Why I Built an AI Assistant Just to Manage My Dev.to Drafts
Source: Dev.to
“The number one reason people don’t finish technical blog posts is not lack of knowledge – it’s formatting fatigue.”
For over a year I accumulated about 20 unfinished drafts in my Dev.to dashboard. I had plenty of ideas—my notebooks are full of technical rants and tutorials—but the constant need to tweak frontmatter, tables, and code blocks broke my writing flow.
Why technical bloggers abandon drafts
- Formatting overhead – aligning tables, fixing nested lists, and adding proper code language identifiers take time away from the actual content.
- Repetitive metadata – every new draft requires the same YAML frontmatter, which is easy to forget or get wrong, hurting SEO and discoverability.
- Cross‑platform inconsistencies – Dev.to, Hashnode, and Medium each have their own quirks, forcing manual copy‑pasting and constant adjustments.
“I once spent 2 hours perfecting a code block only to break it in the preview pane.”
How Mrakdon automates YAML frontmatter and markdown formatting
Mrakdon is an AI‑powered assistant that takes a raw, messy draft and returns a clean, publish‑ready Markdown file.
Core capabilities
- Markdown AST parsing – detects code blocks, normalizes tables, validates YAML structure.
- Platform‑specific adapters – handle Dev.to tags, Medium’s code‑block limitations, and Hashnode’s frontmatter requirements.
- AI suggestions – title optimization, SEO metadata generation, automatic code‑language detection.
Example of generated frontmatter
title: "My Technical Tutorial"
author: Mrakdon
description: "A deep dive into..."
tags: [tag1, tag2]The 3‑step workflow
- Dump raw notes into the editor (plain text, bullet points, code snippets).
- Mrakdon analyzes the draft, automatically:
- Identifying and tagging code blocks
- Structuring the content hierarchy
- Creating the required YAML frontmatter
- Refine via the sidebar chat – ask Mrakdon to tweak wording, adjust tables, or change metadata while it takes care of the technical formatting.
Publishing integration for Dev.to, Hashnode, and Medium
- Simultaneous publishing – one click sends the formatted post to all selected platforms.
- Authentication token management – securely stores and uses your API keys.
- Real‑time preview validation – catches rendering issues before they go live.
- Error reporting – detailed logs for any failed publish attempts.
Results after 3 months
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Drafts completed | 0 | 12 |
| Time per post | 4 h | 45 m |
| Cross‑platform posts | 0 | 8 |
| SEO score | 58 | 82 |
The most surprising benefit was improved content quality. With formatting distractions removed, I could focus on clear explanations and value delivery.
“Tools like Mrakdon don’t replace writers – they amplify our best work.”
Call for beta testers
If you regularly write technical content and publish on Dev.to, Hashnode, or Medium, I’d love your feedback. We’re looking for beta testers who:
- Write technical articles frequently
- Want to streamline their publishing workflow
- Are interested in AI‑assisted formatting and SEO optimization
Visit Mrakdon.com to generate your first deploy‑ready Markdown file and join the beta.