I use Google’s Blogger as a backup for my main blog. I’ve had that Blogger account for over 20 years, and since it’s free and supports custom domains, I figured — why not use it for archival purposes?

I used to rely on IFTTT to automate this. When I posted something on my main blog, it would trigger a webhook that sent the post to Blogger via IFTTT. It worked — most of the time. But lately, IFTTT has become unreliable. Since they use a shared API for Blogger across all users, even my modest 3 or 4 posts a day would sometimes fail to go through due to quota limits.

So, I decided to take control.

I set up a self-hosted automation workflow on my Raspberry Pi to do exactly what IFTTT used to do — but using my own system. It works like a charm.

Here’s the twist: in Google’s eyes, to make this work, I had to create an “app” — just to post to my own blog. That was fine, except that in "testing" mode, Google only issues OAuth tokens that last 7 days. After that, you have to manually reconnect. And of course, this always seemed to expire at the worst possible time.

With the help of my AI assistant ChatGPT, I figured out how to take the final step: officially publish my private app to Google’s OAuth system. That removed the 7-day token limit and made my automation stable and reliable — just like it should have been in the first place.

Honestly, this whole process made me realize just how neglected Blogger has become. It’s still a solid platform at its core — fast, stable, and with Google-grade infrastructure behind it — but it hasn’t kept up with the times. OAuth token lifespans, API limitations, lack of automation features — all of it could be improved with just a little attention. Blogger doesn’t need a full redesign. It just needs a few thoughtful updates to keep it usable in the modern era. Google, if you’re listening: please give Blogger some love.

#Blogger #Automation #SelfHosting #GoogleAPI