Improving my Beehiiv Search Experience

I said goodbye to the frustrations of Beehiiv’s built-in search and now enjoy a much more efficient and user-friendly experience.

We all have our favorite digital tools and services that we rely on for work or personal use. While these tools are designed to cater to a wide range of users, they may not always provide the level of customization or functionality that we desire. This is often the case with search functionality, which can be frustratingly limited or inefficient in many applications.

Take Beehiiv, for example, a popular newsletter publishing platform, and my platform of choice. While Beehiiv offers a great set of features for writing and publishing content, its built-in search functionality leaves much to be desired for me. Finding a specific post is a tedious task, especially if you have a large archive of content.

Fortunately, in the world of software and APIs, there’s often a way to customize and improve the tools we use. In this post, we’ll explore how to leverage the Beehiiv API and some simple scripts to supercharge the search functionality for your Beehiiv posts.

The first script, fetch_posts.sh, uses the Beehiiv API to retrieve all of your published posts and save them to a local JSON file. This file serves as the data source for the second script.

#!/bin/bash

# Check if required environment variables are set
if [ -z "$BEEHIIV_PUB_ID" ] || [ -z "$BEEHIIV_API_KEY" ]; then
  echo "Error: BEEHIIV_PUB_ID and BEEHIIV_API_KEY environment variables must be set."
  exit 1
fi

# ... (rest of the script)

The second script, manage_posts.sh, utilizes the fzf fuzzy finder tool to allow you to search through your posts by title. Once you’ve selected a post, the script prompts you to choose an action: edit the post, open its public URL, or copy the public URL to your clipboard for sharing.

#!/bin/bash

if ! [ -f posts.json ]; then
  echo "posts.json does not exist."
fi

# ... (rest of the script)

The lesson here is that you shouldn’t settle for subpar or lacking functionality in the tools you use regularly. With a little creativity and some coding skills, you can often find ways to enhance and personalize your digital experiences.

APIs, in particular, are a game-changer in this regard. By exposing programmatic access to their data and functionality, many services and applications allow developers and power users to build custom integrations and solutions. Whether it’s improving search, automating repetitive tasks, or combining data from multiple sources, APIs provide a wealth of opportunities for customization.

So, the next time you find yourself frustrated with a particular aspect of a digital tool or service, don’t just accept it as is. Explore the available APIs and see if you can create a custom solution that better fits your needs. With a little effort, you can transform your digital experiences and work more efficiently and effectively.