Hashnode Changelog

Explore the latest updates, improvements, and bug fixes with Hashnode Changelogs. Stay informed about the evolving features and enhancements to enhance your coding experience.

New steps component and improved accessibility on Hashnode's blog and docs product.

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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At Hashnode, we want to help you build docs and blogs that are highly customizable, follow accessibility standards, and offer a great developer experience. We have been adding features and enhancements every week that focus on helping you build effective docs and blogs.

This week, we worked on:

  • Adding steps component to Hashnode’s docs product.

  • Accessibility improvements on Hashnode’s blog starter kit.


Addition of steps component on Hashnode docs.

Writing step-wise guides and tutorials is now easier and more intuitive on Hashnode. The new step component can help you write and organize guides easily.

Here’s how you can make use of it:

  • Go to the docs editor.

  • Type / and then click on the Advanced tab.

  • Then scroll down to add the Steps component.

  • Then keep adding the step title and description to build your step-wise guide.


Accessibility improvements on Hashnode’s blog starter kit.

Hashnode’s open-source blog starter kit can help you build blogs in Headless mode in three themes:

  • Enterprise

  • Hashnode

  • Personal

We have made updates to improve accessibility in the Table of Contents component in the Hashnode theme of blog starter kit by adding aria-label and aria-expanded attributes to buttons for screen reader support, ensuring better navigation and context for users with assistive technologies.


We hope these new features will help you write better docs and blogs. If you have any feedback or questions, reach out to us on Discord.

Free custom domain mapping for all users, configurable hyperlink and more.

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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Last week at Hashnode was full of new features. The entire team gathered in Bangalore, India, and we created and launched some exciting things.

TL;DR:

  • The Hashnode support docs are now live.

  • All users can now map a custom domain on docs for free.

  • We added an option in our docs editor to configure hyperlinks to open in a new tab.

  • Mermaid diagram support is now available on blogs.

  • An "Unsubscribe" header has been added to blog newsletter emails.

Free custom domain mapping for all users.

With Hashnode docs, we wanted to empower more teams and businesses to go live with their documentation from day one.

One of the main features of Hashnode blogs has been custom domains. We wanted our users to have complete control and customization over their blogs, and we aimed to offer the same for our docs. That's why we decided to make the custom domain mapping feature free for users on the free tier.

Here's how you can map a custom domain in under a minute:

How often have you been reading documentation, clicked on a hyperlink for more information, and had it open in the same tab, disrupting your reading flow?

To fix this, we have added the option to set hyperlinks to open in a new tab.

Here’s how:

  • Go to the docs editor.

  • Type the command /link.

  • A link component will be added, where you can add:

    • An anchor text

    • The URL or heading that you want to link to

    • A checkbox that opens the link in a new tab

Once everything is done, a hyperlink will be created that opens in a new tab.

Mermaid diagram support on blogs.

Mermaid diagram is a code-based diagram that uses Markdown-inspired text definitions to create and modify diagrams. We already had Mermaid diagram support in our docs product and have now also added it to our blogs.

Here’s how you can use it in the editor:

Added “Unsubscribe” button to blog newsletter emails.

Hashnode’s newsletter feature allows you to send your articles as emails to people who have subscribed. We have now added the “Unsubscribe” header to blog newsletter emails for best practice and better deliverability.


That’s a wrap for this week. We hope these features will help you create better docs and blogs. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us on Discord.

Support for deep linking in docs, customizations on button component and bug fixes.

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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We have added new improvements to Hashnode docs that will help you build effective documentation.

Here's what we shipped last week:

→ Customization options on button element

→ Deep linking support, and

→ Bug fixes


Ability to add colors to button component

Last week we shipped an update where you could add buttons to your docs, this week we added the capability to customise the button colour.

Here’s how:

  • Go to your docs editor.

  • Type /button and a button component will appear. Click on it to add a button.

  • Choose the colors you want the button to display in light mode and dark mode. We will automatically add a matching text color based on the selected background color for the light or dark theme.

The video below shows how you can do it:


Deep linking support on docs.

We have added a feature that lets you link to a heading within the same draft of your docs. To use deep linking, ensure the sections you want to link to include Heading 2 or Heading 3. Then, type /link in the editor and type # to see the available headings you can link to.

Here’s how you can do it:


Miscellaneous bug fixes

  • We have made a fix that sets a minimum height for table cells if no content is present.

  • Fixed a bug with the card component that prevented cards from rendering if no description was present.

  • Fixed a bug with RSS that would result in stale content at times.

  • Made UI updates to the "Copy Code" button on docs.


That's all for this week. We hope these updates will enhance your documentation process on Hashnode.

P.S. - We are offering our Docs by Hashnode startup license for free to all open-source projects. Read more about it here.

Custom JavaScript feature on docs, enchancements to card components and more.

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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Are you building documentation for your company? We launched Docs by Hashnode a few weeks ago, and we're adding new features almost every week to make the documentation process better for your team.

This week, we're focusing on features that will enhance the developer experience and offer more customization options.

TLDR;

  • Custom JavaScript feature (available only in paid plans): Allows you to include custom JavaScript on all pages.

  • Enhancements to Card and Card Group components: Support for custom images and card-level links.

  • Custom Button Component: Lets you add buttons to your docs.

  • Custom Pages: Allows you to add custom pages to your docs.

  • Auto-optimizes images inside pages for faster loading: This improves the LCP value in page speed analysis and overall performance by dynamically resizing and optimizing images.

  • Automatic page OG images: Adds an auto-generated default image as OG image if none are supplied.

Ability to add custom JavaScript to docs.

We have introduced the capability to include custom JavaScript code on all documentation pages. This gives you more flexibility and control over your documentation.

It is currently available on paid plans. To use it, navigate to the Docs dashboard, scroll down to the Appearance section, and under More customization, you can enter your JavaScript code in the Custom JavaScript box as shown below.

Card elements in documentation can help improve your user experience. You can use them to list your product features, available guides, and more.

We have now added the ability to add links and images to the card and card group components in your docs.

To use it, go to the docs editor, use the /card command, and then add the link and image as shown below:

Ability to add custom button element to your docs.

Documentation acts as the first point of entry for your users, and you may want to connect it to other resources, forms, or enhance navigation within your documentation. Custom buttons can help in achieving this goal. This week, we introduced the feature to add custom button elements to your documentation.

Here’s how you can implement it:

  • Open your docs editor and type /button.

  • This action will insert a new button component, which you can customize and utilize within your documentation as shown below.

Adding custom pages to docs.

Documentation goes beyond just explaining your code. You might have community resources, program details, a glossary, and other similar types of content that need to be documented, but you do not know where they fit in your documentation. This is where custom pages come in.

We just released the new custom pages feature in our docs that allows you to create pages and link them to your documentation navigation bar.

To access this feature, go to the Docs dashboardCustom pagesCreate a new page, and then add the details as shown below:

Better OG image support on docs.

An OG (Open Graph) image is the image that appears when a link to a web page is shared on social media. We have made an update so that if an individual page does not have an OG image, it will default to the guide-level OG image. If the guide level OG image isn't provided, that's when we use our auto generated OG image.
This prevents blank images from appearing when you share your guides on social media, ensuring that it looks great on all platforms.

Heres’s an example of how we define OG image on docs:

Auto-optimizing images inside pages for faster loading.

We have added an update that automatically optimizes images within your pages to enhance loading speed. This update improves the LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) value in your page speed analysis and overall performance by dynamically resizing and optimizing images. This leads to better overall page speed. Each image will have ?auto=format at the end, which performs the optimizations.


Wrapping up our feature-packed week here. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us on Discord.

New additions to Docs by Hashnode, new design components and bug fixes.

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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Last week we launched Docs by Hashnode to the public, along with a revamp of the Hashnode homepage.

We have received great support from our community and a lot of feedback. Over the last week, we spent time perfecting our product and adding more features.

Here’s a highlight of what we shipped:

→ New project switcher in docs and blog dashboard header

→ Mermaid chart support

→ Image max width support

→ Design updates and

→ Bug fixes


New project switcher in docs and blog dashboard header.

We have added a new switcher to the header of the blogs and docs dashboard that lists both your blogs and docs together. This makes it easy to navigate between project dashboards without having to go back to the homepage. If you have more than 5 projects, there is also a search feature to help you filter and find the project you are looking for.


Added Mermaid chart support to Hashnode docs.

Mermaid is a JavaScript-based tool that uses Markdown-inspired syntax to create diagrams from text. It's used to create and modify flowcharts, sequence diagrams, pie charts, Gantt charts, and more.

This week we shipped Mermaid support to the Hashnode docs editor, and here’s how you can use it 👇

Along with this, you can also use Hashnode AI and natural language to write a prompt and generate Mermaid code, as shown in the example below 👇


Added image maximum width support.

We have added a new button in the image component that lets you set the maximum width for images. This feature is only available in Hashnode docs. To use it, go to your editor and type /image, then add an image. You will see the Expand image option that lets you set the maximum width.


Design updates

  • The “Ask AI” sidebar has been redesigned. It now functions as a research assistant within the sidebar rather than appearing as a modal. This offers a more immersive experience and removes the common issue of the modal being dismissed when clicked outside.

  • We have also renamed the Crazy Blogger badge to Serial Blogger. This badge is awarded when you publish an article every day for 7 days.

Miscellaneous bug fixes

  • A recently introduced bug caused profile pages and the editor to sometimes show duplicate publications. This issue has now been resolved.

  • We deployed a fix for a UI bug, in the left sidebar on the docs client where the expand chevron icon would get cut off if page title was long.

  • Fixed a bug in the docs where bolded text would sometimes revert to **text if there was trailing or leading whitespace.


That’s a wrap for this week! We hope these updates help you write better docs.

Revamped settings page, improvements to draft links and bug fixes.

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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We have introduced new improvements that will enhance your blogging experience on Hashnode.

Here's what we shipped:

→ A fresh-looking settings page

→ Improvements to draft links

→ Bug fixes

Revamped settings page

The settings page on Hashnode offers comprehensive information about your account settings and profile page.

We have revamped the settings page to align with our design system. The user interface has been updated to offer an improved user experience.

Here is how the old settings page looked:

The updated look of the page:

Have you ever wanted to share your scheduled articles on social media but had to wait because the preview link kept showing the draft content?

We have now resolved this issue! Our fix now redirects the draft link to the published article link, ensuring that any user with whom the draft was shared will see the latest published article.

For example, if https://blog.example.com/preview/:draftId is your draft link, it will redirect to https://blog.example.com/:slug when the article is published.

Bug fixes

  • We had a bug that prevented writers from setting the backdate to today.
    Use case: Suppose you have an article published a few weeks ago, and you have made some changes to it and want to update it to the current date. Our API was not supporting this functionality. We have now made fixes to support it.

  • We encountered a bug where the paginated results returned by our API were incorrect if the newsletter subscribers were added via the importer. This issue has now been resolved.


That's a wrap for this week! If you have any suggestions or comments, send them our way on Discord.

New UI and improved experience for Hashnode’s GitHub integration - Write and backup effortlessly

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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Writing on Hashnode provides a comprehensive experience. You can use our WYSIWYG editor, access Hashnode AI at no cost, enjoy a personalized feed, and utilize Notion-like inline commenting and real-time collaboration (exclusive to enterprises). Additionally, you can also publish articles from GitHub and back up your articles to GitHub.

We recently improved our GitHub integration feature and updated the UI.

Here's a comparison of the GitHub integration page with our old and new UI.

The GitHub integration feature can help you:

  • Backup your articles and drafts from GitHub and,

  • Publish your articles from GitHub using your preferred IDE.

Backing up articles and drafts from GitHub.

You can automatically back up your published posts as markdown files to a public or private repository on GitHub. This can be the same repository you use for Publish from GitHub or a different one. Backups update automatically with any edits or deletions.

With Hashnode Pro, you can also back up your article drafts. Access this feature from our new blog dashboard.

"See Installation steps" section.

In the Back up to GitHub section of the blog dashboard, there's a "See installation steps" modal with a step-by-step guide on backing up your articles to GitHub.

Publish your articles from GitHub.

To publish articles from GitHub, add the Hashnode app to your GitHub account and select a repository for your articles. You can do this from our blog dashboard and publish using any IDE you prefer. With the updated UI and flow, connecting your GitHub repository to Hashnode is now easier.

Note: Currently, Publishing from GitHub is only available to Hashnode Pro users.

"How it works" section.

In the Publish from GitHub section of the blog dashboard, there's a "How it works" modal with a step-by-step guide on setting up article publishing from GitHub in markdown format using any IDE.

Uninstalling GitHub integration.

If at any point you want to uninstall the GitHub integration, you can do it by simply clicking on the Uninstall button in the blog dashboard.

Here are some important points to remember while uninstalling the GitHub integration:

  • Uninstalling any part of the integration requires removing it from the GitHub app. Otherwise, reinstalling it on Hashnode will fail.

  • Uninstalling GitHub as a source will clear the logs.

  • Uninstalling any backup will not remove already backed-up articles or drafts, but we will stop backing up future articles.


With these updates, you can now easily publish your articles or back them up from our new blog dashboard.

To give this feature a try, get started writing → hn.new.

Blog Dashboard Update: Bug Fixes and Filter Feature Added

AuthorHaimantika Mitra·

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The Hashnode blog dashboard has been redesigned to offer an improved experience and better blog management capabilities. The blog dashboard allows you to manage everything from your blog appearance to your blog articles, including domains, members, analytics, webhooks, integrations, and more.

This week, we released two updates that will enhance your experience:

  • Added filter possibilities to drafts and scheduled tabs

  • Fixed a bug in our new blog dashboard static page editor

Added filter possibilities to the 'Drafts' and 'Scheduled' tabs on the Articles and drafts page.

We have now added a filter to the Drafts and Scheduled tabs on the Articles and drafts page of the blog dashboard. This feature allows you to view drafts created by specific authors, as well as articles scheduled by them.

This functionality is available for team blog publications and is helpful in blog management, especially for bigger teams that needs to keep a track of articles that are either in progress or scheduled by their authors.

Fixed a bug in our new blog dashboard static page editor.

We shipped a bug fix for our new dashboard static page editor, which was crashing when a user clicked on Done after adding their content. This issue occurred specifically when a user stayed in the static page editor for extended periods.


That's all for this week! If you have any feature requests for us, please reach out to us on Discord.

Hashnode's editor is now open to all — No login or sign up required 🚀

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Hey everyone! We've got some big news. Our popular Markdown-based visual editor is now available to anyone, no account needed. Just hop on and start writing.

🌟 Notion-style block-based editor 🌟 AI chatbot with draft-aware context 🌟 AI-assisted grammar and spelling check 🌟 Offline first 🌟 Advanced blocks like code blocks, embeds, callouts, widgets, gists, YouTube, etc. 🌟 LaTeX support 🌟 Responsive tables 🌟 Code blocks with syntax highlighting 🌟 Export to Markdown and more

AI workflow is powered by GPT-4o and free with a fair usage policy.

So, next time you need to jot down some quick notes with all the Markdown + Rich Text Editor awesomeness, just hit the URL below and start typing.

No login or onboarding. 😻✨

Start writing → hshno.de/editor

Updated dashboard pages and improved API slug handling

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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The Hashnode blog dashboard with our new UI and improved experience gives you full control over your blog and helps you manage it easily. We added the Extra Controls and Newsletter page with our revamped UI.

Simplified extra controls page.

Replacing the previous setup in our old dashboard where the features were bundled with other controls under the Advanced tab, the new Extra Controls page helps you effectively:

  • Enable the text selection sharer feature on all articles
  • Allow ChatGPT to crawl your blog

  • Convert your personal blog to a team blog publication (this is an irreversible action)

Note: Currently, the Extra controls page is only visible to non-headless blogs. You can try it out here.

Improved newsletter experience on the blog dashboard.

The blog dashboard now includes the newsletter page featuring our latest UI, making it easier to create and manage newsletters.

Navigating through newsletter tabs and records is now much easier and faster and now you can:

  • Easily share your articles via email

  • Build and grow your subscriber base

You can access it directly from the dashboard's left sidebar, as shown in the image below.

Updates to GraphQL API.

Hashnode's public GraphQL API enables you to integrate and interact with Hashnode. For example, you can use it to build a blog from scratch among other possibilities.

We've implemented changes to our GraphQL API to streamline slug handling.

These improvements can be utilized in two ways:

Option 1: You can get a post by any previous slug using our newly added Publication.redirectedPost(slug: String!): Post.

Here's how:

query Publication {
  id
  post(slug: "my-slug") {
    id
    slug
  }
  redirectedPost(slug: "my-slug") {
    id
    slug
  }
}

And this is how the supporting code would look like:

const data = await getGqlData()
if (!data.publication.post) {
  if (data.publication.redirectedPost?.slug) {
    // redirect to `/${data.publication.redirectedPost.slug}`
  }
  // 404
}

Option 2: In addition to that, we have a new field Post.previousSlugs that you can use to statically create redirects:

query Publication {
  id
  posts {
    node {
      id
      slug
      previousSlugs
    }
  }
}

And this is how the supporting code would look like:

const data = await getGqlData()
for (const post of data.publication.posts) {
  post.previousSlugs.forEach(previousSlug => {
    // redirect from `previousSlug` to `post.slug`
  })
}

We hope these updates will help improve your experience on Hashnode. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to post them on our Discord community.

Redesigned slash command and blog dashboard updates

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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We have added new enhancements to Hashnode, that will improve your blogging and blog management experience.

Here's what we shipped:

  • The Recommendations page with our revamped UI is now available to all users. We have also added the Subscription toggle in the blog dashboard.

  • We have added facebook URL to publications.

  • We have redesigned the slash command in the new blog editor using our new design system.

Added Recommendations page and subscription toggle in the new blog dashboard.

The Recommendations page enables you to recommend up to 10 other publications. It also displays the number of followers gained through your recommendations. This week, we have introduced this page with our revamped UI, and you can access it from the left sidebar on our new blog dashboard.

We have also added the Subscribe and follow modal prompt toggle in our new blog dashboard. You can find it under the Appearance tab in the left sidebar.

This toggle is enabled by default and prompts users to follow your newsletter and/or blog as shown below.

Redesigned slash command in the new editor.

To maintain a cohesive design across our product, we have updated the slash command UI. The new design features cleaner visuals with improved icons, colors, and typography.

Here's the redesigned slash command using our new design system.

Addition of Facebook URL to your Hashnode publication.

The General tab on your blog dashboard allows you to update information about your blog. We have now included the option to add a Facebook URL alongside other social media URLs to your blog publication.

Once added, the Facebook URL will be visible on the publication navbar.


That's a wrap! If you have any questions or feedback for us, please reach out on Discord.

Hashnode AI Sidekick can now fetch the latest info while you draft.

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Hashnode AI saves time on repetitive tasks like writing ALT texts, creating SEO-friendly titles, and correcting grammar. Writing also involves research and referencing. We launched AI Sidekick to help with these tasks. The latest update adds web search capabilities, so you don't need to switch between your editor and a search engine. Everything is now accessible within the Hashnode editor.

To activate AI Sidekick, use Cmd+Shift+K on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+K on Windows, or click the AI Sidekick button next to the Preview button.

As a contextual chatbot, AI Sidekick understands your draft content and answers questions about it. The new version with web search capabilities helps you research while writing. Here's how:

Here are some ways it can help you:

  • Fact-checking: Verify facts directly in the Hashnode editor using AI Sidekick without disrupting your workflow. It also cites resources, making it easier for you to double-check.

  • Finding answers: AI Sidekick can help with research and answer your questions, saving you from sifting through multiple documents.

  • Summarizing social media posts: Need to reference a social media post? Just paste the link into AI Sidekick, and it will summarize it for you.

AI Sidekick, with this latest update, is now available to all Hashnode writers for free. Try it out by starting a new draft today!

New articles filter, blog dashboard improvements, RSS feed updates, and more.

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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TLDR;

We added filtering to the articles tab in the blog dashboard, so you can easily find articles by specific authors. We also redesigned the custom redirects functionality with our updated UI, improved the RSS feed for blogs, and fixed some bugs.


Added new filters to the Articles tab in the blog dashboard.

The new filter feature makes it easy to manage and find articles by specific authors. It's especially helpful for large teams with many articles.

For team blogs, you can now quickly find articles by specific members. Simply go to the blog dashboard, click on Articles in the left sidebar, and then select the filter option. This enables you to search for articles by member names or usernames, choose one or multiple authors, and apply the filter to display their articles.

Custom redirect page on the blog dashboard now has a new look.

Custom redirects let you create easy-to-remember URLs that lead to specific websites. For example, if your Hashnode blog is haimantika.com and you want a shortcut to your GitHub, you can create haimantika.com/github and set up a 301 redirect on Hashnode.

With this update, custom redirects feature is now available in Hashnode's new blog dashboard. Go to new dashboard, and click on "Custom page redirects".

Updates to the RSS Feed.

RSS feed at Hashnode now update more efficiently and are fully compliant with RSS 2.0, enhancing content accessibility, SEO, and distribution.

You can access the RSS feed by entering the subpath to your blog url /rss.xml like https://blog.seancoughlin.me/rss.xml.

Key updates include:

  1. SEO Description in RSS Feed: The <description> field now uses a post’s SEO description. If the SEO description is not available, it uses post.brief instead. This adjustment draws readers with engaging summaries and facilitates quicker article selection.
  1. Full Article Content in RSS Feed: Full post content is now included in a new field, <hashnode:content>, within <item>.

This field displays the full HTML content of the post:

      <hashnode:content>
           <![CDATA[ Post HTML content ]]>
       </hashnode:content>

We've added xmlns:hashnode="https://hashnode.com/rss" to the root <rss> element to support this new feature.

The root element now looks like this:

    <rss version="2.0" xmlns:hashnode="https://hashnode.com/rss">

We've implemented these changes to make RSS feed more user-friendly and effective in content delivery.

Miscellaneous bug fixes.

We've made several improvements to enhance the functionality and reliability of Hashnode:

  1. RSS feed enhancement: We resolved an issue where the RSS feed failed validation due to the improper <cover_image> tag. Now, we've transitioned to using the Hashnode-specific namespace for custom field elements, as hashnode:coverImage, ensuring compliance and functionality.

  2. Reading history fix: We've addressed a bug where the reading history feature malfunctioned if a publication was unavailable.

  3. Publication domain uniqueness: We've resolved a bug that previously allowed the creation of multiple publications with the same domain, ensuring each publication maintains a unique domain.


We hope these new improvements will improve your blogging experience on Hashnode. If you have any questions or feedback for us, please reach out on Discord.

Introducing AI Sidekick — Your research assistant for writing at Hashnode!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Writing is an easy way to share your thoughts and ideas. Blogs are a big part of the internet, with millions of writers sharing their knowledge and opinions. However, writing can slow you down and lead to spelling and grammar mistakes, especially if you aren't a native English speaker.

That's why we often ask friends and colleagues to review our drafts before publishing. Wouldn't it be easier if there was a built-in writing assistant to help with these tasks?

At Hashnode, we're making writing easier by introducing AI Sidekick, an AI-powered research assistant for writers. ✨

AI Sidekick is your personal writing assistant at Hashnode. It always has your draft's context, and you can ask it any question. Powered by the GPT-4o model, AI Sidekick is available for free to all writers on Hashnode.

You can invoke AI Sidekick in two ways. The first is by clicking the button in the editor header.

The 2nd method is by selecting text and typing the shortcut cmd + shift + k (on mac) or ctrl + shift + k (for windows).

Here are some of my favorite use cases:

  • Generate an X (formerly Twitter) thread based on my article.

  • Create a LinkedIn post from the draft.

  • Generate a TLDR.

  • Suggest improvements to my article.

  • Suggest tags and keywords.

  • Spot spelling and grammar errors in the draft.

And the best part... it's free! AI Sidekick is now available to all Hashnode writers. Start creating amazing content for your audience today.

Start writing: hn.new

Streamlined domain management in Hashnode's new blog dashboard

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Managing domains on Hashnode just got more efficient. Super excited to share the new redesigned "Domains" section in the new beta dashboard.

With this update, you can now manage all three domain types—Hashnode sub-domains, custom domains, and headless domains—from one section. Previously, the headless domain option was in the advanced tab of the blog dashboard. This update simplifies everything by consolidating them into one place.

Centralized domain management

This redesign also fixes a lot of accessibility issues that users previously complained. Try out the new dashboard today and let us know what you think. :)


If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to us on Discord.

Custom AI prompts are now available in the editor.

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Hashnode AI helps you write better and faster with built-in tools that make writing effortless. While our predefined prompts are useful, you now have the flexibility to create custom prompts, simplifying the writing process by allowing you to use personalized prompts directly in the editor.

How to use custom prompts?

  1. Highlight the text in the editor you want to work with and click "Ask AI" or type the shortcut Cmd+J (⌘+J) in macOS or the Ctrl+J on Windows to invoke the AI.

  2. Write your custom prompt or choose from the built-in ones.

  3. Hashnode AI, will give you a response based on the prompt selected.

Custom prompts allow users to define their own text operations. Let’s look at some of the examples:

  • Changing the layout: Transform your content into different formats, such as converting a paragraph into a table layout for better readability.

    Example prompt: Convert this selection into table layout.

  • Code improvements: Get suggestions and improvements for your code snippets and even add a code block.

    Example prompt: Add inline code in this paragraph where necessary.

  • Improving flow of the content: Organize and merge related information for improved flow.

    Example prompt: Combine these paragraphs into one.

  • Make content concise and engaging: Rewrite and shorten the content to be concise and engaging.

    Example prompt: Rewrite this introduction and shorten it.


Custom prompts are now available to all users. Get started and create a new draft.

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to us on Discord.

Introducing a new team management workflow in Hashnode's updated Dashboard.

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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If you run a team blog on Hashnode, you're probably familiar with adding new members. Today, we're excited to release a totally redesigned "Members" tab in our new beta dashboard.

With this new dashboard, we focused on two core areas:

  1. Improvement to Invite Link UX, and

  2. Invite users by username or email.

Let's take a look at what's changed:

Based on user feedback from those managing team blogs and looking to easily add new members, we've upgraded the "Invite link" feature. Now, you can create and share several customized links to invite multiple people to your team blog.

  • Customize Invite link roles: As a publication owner or editor, you can create new links and set roles for each. For example, you can make a specific link for editors and another for contributors, then share them as needed.

  • Set expiration dates for your links: Click the Calendar icon button to set when your invite links will expire.

  • Invalidate potentially leaked links: If you think your invite link was accidentally shared, you can delete or disable it.

If you manage a team blog as an owner or editor, you can now access these new features from the dashboard.

Invite users by username or email address:

You can now invite authors by username or email using the "Invite Member" button next to the search bar. You can also assign roles like contributor or editor when sending the invite, making it quicker and improving the user experience.

Once you have sent the invitation, authors will receive an email containing a link that allows them to join.

Before, there wasn't a tab to view invited authors. You could only cancel an invitation or copy the link; you couldn't resend it. This made managing invites difficult. Now, we have a "Pending Invites" tab where you can see the list of invited authors and have the option to revoke or resend invitations.

You can invite members using their email. Invitees who aren't members will have a "Not on Hashnode" badge next to their name, making it easier for publication owners to manage.

That's all for this week's update. We hope these new additions will make managing team blogs easier and also improve your experience. Try all of these new additions in the dashboard today!

All Hashnode users can now use GPT-4o model for free!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
changelog cover

If you often write on Hashnode, you are probably already using Hashnode AI. Our goal is to give writers the best tools to improve their writing experience. With the release of the new GPT-4o model from OpenAI, we are happy to announce that Hashnode AI now uses this latest model.

This upgrade makes Hashnode AI faster and more accurate. Now, every Hashnode user can use GPT-4o for free, greatly improving their writing. Pro users now have higher limits along with other pro features.

ALT text generation and SEO optimization.

With the latest update, we have made AI-based image ALT generation free for all users. Hashnode AI can generate highly effective SEO-optimized titles, descriptions, and alt text for images. This enhancement allows you to use Hashnode AI to create better content that ranks higher in search results and increases visibility.

Generating accurate summaries.

With the latest Hashnode AI update, you can now generate article summaries instantly. Type /ai and select "Summarize article".

Better contextual awareness of the Hashnode AI chatbot.

The Hashnode AI chatbot can help you create an outline, write a conclusion, generate a social post based on your article, and more. The recent update makes it faster and more relevant. Its better contextual awareness gives you focused help during the writing process.

Try out all the Hashnode AI features equipped with the latest GPT-4o model today by starting a new draft.


We hope this new update will help you write better and reach a wider audience. If you have any questions or feedback, send us a message on Discord.

New keyboard shortcuts for Editor's formatting toolbar

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
changelog cover

At Hashnode we are committed to improving accessibility. Last month we made significant updates including:

  • Improved color contrast and dark mode accessibility

  • Improved keyboard accessibility

Details about these updates are available in our previous changelog.

This week, we released an update that improves keyboard accessibility and simplifies navigation across the formatting toolbar inside the editor. This update allow users with limited mobility or those who rely on keyboard navigation to perform formatting tasks swiftly and with less physical strain.

Here's how you can use the shortcut:

  1. Highlight a text segment and press and hold the key on macOS or the Ctrl key on Windows.

  2. Then choose your desired formatting option:

    • B - Makes the selected text bold

    • I - Changes the selected text to Italics

    • shift+S - Applies a strikethrough to the selected text

    • opt+1 (macOS) or alt+1 (windows)- Formats the selected text as Heading 1

    • opt+2 (macOS) or alt+2 (windows) - Formats the selected text as Heading 2

    • opt+3 (macOS) or alt+3 (windows) - Formats the selected text as Heading 3

    • shift+H - Highlights the selected text

    • E - Turns the selected text into inline code

    • K - Creates a hyperlink for the selected text

    • M - Adds an inline comment to the selected text

    • J - Triggers Hashnode AI

And that's how you can utilize the newly added keyboard shortcuts to format your article. To begin using these shortcuts, start a new draft today.


We hope this update will make Hashnode more accessible for everyone. If you have any feedback or suggestion for us, send us a message on Discord.

A revamped Webhooks dashboard page and additional improvements.

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
changelog cover

Webhooks in Hashnode trigger API functions when specific events happen on publications. This works for both team and personal blogs, making automation and customization easier.

Last week, we shipped the Webhooks page on our new blog dashboard with our revamped UI, which improves user experience.

Here's all that you need to know:

A fresh looking Webhooks page.

The blog dashboard now sports a new design, and we are continuously adding new pages and features each week. These improvements not only improve the user experience but also streamline the entire blogging workflow on Hashnode. We added the Webhooks page featuring our updated UI that improves the experience of adding new webhooks.

This is how the old Webhooks page looked:

The new look of the Webhooks page:

Check out the newly added Webhooks page on your blog dashboard.

More enhancements.

  • We have fixed an issue that prevented embeds from functioning correctly on blogs with collaborative editing features.

  • We addressed an issue that some users encountered when updating the Mastodon URL through the new dashboard.

  • We have added three new params to our newsletter:

    • utm_source=hashnode_blog_newsletter

    • utm_medium=email

    • utm_campaign=<post_slug>

These new parameters are designed to assist users in more effectively tracking the traffic from blog newsletters to their posts.


With these new enhancements we hope your Hashnode experience will improve. If you have any feedback or suggestions, reach out to us on Discord.

Updates to Newsletter for better analytics and performance

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
changelog cover

Last week we made changes to our newsletter feature that will lead to more accurate analytics and better performance

Here's what has changed:

Improved email metrics tracking with custom domain

With our recent updates to the newsletter feature, you can now track open and click rates more accurately. Previously, when a newsletter issue was sent via email, the metrics were not very accurate because we used the default URL by Amazon SES Click Tracking , awstrack.me, which often resulted in being blocked by ad blockers and firewalls. To address this issue, we have transitioned to using our own domain, hashnode.co, for tracking clicks. This change will ensure more reliable metrics and minimize disruptions caused by ad blockers or firewalls.

With the recent changes, you will now see the use of our own hashnode.co domain in the tracking link instead of the awstrack.me domain 👇

More accurate open rates

We have introduced a filter to exclude events initiated by a Google/Gmail bot that automatically checks emails. Previously, our newsletter open rates were inflated because Google's loading of the email content triggered the open event. This caused every Gmail recipient's email to register as opened within seconds of sending, artificially boosting open rates. Our recent update ensures that we only track opens resulting from genuine human interactions, which might result in slightly lower, but more accurate, open rates.

It's important to understand that open rates are not completely accurate due to factors such as automatic scanning by other email providers, which can trigger open events. Additionally, users or email clients might block domains or disable image loading, further reducing accuracy. Click rates provide a more reliable measure of user engagement and interactivity.

To experience these improvements, send a newsletter today.


That's a wrap for this week. If you have any questions or feedback, reach out to us on Discord.

Hashnode AI is now free for all!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
changelog cover

Last week we announced that Hashnode AI is now free for all users. This makes Hashnode the only large scale blogging platform to have AI features free for all.

We are making use of the gpt3.5-turbo model for all our AI operations. PRO users will continue to have access to gpt-4, including gpt-4 vision for generating image alt text blog covers.

Here's everything you can do with Hashnode AI:

Rephrase articles

Hashnode AI can be used to write better and faster, you can ask it to:

  • Rewrite - Enhance your writing, fix grammar and spelling, simplify the text, switch to US English, or shorten it to a sentence or paragraph.
  • Modify - Make your text shorter, summarize, lengthen, or make it clearer.

  • Change tone - Make your writing casual, friendly, professional, or other styles.

  • Transform the structure - Change your text into a bullet list or numbered list.

Start a new draft and begin writing to try out Hashnode AI!

Generating SEO titles and description

Hashnode's AI can help you with SEO by creating titles and descriptions that are search engine-friendly, helping you reach more readers.

Go to the Publish button in the upper right-hand corner of your article draft, scroll down to the SEO title and SEO description fields, and then click on the Generate with Hashnode AI button to let Hashnode AI write a title and description for you.

Access to Hashnode AI chatbot

Our contextual AI chatbot can help you with an outline, creative ideas, or detailed explanations on complex topics. It understands the context of your content, making it great for research and collaborative writing.

Access the chatbot from our editor by clicking the Hashnode AI Chatbot icon next to Saved at the beginning of the page or use the shortcut Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + K.

The chatbot comes with some pre-populated fields. You can either select one of these or type in your query.

Use Hashnode AI directly from the editor

You can also access Hashnode AI from the editor using our slash commands, just type /ai to access the tools. It can help you generate an outline, summarize an article and generate code.

Generating blog covers and ALT text for images

If you are a Hashnode PRO user, you have exclusive access to gpt 4 and gpt 4 vision models, which can help you create blog cover images and add ALT text to images.

Here's how you can do it:

  • To generate a cover image, go to the Add Cover option at the beginning of your article, select AI(early preview), enter your prompt, and click Generate. Hashnode AI will then create a cover image based on your prompt.

  • To add ALT text to images, select the image to which you want to add ALT text, click on the Add ALT text button, then click Generate with Hashnode AI. Watch as Hashnode AI analyzes the image and generates an ALT text for it.


We hope this new addition will improve your writing experience on Hashnode. Create a new draft today to try Hashnode AI.

Advanced analytics, better blog dashboard, inline commenting, real-time collaborative editing, and a new API mutation.

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
changelog cover

Last week, we made a bunch of updates and added some new features at Hashnode. These changes aim to simplify collaboration on the Hashnode Enterprise Plan and offer authors more detailed information and greater functionality with our GraphQL API.

API Updates

We consistently enhance our API to provide more ways to engage with Hashnode. This week, we introduced new mutations for managing Series CRUD operations.

A "Series" allows you to group related articles on Hashnode, enabling your readers to view them in chronological order. You could already create a series using the Hashnode editor, and now you can do it with our GraphQL API.

  • createSeries: This mutation lets you create a new series on your blog. To do so, you need to provide the series name, slug, and publicationId. After that, you can start adding articles to your series.

Here is an example to try on our API playground:

mutation CreateSeries($input: CreateSeriesInput!) {
  createSeries(input: $input) {
    series {
      id
      name
      createdAt
      description {
        html
        markdown
      }
      slug
    }
  }
}
  • updateSeries: This mutation lets you change the details of an existing series. You can update the series name, slug, description, cover image, and sorting order. Here's how you might implement it:
mutation UpdateSeries($updateSeriesInput: UpdateSeriesInput!) {
  updateSeries(input: $updateSeriesInput) {
    series {
      id
      name
      createdAt
      description {
        html
        markdown
      }
    }
  }
}
  • removeSeries: If you need to delete a series, this mutation lets you do that. You only need to pass the ID of the series you want to remove. Here's an example:
mutation UpdateSeries($input: RemoveSeriesInput!) {
  removeSeries(input: $input) {
    series {
      id
      name
      createdAt
      description {
        markdown
        html
      }
    }
  }
}

New Inline Commenting and Real-Time Collaborative Editing

Now, you can add comments directly to your Hashnode article drafts and collaborate with other authors in real-time. This new feature is similar to what you might find in Google Docs, providing smoother editing.

  • You can collaborate with multiple authors on a draft simultaneously.

  • Editors can select text and attach inline comments, similar to Google Docs or Notion. To try this, open a draft in the editor (if you are on the enterprise plan), and select a piece of text. A comment icon will appear, allowing you to leave comments.

  • You can resolve and delete comment threads.

  • Comments appear in real-time as they are added.

Upcoming features will include mentions within inline comments and notifications for comments via email.

Currently, this feature is in an invite-only beta. To access it, sign up for the Hashnode Enterprise plan.

New Advanced analytics

Hashnode's advanced analytics is now powered by Amazon Timestream, providing a more robust data analysis solution.

Here are some updates:

  • Previously, advanced analytics were available only to users with Umami activated. Now, they are open to all Hashnode users.

  • The analytics data is now integrated into our GraphQL API, allowing you to customize your UI as you like.

  • The new system offers more accurate analytics, allowing you to filter by individual posts, series, or page IDs.

  • Enhanced grouping options let you sort by factors like country, device, host, and region.

New Blog Dashboard Additions

We have updated our blog dashboard with a new Imports page. Now, you can easily import articles from other platforms like Medium or Substack directly to Hashnode using our revamped UI.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • We fixed a bug that prevented users from inserting links with underscores.

  • The bug preventing team members from creating posts from GitHub using the publishAs command has been resolved.

  • Your comments and replies are now viewable in the activity feed on your profile page.

  • We also fixed a bug where a post's SEO title and description didn't properly appear in the headline and description fields of the post page schema.

Conclusion

We are always working to make your experience at Hashnode better. We believe these updates will improve your overall experience. If you have any feedback or suggestions, reach out to us on Discord.

New blog dashboard: improved user experience

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
changelog cover

Hello, Hashnoders!

We're thrilled to share with you all the changes we've made in the last quarter! Our team has been diligently working to enhance your experience with Hashnode.

Here are the latest additions:

🌟 Revamping our dashboard

Hashnode is enhancing your writing experience with the launch of a new dashboard. In addition to its fresh appearance, we have primarily focused on improving user experience and accessibility.

Old dashboard:

New dashboard:

You can try the new dashboard here.

Before we go into what has changed, let's see what the community has to say about it👇

📊 Analytics

Found accessing analytics time-consuming? We've simplified that process in the new dashboard by placing analytics on the Overview tab, making it the first thing you see.

Additionally, you now can search for articles and view their analytics.

🗑️ Purging Cache

Have you ever needed to remove the cache from your blog? Now, you can do it manually directly from the dashboard with just one click.

✍️ Editor-like feel on pages

To enhance your experience when creating a new page, we've added our editor features. This means you can use the / command, and also convert content from WYSIWYG to markdown and vice versa.

🛠️ Drag and drop

We wanted our writers to have complete control over the appearance of their blogs. With the introduction of the new drag-and-drop feature in the Navbar, writers can now arrange tabs as they see fit.

🔍 Search feature

We all agree that the ability to search articles is helpful, don't we? Keeping user convenience and experience in mind we have introduced a search function in both the Articles and Analytics sections of the dashboard.

And that's a wrap! Try the new dashboard and let us know what you think about it.

Added new pagination query and mutations to Hashnode API

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
changelog cover

Our public API has undergone significant changes recently. In addition to introducing new features, we have been actively listening to user feedback and making improvements to existing queries. We have added new queries and mutations, that will help you perform pagination on popular articles, and CRUD operations on comment and reply.

Here's what has changed:

Previously when querying for popular tags, you did not have the pagination option. With PopularTagEdge you can find a tag and a cursor for pagination.

Here's an example query for you to try:

query PopularTags($first: Int!) {
  popularTags(first: $first) {
    edges {
      cursor
      node {
        id
        name
        logo
        postsCount
        slug
      }
    }
  }
}

Run it in our API playground to see how it works.

Return deleted posts

Want to query deleted posts? It is now possible with our latest deletedOnly filter.

Using posts resolver you can get the list of posts in a publication. The query returns active posts by default, you need to set the deletedOnly filter to true to return deleted posts.

An example would look like this 👇

New mutations

In this release, we have also added two new mutations for Comment and Reply. You can add, update, delete, like any comment or reply now.

Here's how the new mutations work:

Comment Mutation

  • addComment - Helps you add comments to a post.

    Example query:

      mutation AddComment($input: AddCommentInput!) {
        addComment(input: $input) {
          comment {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            replies {
              ...CommentReplyConnectionFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    
  • likeComment - This lets you add comments to a post.

    An example query would look like this:

      mutation LikeComment($input: LikeCommentInput!) {
        likeComment(input: $input) {
          comment {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            replies {
              ...CommentReplyConnectionFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    
  • removeComment - Using removeComment you can remove comments from a post.

    Example query:

      mutation RemoveComment($input: RemoveCommentInput!) {
        removeComment(input: $input) {
          comment {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            replies {
              ...CommentReplyConnectionFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    
  • updateComment - Use updateComment to update a comment on a post.

    The query would look like this:

      mutation UpdateComment($input: UpdateCommentInput!) {
        updateComment(input: $input) {
          comment {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            replies {
              ...CommentReplyConnectionFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    

Reply mutation

Similar to Comment, you can add, remove, update or like any reply. The newly added mutations are addReply, removeReply, updateReply and likeReply.

Here's an explanation of what each of these mutations does along with examples:

  • addReply - Helps you add a reply to a comment.

    Example query:

      mutation AddReply($input: AddReplyInput!) {
        addReply(input: $input) {
          reply {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    
  • removeReply - Need to remove a reply? You can get it done with removeReply.

    Here's how:

      mutation RemoveReply($input: RemoveReplyInput!) {
        removeReply(input: $input) {
          reply {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    
  • updateReply - With updateReply you can easily update a reply.

An example query for you to try:

    mutation UpdateReply($input: UpdateReplyInput!) {
      updateReply(input: $input) {
        reply {
          id
          content {
            ...ContentFragment
          }
          author {
            ...UserFragment
          }
          dateAdded
          stamp
          totalReactions
          myTotalReactions
        }
      }
    }
  • likeReply - You can like a reply using likeReply and an example would be:

      mutation LikeReply($input: LikeReplyInput!) {
        likeReply(input: $input) {
          reply {
            id
            content {
              ...ContentFragment
            }
            author {
              ...UserFragment
            }
            dateAdded
            stamp
            totalReactions
            myTotalReactions
          }
        }
      }
    

Making Hashnode more accessible

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
changelog cover

At Hashnode, we are continuously committed to making our platform more accessible to everyone. We believe that accessibility is a critical aspect of user experience and we want to ensure that our platform is user-friendly for all.

Here's an in-depth look at the various ways we have improved accessibility:

1. Improving color contrast and dark mode accessibility

One of our primary focuses has been on enhancing color contrast throughout Hashnode, resulting in a notable improvement in overall accessibility. This particular change has improved readability, particularly for individuals with visual impairments or color blindness. We've also implemented an update to differentiate the background color of the main navigation header from that of the main content area. This adjustment has helped clarify the visual hierarchy of our platform, thereby facilitating smoother navigation for users.

Furthermore, we've made enhancements to the background in dark mode to elevate the user experience. Now, when a modal window is activated, it appears against an overlay with enhanced contrast, which serves to direct attention towards the modal content. This refinement not only enhances text legibility but also works towards reducing eye strain, particularly in low-light settings and it looks something like this:

2. Keyboard accessibility

We have put a focus on improving keyboard navigation across Hashnode. This allows users who prefer to or need to use the keyboard for navigation to move around our platform more easily.

The first step was to identify which elements needed focus. Previously, some parts of Hashnode lacked clear focus indicators, making it hard to determine where the focus was. For instance, this was the case with the main navigation headers on our blogs and community site. Now, every focusable element has a clear design indicator, making it easier to navigate the blogs.

Additionally, some focusable buttons and links previously lacked suitable labels. These labels assist screen reader users in understanding the context they are navigating. Efforts have been made to improve these labels, especially where they were not very descriptive or completely missing.

One of the things that has helped improve accessibility is the adoption of an accessible component library with radix-ui. This aligns Hashnode with built-in accessibility by adhering to widely accepted patterns for various components. For example, it ensures that keyboard focus is contained within a Dialog (modal) component when open and restores focus to a dropdown trigger (button) when closed.

With these changes, we have been able to get a score of 100 on lighthouse 👇

3. Miscellaneous bug fixes

  • Design fixes for iframe - Some web embeds were not displaying correctly on certain screen sizes. They have now been updated to render correctly on all screen sizes.

  • Design fixes for Subscribers Modal UI - In this update, we revamped the UI for the Signup Modal and Newsletter Subscribers Modal. We added a default placeholder image for cases where the publication logo is absent. Additionally, we modified the modal backdrop for consistency with the rest of the platform. We also updated the internal components to enhance accessibility on both web and mobile screen sizes.

Here's the updated look:

  • Broken profile images - The issue regarding profile images on the discussions page not resizing correctly has been fixed.

Introducing natural language auto suggestion to the article scheduling datepicker

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
changelog cover

Scheduling an article on Hashnode is now more efficient, thanks to our new natural language auto-suggestion feature.

In the past, users had to either type the entire date or select it from the calendar to schedule articles. Although we had natural language parsing, its capabilities were unclear. Now, with the improved natural language autocomplete suggestion, you can enter natural language phrases, and Hashnode will then provide auto-suggestions in a dropdown menu, based on matches similar to your query. You can select and set the date from the options provided.

Here's how:

Step 1:

Once you've finished writing your article in Hashnode's editor, click the Publish button and scroll down to Schedule your article.

Step 2:

Enter date inputs as text, such as "tomorrow" or "next." Hashnode will generate suggestions in a dropdown menu based on your input that you can select from.

If you wish to backdate an article, use phrases such as "yesterday" or "day." This will generate a list of past dates for you to choose from.

Step 3

Select one of the provided suggestions, which will then be used to set the scheduling date. This makes scheduling more user-friendly and hassle-free.

Here's the demo of how you can do it 👇

Ready? Now get ready to start writing and scheduling with ease.


We hope this new feature will enhance the user experience of writing and publishing articles on Hashnode.

Added co-author support, revamped editor, optimised fonts, and more!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
changelog cover

Over the last few months at Hashnode, we worked on improving the writing experience. We focused on features that makes writing on Hashnode easier and more accessible, with that we released co-author support, optimised fonts, badges overhaul and, UI improvements. Let's dive in to see what's new.

1. Co-author support

Have articles that is written by multiple authors and want to mention them? With our latest co-author support, you can now add upto five co-authors to an article. This feature is useful when an article is written by two or more writers, allowing the admin to give equal credit to each contributor.

Here's how you can enable this in a team publication:

  • Inside the editor, go to the Settings pane on the right.

  • Scroll down to Co-authors as shown in the picture below and add co-authors.

2. Improvements to the editor

In continued efforts to improve the user experience on Hashnode, we shipped some changes to the editor that includes:

  • UI improvements - Re-organized the drafts bar and publish panel to provide a more consistent editing experience.

    • Some of the updates are:

      • On the drafts section :-

        • Better spaced items, be it posted or draft articles.

        • Favorites is now pinned on draft items.

        • The back button is now shifted to bottom for better UX.

  • On the publish panel :-

    • We have added consistent label and descriptive design along with new form fields.

    • Publish button within sidebar now appears at bottom with code of conduct link.

    • We introduced sections within the right sidebar to better group related fields like SEO and Scheduling opts etc.

Find the new changes in your editor here.

  • Improved accessibility support - To improve accessibility, we have added the ability to access menus with keyboard and added form labels for each field in our publish sidebar.

3. Optimised fonts

We've added new fonts to boost performance and privacy. We used next/font from Next.js to load our Google fonts rather than directly accessing the Google Fonts API.

It helped in improving:

  • Performance - Fonts served from the deployment region load swiftly and virtually eliminate FOUT, even when the browser cache is disabled. This improvement brought us close to a "0" CLS on Pagespeed for both mobile and desktop, enhancing the first-load user experience.

  • Privacy - next/font helps us to better adhere to GDPR regulations for our users without compromising performance.

See it in action below 👇

4. Toast Design Update

The design of all toast notifications has been updated to align with the Hashnode UI's overall look and provide more descriptive feedback, ensuring users receive accurate information.

Want to see the new design in action? Perform any action like saving/scheduling an article and here's how it will look:

5. Badges overhaul

Badges in Hashnode are a fun way for authors to take part in challenges, earn them and stand out in the dev community. To enhance their appeal and shareability, we've refreshed the design of the badges. Additionally, we've incorporated a badge widget into user profiles and updated previous badge designs.

To view these changes, navigate to your Hashnode profile and scroll down to the dedicated badges section to see it in action.

Here's how the new badges look 👇

That's it for this update! We're back to our drawing board, eagerly crafting future improvements. As always, we'd love to hear from you.

Join us on Discord to share feedback, if any. Happy blogging, Hashnoders!

⌘ cmd + k is now on Hashnode!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
changelog cover

Developers, here's a special Christmas gift 🎁 from the Hashnode team! We're thrilled to announce the launch of support for the cmd + k shortcut (ctrl + k for Windows users) on Hashnode, starting today. You can now navigate all key sections of Hashnode without using a mouse.

This shortcut is functional on every screen within Hashnode. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Introducing Hashnode Recommendations

AuthorSandeep Panda·

launch
changelog cover

Today we are excited to announce the launch of "Hashnode Recommendations". Recommendations help you give a shout-out to your favourite Hashnode authors, promote each other and generate more SEO value.

Here's how it works:

Step 1

Go to your blog dashboard, and navigate to recommendations tab. You can search for your favourite authors and recommend them. You can recommend up to 5 writers.

You can also view other writers who recommend you by switching to "Recommended By" tab.

Step 2

Hashnode automatically generates a recommendations page for your blog and links to it from your footer so that it helps with SEO.

Grab your autogenerated recommendations page, and request the authors to recommend you as well so that you can promote each other and grow together.

Step 3

Sit back and relax! When you recommend authors, every time your readers follow you we nudge them to follow other writers you recommend. This creates a network effect, and helps your favourite writers build a follower base.


We hope you'll enjoy using this feature and build an amazing network of tech writers!

Discussions —sparking deeper conversations on Hashnode, and more!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

new
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Hey Hashnoders!

We're back with more updates! Our team has been hard at work to bring you enhancements that not only improve your writing experience but also enrich your engagement within the Hashnode community. Here's the scoop on the latest additions:

Introducing Discussions! 💬

Hashnode is taking community interaction to the next level with the launch of Discussions. This feature brings the most engaging articles and topics right to your fingertips.

You'll now find a dedicated section that surfaces top articles with most insightful comments across the platform. This makes it effortless to jump in, connect with your favorite authors, and engage in meaningful conversations.

🔍 Discover high-impact articles

Ever wonder which articles are sparking the best discussions? We've got you covered. Our Discussions feature highlights articles that are generating the most compelling and thought-provoking conversations.

👥 Your voice matters

Join discussions and share your thoughts with the community. Being an insightful community member not only enriches the conversation but also helps you build credibility within the Hashnode ecosystem.

🏆 Celebrating top commenters

We value active and insightful community engagement. That's why we're introducing a new section on the homepage to recognize top commenters. Your contributions won't go unnoticed!

🗨️ Dive into Discussions

Misc bug fixes and enhancements

  • We've fine-tuned the algorithm for your personalized feed, making it even more tailored to your interests 😊

  • A subtle facelift to the Rix UI to enhance user experience.

  • We made some design updates to the login / sign up page to give it a modern look

  • The blog Sign in/Sign up modal has a fresh new look, designed for ease of use.

  • Fixed the experience when you update a blog post and were previously redirected to the published view. Now you can update multiple posts to your heart's content without being pulled away

  • When hitting Cmd/Ctrl+S in the editor to save (you don’t need to, since everything is saved automatically), we now prevent the annoying browser up from showing up, and just reminding you that the draft is saved

  • Fixed a bug where scheduled drafts were not being published but were removed from the scheduled list, leaving them stuck. Also addressed an issue where scheduled drafts were published twice.

  • Resolved an issue where the Chat UI on Rix was hidden upon page load.

As always, your feedback is the driving force behind our updates. We're constantly striving to make Hashnode your preferred platform for sharing ideas and building connections.

More updates are on the horizon, so stay tuned! Don't forget to connect with our team on Discord and Twitter. Happy blogging, Hashnoders!

— Fazle, CEO & Co-founder, Hashnode

Revamped personalized feed, Better recommendations, Natural language scheduling, and more!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
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Hello Hashnoders!

We're thrilled to bring you another round of updates that reflect the feedback you've generously provided. This new release focuses on hyper-personalization, efficiency, and, as always, stability improvements. Let's dive in to see what's new.

1. Revamped Personalized Feed

Based on your invaluable input and successful beta testing, we've rebuilt the personalized feed from scratch. It now brings content closer to your interests, offering a genuinely personalized experience. The early adopters among you have been overwhelmingly positive about this change, and we're excited for everyone else to experience it.

hashnode's personalized feed

🌱 Check out your new feed

Continuing our mission for personalization, we're elevating your experience by suggesting tags and blogs based on your specific interests. The idea is to make content discovery easier and more aligned with what you actually want to read or learn about.

recommended blogs and tags on hashnode

📚 Explore recommended tags and blogs

3. Natural Language Calendar Scheduler

In an effort to streamline your post scheduling process, we've added a natural language widget. We've also revamped the date/time picker to make the whole experience more intuitive and efficient.

natural language scheduler on hashnode

📅 Schedule your posts easily

4. Publish from GitHub: Now Live for Pro Users

We're pleased to announce that our Publish from GitHub feature has moved from beta to live for all Pro users. Manage your markdown files in GitHub and effortlessly publish them to your Hashnode blog.

publish from github on hashnode

🔄 Start publishing from GitHub

5. Misc Bug Fixes

  • Solved the issue where users could create accounts without usernames.

  • Replaced the "Edit embed" icon with a pencil icon for a more intuitive UI.

  • Corrected the issue where the profile page was not getting refreshed after visiting another user's profile page.

  • Fixed the recommendation system to eliminate publications with null authors.

That's it for this update! We're back to our drawing board, eagerly crafting future improvements. As always, we'd love to hear from you. Connect with us on Discord and Twitter. Happy blogging, Hashnoders!

— Fazle, CEO & Co-founder, Hashnode

Rix in feed, Import newsletter subscribers, Redesign updates and more!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

improvement
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Hello Hashnoders!

We've spent the last few weeks tirelessly working to bring you new tools and improvements that make your experience on Hashnode even more powerful and convenient. Your input and needs guide our efforts, and we’re excited to unveil these latest additions. Here's a quick glimpse of what's fresh:

1. Introducing Rix in Hashnode Feed

Say hello to Rix, now integrated directly into the Hashnode feed! Need answers to programming questions? Ask Rix directly from the Hashnode feed and receive combined AI-powered insights with web search, ensuring all information is up-to-date and relevant. We've already started seeing a boost in the number of searches since adding Rix to the feed and our users are enjoying the quick access.

Rix AI search engine for developers in the feed

🧠 Explore Rix in Hashnode Feed

2. Rix Chrome Extension

Want even faster access to Rix? We've launched a Chrome Extension, allowing you to use Rix as a search engine right from your browser’s URL bar. Just start typing Rix followed by a space or tab, and you can write your search query.

You can also select one of the three modes as default — quick mode, web search, or code writer.

Rix Chrome Extension

🚀 Get the Rix Chrome Extension

3. Newsletter Subscribers Import

We've heard all your feedback and now you can easily migrate from another newsletter platform like Medium, Substack, Revue, Ghost and more bringing your email subscribers with you.

We’ve made performance improvements to the way we import subscribers ensuring that it’s fast, seamless, and everything happens in the background.

Import newsletter subscribers on Hashnode

📨 Import your subscribers now

4. A Snappier Hashnode Redesign

In line with our redesign efforts carried over from the homepage, we’ve further refined the design of our Notifications, Bookmarks, and Tags pages. These enhancements boost the reading experience, make it snappier, and bring consistency to our design language.

Redesigned notifications, bookmarks, tags on Hashnode

🎨 Experience the new design

5. Bug fixes

You know how much we enjoy fine-tuning Hashnode and squashing bugs. Here's a rundown of the minor fixes we've applied:

  • Editing scheduled post issues

  • Product tours tweaks

  • Confirm and dismiss buttons for mapping custom domains

  • Notifications not showing in the notification center

  • Paragraph text in dark mode appearance

We hope you enjoy these updates and find them valuable. Your feedback is our roadmap, so please keep sharing your thoughts and ideas.

— Fazle, ceo & co-founder, Hashnode

A new dawn on Hashnode: Redesigned feed, Advanced post editing, AI-enhanced social sharing, and more!

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Hello Hashnoders!

We've been busy listening to your feedback and working on some impressive improvements. Our latest update offers several new features and refinements aimed at enhancing your experience and empowering you to write and share more effectively. Here's a rundown of what's new:

1. An overhauled Hashnode feed

We've majorly revamped Hashnode's main home feed, emphasizing content readability and providing a clutter-free interface. Now, your favorite articles, people you follow, and the tags you love are showcased in a much more aesthetically pleasing and accessible manner.

Hashnode redesign screenshots

We've replaced the leftside navigation bar with a global header menu, accessible from all Hashnode pages. For our friends who navigate the web using keyboards, you'll appreciate a host of accessibility improvements we've made, from color contrast enhancements to keyboard-friendly navigation. Plus, there's a new "Read count" feature that lets you gauge the popularity of an article at a glance.

✨ Check out the new feed

2. Edit scheduled posts seamlessly

We know the creative process can be fluid - so we're making it easier to tweak your scheduled posts. No more unscheduling posts to make edits! Now, you can directly modify your scheduled posts, making those last-minute touch-ups a breeze.

Hashnode article scheduling

Here's how you can schedule an article:

  1. Select "Draft settings" from the dropdown menu in the editor's header.

  2. Scroll down to "Schedule your article" settings.

  3. Select a date and time.

  4. Click on "Schedule" button on the top right.

✍️ Start a new draft

3. Transform your articles into LinkedIn posts & Twitter threads

Ready to take your social sharing game to the next level? With the new in-editor AI Chatbot, you can instantly turn your articles into optimized LinkedIn posts and Twitter threads. Write once, share everywhere!

Hashnode AI article transformation to Twitter and LinkedIn thread

Once you are done writing the article, open Hashnode AI Chatbot (or cmd/ctrl + shift + k) and select a predefine Twitter Thread or Linkedin Post prompt.

⚡️ Try it out

4. Preview tab in raw markdown mode

For our Markdown purists, we've added a new preview tab in the Raw Markdown editor. You can now see your beautifully formatted content as you code it, without having to switch to WYSIWYG.

Hashnode Preview Tab in Raw Markdown Mode

📝 Go to Editor

5. Bug fixes

We never stop working to improve Hashnode. Here's a rundown of the bugs we've squashed recently:

  • Latex Usability Issue: Previously, if you typed something in the Latex bar, switched tabs, and then came back, your incomplete work would be gone. Now, your progress is saved and ready to be picked up where you left off.

  • AI in Callout Block Bug: Clicking on the 'Ask AI' option in a callout block used to trigger a scroll jump to the top of the page. We've fixed this issue to maintain your reading flow.

  • Embed After Callout Block Issue: We discovered that embeds placed after a callout block would disappear when the editor was refreshed. That's fixed now, too!


As always, we're grateful for your feedback and suggestions. It helps us shape the platform and ensure that Hashnode remains your go-to place for sharing ideas and knowledge.

That's it for now! We're already working on some more exciting updates, so stay tuned. Connect with our team on Discord and Twitter. Happy blogging, Hashnoders!

- Fazle, ceo & co-founder, Hashnode

Exciting updates from Rix: enhanced Web Search Mode, Code Writer improvements, and Product Hunt launch! ✨

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Hey Hashnode community, we're thrilled to graduate Rix from alpha to beta. Our mission has always been to provide developers with easy access to quality content. We're now taking it a step further with Rix (https://rix.chat/), an AI companion designed specifically for developers. With Rix, we aim to combine an AI search companion, a chatbot, and a pair programmer into one powerful super app.

😻 Rix is on Product Hunt today: If you have been using Rix, we would greatly appreciate your support and feedback on PH. 💙 https://hshno.de/rix-ph

What Rix brings to your desk right now:

Rix comes packed with various modes tailored to fit different scenarios:

  1. Web Search Mode: This mode ensures the information you get is never outdated. It scans the web for the latest content and provides answers to your queries.

  2. Quick Mode: When you need information fast, Quick Mode comes to your rescue. It's the go-to mode when speed is of the essence. It uses the pre-trained knowledge to answer user queries.

  3. URL Summaries: This unique mode lets you have a meaningful conversation with a URL(for example, a GitHub Gist). Paste the link, and let Rix help you understand the content better.

  4. Code Writer: Think of it as your AI-driven coding partner or pair programmer, ready to understand your requirements and churn out functional code.

Quick demo:

We've also launched a Chrome extension that allows Rix to be just a tab away.

How we built Rix:

  1. For Web Search Mode and Code Writer mode: we’re using Bing search API and claude-instant-v1-100k to process information.

  2. For Quick Mode, and URL Summaries: we’re using Claude 1.

  3. For Code Writer, we use the latest Claude 2 (if you are signed in), and Claude 1, if you are signed out.

Why did we choose the name “Rix”?

We aimed for a short, simple, and memorable name that had a tech product vibe. "Rix" doesn't have any specific meaning; it's a created name chosen for its brevity and uniqueness. :)

Our upcoming plans for Rix:

We’re just getting started. Soon, Rix will be available on VS Code, so you can enjoy its benefits without having to switch from your favorite code editor. We have a host of exciting updates and improvements planned for the future.

While Rix can be used by any user, it has been specifically tuned to respond effectively to developer-related queries.

We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback as we continue to enhance and refine Rix. Do give it a try at https://rix.chat/ and share your experiences. Your insights would be invaluable as we try to make Rix a tool that every developer can rely on!

😻 Don't forget to show your Rix love on Product Hunt today and share your feedback: https://hshno.de/rix-ph

GitHub Integration, Redesigned TOC, Rix.Chat, and AI Boosts

AuthorFazle Rahman·

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Hello everyone, I'm Fazle, co-founder of Hashnode. I'm thrilled to introduce this new format of our changelog. Over the past few weeks, we've been working hard to ship numerous upgrades and new features to Hashnode. In this changelog, we'll highlight the most important ones.

Changelog explanation and demos from me: 👇

Publish from GitHub

Publish from Github

We're excited to announce that you can now publish articles directly from your private GitHub repositories to your Hashnode blogs. To do this, simply install the Hashnode app on GitHub and connect it to your blog dashboard. Here's how:

  1. Go to your blog dashboard.

  2. Click on GitHub settings.

  3. If you're a Hashnode Pro user, you'll see a tab called "Publish from GitHub".

  4. Click on the "Connect" button.

  5. Follow the steps and instructions on GitHub's installation screens, and you're all set.

Please note that when using this feature, make sure to create a new private repository on GitHub. Additionally, set up a different repository than the one used for GitHub backup on Hashnode.

Backup Drafts to GitHub

Backup Drafts to GitHub

Hashnode always had backup articles to GitHub repository and it's available to all Hashnode users for free. Now, we have a new Pro-only feature for backing up unpublished drafts to GitHub as well.

  1. Go to your blog dashboard.

  2. Head over to GitHub settings.

  3. Under "Backup to Github", you would see a new tab called "Drafts".

  4. If you are doing this for the time, you can backup all your previous drafts at one go by clicking on the button, "Backup all drafts".

Alternatively, we also have a handy button inside the editor as well.

  1. Open a draft inside the Hashnode Editor.

  2. Click on the more options dropdown in the editor header, and choose "Backup this draft".

Screenshot showing the editor header dropdown

New Callout block for the editor

There are instances when we want to highlight certain section inside our article to grab reader's attention. We generally use bold, italic, and underline to highligh them. Now, you can use the new Callout block in such situations.

Just Type /callout and select callout block to start using it.

New Callout block for the editor

Here's how a callout looks like.

Table of contents redesign

One of the most common complaints from Hashnode readers was that the "Table of contents" takes a lot of space and stays persistently on the top while scrolling. We have redesigned it and now it takes way less space and is still always available when needed at the bottom action bar.

Table of contents redesign

Community Likes

One of the reasons developers blog on Hashnode is that it has some amazing community features such as likes, comments, follow, etc. Now, Hashnode blogs also have the new "Community Likes" component on the top of the articles. It displays your article fans on the top and further enhances your authority on the web.

Community Likes

Rix.chat

Rix.chat

We introduced a new product called "Rix.chat" for the Hashnode users. It's a perfect AI search companion built for all the developers. Rix has three interesting search modes: web search, quick mode, and code writers. We have explained each one of them in detail in the following video. Give it a read and let us know what you think.

Various AI enhancements to the editor

  1. Convert article into to Tweet thread using editor's inline AI chatbot.

  2. We upgraded to GPT-4-32k model so that our chatbot is aware of your full draft content.

  3. AI SEO generation for article subtitle.

  4. New rephrase tools

    1. Simplify Language,

    2. Rewrite as a Single Paragraph, and others.

Various AI enhancements to the editor

I hope you enjoyed these updates to Hashnode. If you have any feedback or comments, please share them on Discord or Twitter. :)

- Fazle Rahman, ceo & co-founder, Hashnode