Content Machine

Content Machine is a self-hosted, multi-workspace dashboard and API for capturing ideas and managing posts and videos. It publishes through PostSyncer. It also has Telegram capture, AI-assisted triage, Google Drive access, and a presentation player for video decks.

What runs here

• Laravel 13 app with a workspace-scoped dashboard and token-authenticated /api/v1 endpoints.
• Scratch Pad capture from the dashboard and Telegram. Link resolution and voice transcription run in the queue.
• Ideas, posts, and videos stored in PostgreSQL. Posts and videos can be scheduled or published through workspace-configured PostSyncer accounts.
• Queued publishing with checkpoints and explicit recovery for uncertain PostSyncer operations.
• Google Drive integration for video exports and a presentation player for video decks.

See the architecture overview, the API guide, and the PostSyncer guide.

Setup and usage

Follow these steps to go from a fresh checkout to your first published post. The dashboard works without external integrations; AI generation, Telegram, Google Drive, and publishing each need their own configuration.

1. Install and start locally

You need PHP 8.3+ with pdo_pgsql, intl, zip, bcmath, and gd, Composer, Node.js, npm, and PostgreSQL. The current Pest 5 test suite needs PHP 8.4. CI uses PostgreSQL 17 and Node 26.

From the project directory:

# Fresh installations only: keep your existing .env if you already have one.
cp .env.example .env

Create a PostgreSQL database and database user, then edit .env to match them:

APP_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000
DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=5432
DB_DATABASE=content_machine
DB_USERNAME=your_database_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database

Then initialize the application:

composer run setup
composer run dev

composer run setup installs PHP and Node dependencies from their lockfiles, creates .env if missing, generates APP_KEY only when missing, runs migrations, creates ADMIN_EMAIL if configured, and builds the frontend. Existing encrypted integration credentials depend on preserving the same application key. Open the URL printed by Laravel, usually http://127.0.0.1:8000, and keep the development process running. See local development for more details.

2. Create your first account

Choose one of these methods. Both create an account with its own team and default workspace, which the dashboard requires.

Register in the browser: leave DISABLE_REGISTRATION=false in .env, open /register, and create your account. Successful registration takes you to /dashboard.

Create an owner account from the terminal: add these values to .env:

ADMIN_EMAIL=you@example.com
ADMIN_NAME="Your Name"

In a separate terminal, from the project directory, run:

php artisan config:clear
php artisan cm:ensure-admin

The command prints a generated password once. Sign in at /login, open /dashboard, then change the password under account security. The account owns its team; there is no separate global admin flag to enable.

If the command says the account already exists, it leaves that account unchanged. It does not reset its password or repair its workspace.

After creating your account, you can close public registration:

DISABLE_REGISTRATION=true

Run php artisan config:clear after changing that setting.

Do not use php artisan db:seed as the first-account setup. The current seeder creates test@example.com without a team or workspace, which causes a dashboard 404. See recovering an account with no workspace if you already used that account.

3. Start development services

composer run dev starts the Laravel server, Vite, logs when supported, the default queue worker, the scratchpad worker, the PostSyncer worker, and the scheduler together. Keep it running while using the app; no extra worker terminals are needed for local development. Restart it after changing worker code or configuration.

The scratchpad worker handles Telegram media, transcription, and AI post generation. The PostSyncer worker handles post and video publishing. The scheduler recovers pending work and refreshes published status. The database queue is enough to start; Redis is not required.

For production, use the separate supervised processes in the production setup guide, rather than the development server.

4. Configure integrations

Integration settings belong to the current workspace. Configure them while signed in as its owner.

AI providers support OpenAI and Anthropic request formats, including compatible custom base URLs. Voice transcription additionally needs a compatible /audio/transcriptions endpoint; a text or vision model alone is insufficient.

Telegram needs a publicly reachable HTTPS webhook. A bot cannot deliver updates to 127.0.0.1; for local testing, expose the app through an HTTPS tunnel and set APP_URL to that public URL before connecting the bot. PostSyncer also needs to fetch the app's signed attachment URLs, so local uploaded-media publishing needs public reachability too. Clear cached configuration after changing APP_URL.

See the Telegram guide and PostSyncer/Google Drive guide for detailed setup.

5. Generate and publish your first post

With an AI model, linked Telegram account, and PostSyncer configured, send this to your bot:

/post English: Our website maintenance service includes weekly backups, security updates, and monthly reports.

The bot saves the source, generates a draft with Facebook and Instagram captions, and sends a preview. Review the draft in Content Machine and edit its content or captions before approving it. Use the actual ID from the preview:

/approve P-123

To publish immediately:

/post_now P-123

To schedule, use a future date and time in the workspace timezone instead:

/schedule P-123 YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM

Replace the date/time placeholders with actual values. Scheduling defaults to Asia/Dhaka for a workspace using the default timezone. Generation never publishes automatically; generated drafts require approval first.

For photo-based content, send /post, then a photo, or put /post at the start of the photo caption. For spoken content, send /post, then a voice note or audio file. Request English or Bangla explicitly; configured language workspaces can also drive bilingual generation. Use /cancel to cancel an active request.

You can also open the post in the dashboard and select Schedule or Publish now. Available platforms depend on the post's platforms, active PostSyncer accounts, and post-type rules. Instagram needs suitable media; text-only publishing is available only where the configured platform rules allow it. Every caption language needs its own configured PostSyncer workspace.

6. Work through the dashboard or publish videos

The dashboard workflow is Scratch Pad > post/video idea > draft > ready > scheduled > posted/published. Capture a note or link in Scratch Pad, optionally use Suggest with AI, file it as an idea, and promote the idea to a draft. Promotion copies the idea's title and body into a draft shell; it does not write a complete AI post. Use Telegram /post for built-in draft generation, or write content yourself and edit it in the dashboard.

For videos, use Content Machine to manage ideas, scripts, series, presentation decks, and captions. Record and edit the final video with your production tools, then upload it to Google Drive. On the video page, set Video Drive URL and optionally Cover Drive URL, select platforms, and schedule or publish. These must be public file links, not private files or folders. The Drive picker can grant Anyone-with-the-link access when selecting publishing media. Content Machine does not generate a finished video file from a prompt.

7. Connect external tools

Open Team > API access, create a workspace token with the abilities your client needs, and save the token when shown. Use it as a bearer token for the REST API at /api/v1 or the Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint at /mcp.

The REST API can create and update content, attach media, approve posts, and queue publishing. MCP tools can capture notes, triage ideas, update existing posts/videos, and publish them. An external writing tool can generate content and save drafts through the REST API for review. See the API guide for endpoints, permissions, and client setup. For API/MCP publishing, omitting when means publish immediately; always pass when when scheduling.

Troubleshooting

Production setup

Configure the production environment and database first, then run composer run setup:production. This installs PHP dependencies without dev packages, requires an existing APP_KEY, builds the frontend, runs the existing cm:deploy deployment steps, and caches the application. It preserves the application key and creates ADMIN_EMAIL only when that account does not exist.

Use PHP-FPM with a web server and supervise the queue workers and scheduler. See production setup for the environment, first key, process commands, uploads, and repeat deployments. The existing Railway configuration continues to use its Docker build and cm:deploy hook.

Composer commands

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for project conventions and checks. CI runs PHP tests against PostgreSQL 17. See local setup before running tests locally.

Security

See SECURITY.md for how to report a vulnerability.

License

MIT