Data Machine Socials

Social media publishing extension for Data Machine. Enables automated publishing to Twitter/X, Facebook Pages, Bluesky, Threads, and Pinterest.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.9+
• PHP 8.2+
• Data Machine core plugin (required)

Installation

1. Install and activate the Data Machine core plugin
2. Install this plugin in your WordPress plugins directory
3. Activate Data Machine Socials
4. Configure authentication for each platform in Data Machine settings

Supported Platforms

Platform	Auth Type	Character Limit	Media Support
Twitter/X	OAuth 1.0a	280 chars	Images
Facebook Pages	OAuth 2.0	No limit	Images
Bluesky	App Password	300 chars	Images
Threads	OAuth 2.0	500 chars	Images
Pinterest	Bearer Token	N/A (pins)	Images required

Configuration

Each platform requires authentication setup:

1. Go to Data Machine → Settings → Authentication
2. Select the platform you want to configure
3. Follow the OAuth flow or enter credentials
4. Save and verify connection

Platform-Specific Setup

Twitter/X:

• Requires Twitter Developer account
• Create an app at developer.twitter.com
• Enter API Key and API Secret in settings
• Complete OAuth authorization

Facebook:

• Requires Facebook App with Pages permissions
• Needs pages_manage_posts, pages_manage_engagement scopes
• Authorize your Facebook account
• Select which Page to publish to

Bluesky:

• Generate an App Password in Bluesky settings
• Enter your handle and app password
• No OAuth flow required

Threads:

• Requires Meta app registration
• OAuth 2.0 authentication
• threads_basic and threads_content_publish scopes

Pinterest:

• Requires Pinterest Developer account
• Generate an access token
• Configure default board or use category mapping

Usage in Pipelines

Once authenticated, social handlers appear in the Data Machine Pipeline Builder:

1. Create or edit a Pipeline
2. Add a "Publish" step
3. Select the social platform handler
4. Configure handler settings:
   • Include Images: Enable/disable image uploads
   • Link Handling: How to handle source URLs (append, reply, comment, none)
5. Save and run your flow

AI Tool Integration

Social handlers register AI tools that can be used in Data Machine Chat:

• twitter_publish - Post to Twitter with media support
• facebook_publish - Post to Facebook Pages
• bluesky_publish - Post to Bluesky
• threads_publish - Post to Threads
• pinterest_publish - Create Pinterest pins

Architecture

This plugin follows the Data Machine extension pattern:

• Namespace: DataMachineSocials\Handlers\{Platform}
• Registration: Handlers self-register via HandlerRegistrationTrait
• Discovery: Core HandlerAbilities discovers handlers via WordPress filters
• Auth: Core AuthAbilities manages OAuth flows and token storage

Handler API

Each handler registers itself via HandlerRegistrationTrait::registerHandler() with a meta config array (the trailing array(...) argument). The shape exposed to clients via GET /datamachine/v1/socials/platforms is:

array(
    'charLimit'          => 280,                 // optional int
    'maxImages'          => 4,                   // optional int
    'aspectRatios'       => array( 'any' ),      // optional string[]
    'defaultAspectRatio' => 'any',               // optional string
    'supportsCarousel'   => false,               // optional bool
    'supportsVideo'      => true,                // optional bool
    'capabilities'       => array(               // optional, canonicalised server-side
        array( 'slug' => 'publish', 'label' => 'Publish' ),
    ),
    'preview'            => array(               // optional — see "Preview shape" below
        'aspectRatio'     => '16:9',
        'captionPosition' => 'above',
        'previewSurface'  => 'feed',
    ),
)

Preview shape

The preview field declares how clients should render a post preview for the platform. It exists so consumers (e.g. the Studio publish pane) can render platform-canonical previews without any per-platform branching — the client renders whatever shape the server declares.

Field	Values	Meaning
aspectRatio	1:1, 4:5, 16:9, native	How images are framed in the preview
captionPosition	above, below, overlay	Where the caption renders relative to media
previewSurface	card, feed, square	Visual chrome around the preview

Per-platform defaults declared in this plugin:

Platform	aspectRatio	captionPosition	previewSurface
Twitter / X	16:9	above	feed
Bluesky	16:9	above	feed
Threads	native	below	feed
Instagram	1:1	below	square
Facebook	native	above	card
LinkedIn	native	above	card
Pinterest	4:5	below	square
Reddit	native	above	card

Backwards compatibility. preview is optional. Handlers that don't declare it (or older DM-Socials installs running against newer clients) get a generic feed-shaped default applied server-side:

array(
    'aspectRatio'     => 'native',
    'captionPosition' => 'above',
    'previewSurface'  => 'feed',
)

The field is always present on the response — clients never have to default it.

File Structure

data-machine-socials/
├── data-machine-socials.php          # Plugin entry point
├── composer.json                      # Dependencies (twitteroauth)
├── inc/
│   └── Handlers/
│       ├── Twitter/
│       │   ├── Twitter.php           # Handler implementation
│       │   ├── TwitterAuth.php       # OAuth 1.0a auth
│       │   └── TwitterSettings.php   # Handler settings
│       ├── Facebook/
│       │   ├── Facebook.php
│       │   ├── FacebookAuth.php      # OAuth 2.0 auth
│       │   └── FacebookSettings.php
│       ├── Bluesky/
│       │   ├── Bluesky.php
│       │   └── BlueskyAuth.php       # App password auth
│       ├── Threads/
│       │   ├── Threads.php
│       │   ├── ThreadsAuth.php       # OAuth 2.0 auth
│       │   └── ThreadsSettings.php
│       └── Pinterest/
│           ├── Pinterest.php
│           ├── PinterestAuth.php     # Bearer token auth
│           └── PinterestSettings.php
└── docs/
    └── handlers/
        ├── twitter.md
        ├── facebook.md
        ├── bluesky.md
        ├── threads.md
        └── pinterest.md

Dependencies

• abraham/twitteroauth - Twitter OAuth 1.0a client
• Data Machine core plugin - Provides base classes and abilities

Development

Setup

cd data-machine-socials
composer install

Coding Standards

This plugin follows WordPress coding standards and the Data Machine style guide:

• PSR-4 autoloading
• WordPress 6.9+ compatibility
• PHP 8.2+ features
• Proper namespacing and abstraction

License

GPL v2 or later - See LICENSE

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: Data Machine Docs
• Author: Chris Huber (chubes.net)