.Mcp	exe	MCP server exposing blog management tools via stdio transport for AI agents (Claude, VS Code, etc.). Packaged as a `dotnet tool`.
BlogHelper9000.Nvim	classlib	Embedded Neovim client. `NvimProcess` manages `nvim --embed --headless`. `MsgPackRpcClient` handles MsgPack-RPC framing. `NvimGrid` maintains a 2D screen buffer.
BlogHelper9000.Tui	exe	Terminal.Gui v2 workspace. `NvimEditorView` renders the Neovim grid. `CommandPalette` exposes blog operations. `KeyTranslator` maps Terminal.Gui keys to Neovim notation.
BlogHelper9000.Tests	test	xUnit tests for CLI commands
BlogHelper9000.Mcp.Tests	test	xUnit tests for MCP server tools
BlogHelper9000.Nvim.Tests	test	Tests for grid operations, MsgPack serialization, and UI event parsing (no nvim required)
BlogHelper9000.Tui.Tests	test	Tests for TUI workspace components
BlogHelper9000.TestHelpers	classlib	`JekyllBlogFilesystemBuilder` and shared test infrastructure using `MockFileSystem`

Tech Stack

Dependency	Version	Purpose
.NET	10.0	Runtime & SDK
C#	latest	Language version with nullable reference types
Terminal.Gui	2.0.0-develop.5027	TUI framework (v2 develop track)
MessagePack	v3	MsgPack-RPC serialization for Neovim communication
SixLabors.ImageSharp	3.1.12	Image processing & featured image generation
SixLabors.Fonts	2.1.3	Font rendering for image overlays (bundled Ubuntu fonts)
TimeWarp.Nuru	2.1.0-beta.32	Mediator pattern for CLI command routing
Spectre.Console	0.54.0	CLI console output formatting
MinVer	7.0.0	Git-based semantic versioning
Cake Build	—	Build orchestration
xUnit v3	—	Test framework
FluentAssertions	—	Test assertion library
NSubstitute	—	Mocking framework
System.IO.Abstractions	22.1.0	File system abstraction for testability

Building & Testing

BlogHelper9000 uses Cake for build orchestration.

# Build
./build.sh

# Build and run tests
./build.sh --target=tests

# Build, test, and pack as NuGet tool
./build.sh --target=pack --configuration=release

# Run all tests directly
dotnet test BlogHelper9000.sln

# Run specific test projects
dotnet test BlogHelper9000.Tests/BlogHelper9000.Tests.csproj
dotnet test BlogHelper9000.Nvim.Tests/BlogHelper9000.Nvim.Tests.csproj

# Run a single test by name
dotnet test BlogHelper9000.Tests/BlogHelper9000.Tests.csproj --filter "FullyQualifiedName~YamlConvertTests.Can_Serialise"

Configuration

Unsplash API Credentials

To use featured image generation, configure your Unsplash API credentials:

bloghelper unsplash-credentials --access-key YOUR_ACCESS_KEY --secret-key YOUR_SECRET_KEY

This stores credentials in ~/Documents/bloghelper9000.json.

Base Directory

All commands accept --base-directory to specify the Jekyll blog root directory. This should point to the directory containing your _posts/ and _drafts/ folders.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

See the original blog post: Automating Jekyll with .NET

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 340 Commits
.config		.config
.github		.github
.vscode		.vscode
BlogHelper9000.Core		BlogHelper9000.Core
BlogHelper9000.Imaging		BlogHelper9000.Imaging
BlogHelper9000.Mcp.Tests		BlogHelper9000.Mcp.Tests
BlogHelper9000.Mcp		BlogHelper9000.Mcp
BlogHelper9000.Nvim.Tests		BlogHelper9000.Nvim.Tests
BlogHelper9000.Nvim		BlogHelper9000.Nvim
BlogHelper9000.TestHelpers		BlogHelper9000.TestHelpers
BlogHelper9000.Tests		BlogHelper9000.Tests
BlogHelper9000.Tui.Tests		BlogHelper9000.Tui.Tests
BlogHelper9000.Tui		BlogHelper9000.Tui
BlogHelper9000		BlogHelper9000
build		build
.gitignore		.gitignore
BlogHelper9000.sln		BlogHelper9000.sln
BlogHelper9000.sln.DotSettings.user		BlogHelper9000.sln.DotSettings.user
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
LICENSE.txt		LICENSE.txt
README.md		README.md
build.cake		build.cake
build.sh		build.sh
global.json		global.json

License

sgrassie/BlogHelper9000

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BlogHelper9000

Features

Installation

As a .NET global tool

Building from source

Quick Start

Get blog info

Create a new draft

Create a published post

Publish a draft

Fix metadata across all posts

Add a featured image from Unsplash

Configure Unsplash credentials

TUI Workspace

Launch

Launch without Neovim (safe mode)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Command Palette

MCP Server

Available MCP Tools

Installation

Configuration

Claude Desktop

VS Code / Copilot

Example Usage

Solution Architecture

Tech Stack

Building & Testing

Configuration

Unsplash API Credentials

Base Directory

License

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