WP Plugin Review: Autoblue – A Bluesky Plugin for WordPress

I figured the best way to test out this new plugin was to write a review post about it, then see if it actually works – so here we go!

I found this gem on Bluesky while searching #WordPress

 

 

Introducing Autoblue, my new WordPress plugin for Bluesky!

Autoblue will be available for download later this week, and allows you to automatically share your WordPress posts to Bluesky, and display likes and replies from Bluesky on your site.

autoblue.cc

(more in thread )

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— Daniel Post (@danielpost.com) November 25, 2024 at 2:51 PM

 

The first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful typography used in the branding. I’m also a fan of using lowercase as it just seems simpler – and it stands out.

 

 

But you’re here to learn more about the plugin not its branding, so let’s get back to it.

I headed over to the plugin developer’s site autoblue.cc and downloaded the WordPress plugin by Daniel Post.

Is it safe to download?

I do trust the source files, but I always scan plugins downloaded outside of the WP plugin directory. Good news, it’s clean.

 

 

After I was satisfied the ZIP file was clean, I came back here to my own site and installed the plugin via Plugins > Add New Plugin as shown below.

 

 

Where are the Autoblue plugin settings?

After activating the plugin, I couldn’t figure out where the settings were. So I went back to the plugins page and clicked Settings under the plugin itself.

Afterwards I could see the settings can also be found in the left sidebar under Settings > Autoblue.

 

 

Time to connect Autoblue to my Bluesky account

 

 

After clicking the blue Connect a Bluesky account button, another window pops up requesting your Bluesky handle/username, and an APP password.

 

 

Don’t be worried about the plugin requesting a password, it’s not what you think. I was concerned about it too. In fact, I had no idea what it was until this review.

 

Hint: you do NOT have to give your Bluesky account’s password.

 

I searched for my account in the provided window. At first I didn’t see my account, which is no big deal because I can simply type it in myself.

 

 

After typing more than 3 characters, however, my account finally popped up.

 

 

Now it’s time to figure out what this APP password is all about. I clicked the blue text link Bluesky account settings as shown in the above screenshot.

That took me straight to my Bluesky App Passwords page at https://bsky.app/settings/app-passwords where I clicked the big blue Add App Password button.

 

 

I appreciate the tooltip that explains its purpose while reassuring users: “Use app passwords to sign in to other Bluesky clients without giving full access to your account or password”.

After clicking the button, the next step is to enter a unique name. I chose to name it Autoblue WP plugin (which you’ll see in another screenshot below) for easy reference.

Since finding out about this cool feature, I’m sure I’ll use it again for testing other Bluesky plugins for WordPress.

I won’t share my password of course, but I will tell you it creates one in a similar format as this: 9sgy-okk6-2ssh-l5xn

 

 

Now my Autoblue WP plugin app password has been created successfully. So now what?

 

 

Back on my blog, a new screen has appeared in the Autoblue plugin settings. This is where you can see your active connection, and the option to enable Automatically share posts to Bluesky.

 

 

That’s it! Now the only thing left to do is publish this post to see it shared on my Bluesky account.

 

 

Autoblue is now auto-sharing my WordPress posts to Bluesky

It worked! Now that my posts automatically share to my Bluesky account, I can expand my global reach.

 

 

Have you installed Autoblue yet?

Make sure to get your copy of Autoblue at autoblue.cc ASAP. I love this plugin already.