Ascendio

AI-powered growth on autopilot.

Ascendio is an automated AI blogging platform that connects to your WordPress site, generates articles with featured images, and publishes them on a schedule — fully set and forget.

Features

• WordPress Connect — Link your WordPress site in seconds using Application Passwords
• AI Article Generation — Full structured articles (HTML with H2/H3) via OpenAI GPT-4o
• AI Featured Images — Automatic image generation via DALL-E 3
• Scheduled Publishing — Configure frequency, time, and timezone with RRULE scheduling
• Background Workers — Reliable job processing via Upstash QStash with auto-retry
• Dashboard — Clean SaaS UI with site overview, schedule management, and run history

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 15 (App Router), TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Backend	Next.js API Routes
Database	Supabase (Postgres + Auth)
Background Jobs	Upstash QStash
AI	OpenAI API (GPT-4o + DALL-E 3)
Hosting	Vercel

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A Supabase project
• An OpenAI API key
• An Upstash account (for QStash)
• A Vercel account (for deployment)

1. Clone and Install

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd ascendio
npm install

2. Set Up Supabase

1. Create a new Supabase project
2. Go to the SQL Editor and run the contents of supabase/migrations.sql
3. This creates all tables, indexes, and Row Level Security policies

3. Generate Encryption Key

Generate a 32-byte base64 encryption key for credential storage:

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"

4. Configure Environment Variables

Copy the example env file and fill in your values:

cp .env.local.example .env.local

Variable	Description
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL	Your Supabase project URL
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY	Supabase anon/public key
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY	Supabase service role key (for workers)
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key
QSTASH_URL	https://qstash.upstash.io
QSTASH_TOKEN	Your QStash token
QSTASH_CURRENT_SIGNING_KEY	QStash current signing key
QSTASH_NEXT_SIGNING_KEY	QStash next signing key
APP_CRED_ENC_KEY	32-byte base64 key (from step 3)
CRON_SECRET	A secret string for securing the cron endpoint

5. Run Locally

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 and create an account.

6. Deploy to Vercel

vercel

Set all environment variables in the Vercel dashboard. The cron job is configured in vercel.json to run every 15 minutes.

Architecture

/src
  /app
    /(auth)/login        → Authentication page
    /(app)/dashboard     → Stats overview + recent runs
    /(app)/sites         → WordPress site management
    /(app)/schedule      → Schedule configuration
    /(app)/runs          → Run history + logs
    /api
      /auth/callback     → Supabase auth callback
      /sites             → CRUD for WordPress sites
      /sites/test-connection → Test WP connection
      /schedules         → CRUD for schedules
      /runs              → Read run history
      /cron              → Scheduler tick (every 15 min)
      /workers/generate-and-publish → Background worker
  /lib
    encryption.ts        → AES-256-GCM credential encryption
    openai.ts            → Article + image generation
    wordpress.ts         → WordPress REST API client
    scheduler.ts         → RRULE schedule helpers
    qstash.ts            → QStash job enqueueing
    logger.ts            → Run log writer
    supabase/            → Supabase client variants
  /components
    app-shell.tsx        → App layout with sidebar navigation
    /ui                  → shadcn/ui components

How It Works

1. Connect — Add your WordPress site with Application Password credentials (stored AES-256-GCM encrypted)
2. Schedule — Set how often and when to publish (daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly)
3. Generate — Every 15 minutes, the cron checks for due schedules and enqueues jobs via QStash
4. Publish — The worker generates an article + image via OpenAI, uploads to WordPress, and publishes
5. Monitor — Track all runs, view logs, and see published post URLs in the dashboard

WordPress Setup

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Users → Profile
2. Scroll to Application Passwords
3. Enter a name (e.g., "Ascendio") and click Add New Application Password
4. Copy the generated password and use it when adding your site in Ascendio

Default Language

Generated content defaults to Dutch (Nederlands). This can be customized per site in the codebase.

License

Private — All rights reserved.