How to Integrate the Article Draft API

"How do I integrate the article draft API?"

Most teams ask this right after they get Markdown-to-WeChat conversion working. The next goal is not just formatting content. It is pushing the result into the WeChat draft box.

What problem it solves

The article draft API takes formatted content and moves it one step closer to publication.

Without it, a common process is:

1. Convert Markdown into WeChat HTML
2. Open the WeChat backend
3. Paste the content
4. Set the cover image
5. Save the draft manually

With a draft API, that process gets much shorter.

The endpoint in the current examples

The current example endpoint is:

POST /api/v1/article-draft

Required authentication headers are:

• Wechat-Appid
• Wechat-App-Secret
• Md2wechat-API-Key

That means the integration combines two permission layers:

• WeChat credentials
• your md2wechat service credential

What the minimum request body looks like

The current example body is shaped like this:

{
  "markdown": "# Title\n\nBody",
  "theme": "default",
  "fontSize": "medium",
  "convertVersion": "v1",
  "coverImageUrl": "https://example.com/cover.jpg"
}

The important part is not the exact sample. It is the structure:

• Markdown content
• a theme
• a font size
• a conversion version
• a cover image URL

The safest integration order

The safer rollout is usually not "start with drafts immediately."
A better order is:

1. Confirm conversion works by itself
2. Confirm the WeChat credentials are valid
3. Confirm the service API key is valid
4. Add the article draft call last

This order makes debugging faster because each layer can fail independently.

Who should use this API

The article draft API is a good fit when:

• the account publishes frequently
• content already starts as Markdown
• the team wants fewer manual backend steps
• automation needs to move content into a review-ready state

If publishing is infrequent, conversion may still be enough.
If the workflow is already structured, draft creation becomes much more useful.

How it differs from newspic drafts

Article drafts are better for:

• long-form Markdown
• theme-based formatting
• cover image handling
• full article structure

Newspic drafts are better for lighter, image-first content.

Closing thought

The hard part of the article draft API is not the endpoint itself. It is understanding its place in the workflow.

Conversion gets the content into WeChat format.
Draft creation gets the content into the draft box.