NCA Content Marketing

AI-powered content management system for creating articles with generated hero images. Customize prompts for any topic or industry.

What This Project Does

• Generate SEO-optimized articles from URLs or keywords using Google Gemini
• Create matching hero images with Google Imagen
• Edit and customize AI prompts via a web interface
• Publish articles instantly without rebuilding the site

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Google Cloud account with Gemini API access
• (Optional) Turso account for production database

Getting Started

1. Install Dependencies

npm install

2. Create Environment File

Create a .env file in the project root:

EDITOR_ADMIN="admin"
EDITOR_PASSWORD="admin"
GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY=your-gemini-api-key

3. Start Development Server

npm run dev

On first start, the database is automatically created and seeded with default content.

Open http://localhost:4321 to see the homepage.

Database & Seed Data

This project uses AstroDB (SQLite in development, Turso in production).

What Gets Seeded

When you first run npm run dev, the database is populated with default values. These are configured for web accessibility content but can be changed to any topic via the Settings tab:

Site Settings:

Key	Description
hero_kicker	Small text above the hero title
hero_title	Main hero headline
hero_title_accent	Highlighted part of title
hero_description	Hero subtitle text
cta_url	Link for call-to-action buttons
cta_style	Style guidelines for AI-generated CTAs
imprint_content	Full impressum page (Markdown)
core_tags	Default tags for all articles (JSON array)

AI Prompts:

ID	Purpose
system_prompt	Main instructions for article generation
cta_prompt	Instructions for generating article CTAs
source_analysis	How to analyze source URLs
keyword_research	How to research keywords
image_prompt	Style instructions for hero images
filename_prompt	How to name generated images
alt_text_template	Template for image alt text

Resetting the Database

Delete the .astro folder and restart the dev server:

rm -rf .astro
npm run dev

Using the Editor

Access the Editor

1. Go to http://localhost:4321/editor
2. Log in with your EDITOR_ADMIN and EDITOR_PASSWORD credentials

Generate Tab

1. Enter a URL (to analyze and create an article from existing content) OR enter keywords (to research and write a fresh article)
2. Click Generieren - this creates both text and hero image
3. Preview the generated content
4. Click Veröffentlichen to save the article

Settings Tab

Click the Einstellungen tab to customize:

AI Prompts - Edit the instructions that control AI generation:

• Change the writing style, tone, or requirements
• Modify image generation prompts
• Adjust CTA generation rules

Website Settings - Edit site content:

• Hero section text
• CTA links and styling
• Impressum content (Markdown supported)

Changes take effect immediately for new article generation.

Project Structure

├── db/
│   ├── config.ts          # Database schema
│   └── seed.ts            # Default data
├── src/
│   ├── components/
│   │   └── Editor.tsx     # Main editor with Settings tab
│   ├── domain/            # DDD entities and value objects
│   ├── pages/
│   │   ├── api/           # API endpoints
│   │   ├── editor.astro   # Editor page
│   │   └── index.astro    # Homepage
│   └── services/
│       ├── ArticleService.ts      # Runtime article loading
│       ├── ContentGenerator.ts    # AI text generation
│       ├── ImageGenerator.ts      # AI image generation
│       └── PromptService.ts       # Database prompts access
└── PROJECT.md             # Detailed project description

Commands

Command	Action
npm run dev	Start development server
npm run build	Build for production
npm test	Run tests
npx tsc --noEmit	Type check

Production Deployment

Environment Variables

EDITOR_ADMIN="your-secure-admin"
EDITOR_PASSWORD="your-secure-password"
GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY=your-gemini-api-key
ASTRO_DB_REMOTE_URL=libsql://your-db.turso.io
ASTRO_DB_APP_TOKEN=your-turso-token

GitLab CI/CD with Docker

Set variables in GitLab > Settings > CI/CD > Variables. The pipeline builds a Docker image and deploys to your server. Articles persist via volume mount.

# .gitlab-ci.yml uses these variables:
# EDITOR_ADMIN, EDITOR_PASSWORD, GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY
# ASTRO_DB_REMOTE_URL, ASTRO_DB_APP_TOKEN

Article Storage

Articles are stored in the filesystem, not the database:

src/content/articles/{YEAR}/{MONTH}/{SLUG}/
├── index.md      # Article content (Markdown + frontmatter)
└── hero.webp     # Generated hero image

This allows articles to appear immediately without rebuilding the site.

License

MIT - Never Code Alone