## Overview
Sometimes we want to quickly split content into chunks to share on Twitter. I'm going to show you how we can paritally automate this flow using Alfred, a bit of scripting and Typefully.

This automation uses Alfred to consume a markdown file and split it into Twitter sized chunks on your clipboard. You can then use this to insert into Typefully or your favourite Twitter thread creator.

## Step 1. Use Alfred to trigger the process
Create an Alfred workflow that takes in a markdown file and runs a script on it. The script should output the tweets to the clipboard. You can see my Alfred workflow and the script on [GitHub here](https://github.com/rymawby/tiny-automations-source/tree/main/content-to-tweets-converter). ![Alfred Workflow](https://ry.d.pr/7nXeLl.png)

The script should not only split the text into tweet sized chunks but also sanitise the data. My script is very simple it splits into tweet sized chunks and removes markdown image syntax but leaves the image link.

If you wanted to improve on this you could look into using Abstract Syntax Trees or even something like GPT-3.

## Step 2. Add the human touch
Paste into a text editor to view the tweets. I have mine separated by two new lines as the Typefully app uses this to denote a new tweet. You will want to modify and make it more suitable for the Twitter audience. ![Adding the human touch](https://ry.d.pr/iOnWyA.gif)

## Step 3. Paste into your thread maker
I currently use Typefully for my threads. It separates tweet by 2 carriage returns - but this split is triggered when you type the Threads in rather than simply pasting. I use a simple Keyboard Maestro command that types in my clipboard for me.
![Keyboard maestro shortcut for typing your clipboard](https://ry.d.pr/iLqC0r.png)

The script I'm using here is fairly simple but can be improved and iterated upon.

Use Alfred to split your content into Twitter friendly chunks.

Markdown file to Twitter thread using Alfred and Typefully

## Automation overview
We use Alfred to quickly get a tweet out using Make (note - we wrote this when Make was actually called Integromat so you may find a few references to Integromat rather than Make in the code samples). Using Make allows us not to have to use our own Twitter app and we do not need to go through the Twitter approval process.

## Automation flow diagram for tweeting from Alfred

![Automation flow diagram for tweeting from Alfred](https://mermaid.ink/svg/pako:eNpdkDFrw0AMhf_KoWJwIBnSDCkeCiGJp3ZpS4dyi-KTkyO-OyPLhGD833t2a0O7iPekTw-kDopgCDJIks56K1mnQS7kSEOm4YRNFEv12_tEtniqqIlDFcGarUO-70MVeOQftus8z48_Kw0VwZu_83z3tD9sNfR9nyTaa39mrC_q5W3QSg21EarX6a4qmcxiajymr3il2W7Sj5sVIV7821OrlSparlQRnENvon9WY8CcNCByIxJlfRlmYANLcMQOrYnf6MbU-RNRxkOuGrTvI9fWBoWOxkpgyEqsGloCthLe776ATLilCTpYjCe6marRf4Uw-f4bk4GA4Q)
```mermaidignore

graph LR

  

step1(Alfred)

step2(Make)

step3(Twitter)

  

step1 -- curl command --> step2

step2 -- tweet info --> step3

```

## Step 1: Alfred
### The trigger
Here we create a keyword trigger using the word "tweet" with the settings below. This will pass anything after the word tweet into our workflow where we are going to use a curl command that passes our tweet to a Make webhook.
![](https://ry.d.pr/sEnqoS.png)

### The curl command
We use a `POST` curl command that references the Make webhook we are going to create in step 2. We use a `run script` action in Alfred and the following curl command in the action.

```shell

curl --location --request POST 'https://hook.integromat.com/my-webhook-url' \

--header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \

--data-urlencode 'tweet={query}'

```
![](https://ry.d.pr/DK84tO.png)

## Step 2: Make
We create a new webhook trigger in our Make scenario. We copy the url address to our clipboard and add it to our curl command above in Alfred. This will allow Alfred to pass the tweet information to our Make webhook and trigger the scenario.
![](https://ry.d.pr/fa969q.png)

Click on `Re-determine data structure` .
![](https://ry.d.pr/jVQc0C.png)

While the little `Stop` icon has a spinner running next to it test your tweet from Alfred.
![](https://ry.d.pr/baD5UO.png)

You should see `Succesfully determined` in green.
![](https://ry.d.pr/6FUE4N.png)

Next add your Twitter module and with the `Status` containing your tweet determined via the curl command.
![](https://ry.d.pr/ndpOXq.png)

Finally save and turn on your scenario and run immediately
![](https://ry.d.pr/O2UZyf.png)

You can now tweet directly from Alfred

Always wanted to tweet from Alfred? We show you how.

Learn how to automate with Twitter