2026-07-08
📰 Using Umbraco.Automate to populate content from an API
Owain.Codes discusses how to automatically populate Umbraco content using Umbraco.Automate, illustrated with a Pokémon blog example. By leveraging the PokéAPI, the process involves triggering content updates upon publication, making HTTP requests, and updating content properties with data from the API, demonstrated in a video on his YouTube channel.
2026-07-01
📰 OC.Automate Update
OC.Automate.LinkedIn has officially left beta, allowing users to post directly from Umbraco to LinkedIn after configuring an API account. Additionally, all three OC.Automate packages—LinkedIn, BlueSky, and Mastodon—are now fully compatible with Umbraco 17 and 18, available on the Umbraco Marketplace or via Nuget.
📰 Umbraco Automate
Umbraco Automate is an open-source event-driven automation engine integrated into the Umbraco backoffice, allowing users to create workflows without external platforms. Owain Williams shares his experience building social media automation workflows, highlighting a no-code approach to avoid duplicate posts. The tool offers flexibility and potential for further development.
📰 Umbraco Automate Workflows
Umbraco Automate, an open-source event-driven automation engine from Umbraco HQ, allows users to create workflows within the backoffice without external tools. Owain Williams shares his experience building connections for social media automation, highlighting a no-code approach to prevent duplicate posts by using a toggle property for content publishing.
2026-06-24
📰 It's Coffee Time!
In "My Coffee Machine Writes My Blog Now," Owain Williams details a project where a Raspberry Pi and a smart plug automate blog updates based on coffee brewing. The setup involves monitoring power consumption to detect brewing activity, posting updates to Umbraco, and sharing on social media. The project highlights technical challenges and learning experiences, emphasizing the joy of creating for fun.
📰 Codegarden 2026 recap
In Codegarden 2026, held in Copenhagen, Owain Williams reflects on a week filled with engaging talks, community interactions, and enjoyable activities like morning runs and a lively party. The venue and sessions were exceptional, making it a memorable experience. Ultimately, the connections with fellow attendees stood out as the highlight.
2026-06-17
📰 OC.Automate.Mastodon released
At the Umbraco MVP Summit and Codegarden, Umbraco HQ introduced Umbraco.Automate, an event-driven automation engine. Inspired by its capabilities, Owain.Codes developed OC.Automate.Mastodon, a third-party package enabling automated blog sharing to Mastodon. The open-source project aims to expand with more connections, enhancing user workflows in Umbraco.
2026-06-03
📰 Speed up slow deployments to Umbraco Cloud
Owain.Codes shares a solution to speed up Umbraco Cloud deployments, which were taking 20 minutes. By pushing changes to a private GitHub repository and adjusting the project file to set CompressionEnabled to false, deployment times improved to 6 minutes. He advises against pushing directly to Cloud.
📰 Fixing the sort order in Content Pickers in Umbraco
After upgrading to Umbraco 17, Owain.Codes encountered an issue where the content picker no longer displayed recently published news articles at the top. He developed a notification handler to sort articles by their "News Date" upon publication, enhancing user experience in the content picker while addressing pagination concerns.
📰 Codegarden 2026 - not long now!
Owain.Codes expresses excitement for Codegarden 2026 in Copenhagen, where he will speak about the Management API with Umbraco CMS. He highlights the MVP Summit, the change in venue, and the importance of pacing during the event. Owain invites attendees to connect and join morning runs, fostering community engagement.
2026-05-20
2026-05-13
2026-05-06
📰 A weekend without internet access
Owain.Codes reflects on a recent Bank Holiday trip to Dundee, where limited internet access prompted a return to offline coding. He emphasizes the joy of problem-solving without AI assistance, advocating for unplugged time to rediscover personal creativity in programming. Owain encourages readers to experience a no-internet day for similar insights.
📰 The Silent Developer
Owain.Codes discusses the challenges of remote work for developers, particularly the loss of informal knowledge transfer that occurs in an office setting. He highlights the risks for junior developers relying on AI for coding without guidance from experienced colleagues, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking and community engagement to foster learning and growth.
2026-04-22
📰 OC.PowerSort 1.2.0
OC.PowerSort 17.2.0, released in April 2026, introduces recurring schedules for automated content sorting in Umbraco, enhancing efficiency and reducing manual tasks. This version supports various recurrence patterns, smart occurrence management, and maintains backward compatibility with previous versions. It aims to streamline content management workflows for diverse use cases.