Newsletter Integration Setup Checklist

Newsletter Integration Setup Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure all components are properly configured before going live.

✅ Pre-Setup Requirements

• Access to GitHub repository settings
• Ruby installed locally (for testing)
• Blog is deployed and accessible at https://blog.status.health

✅ GitHub Configuration

1. Add Repository Secret

• Go to: Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions
• Click New repository secret
• Add secret:
  • Name: NEWSLETTER_WEBHOOK_SECRET
  • Value: d9bd68f101c326057976e366c7c29ddfb3397abb2cbc01890488c6e9aeef0e2f
• Click Add secret

2. Verify Files Present

• .github/workflows/notify-newsletter.yml - Main workflow
• .github/workflows/test-newsletter.yml - Test workflow (temporary)
• .github/scripts/notify-new-posts.rb - Notification logic
• scripts/test-newsletter-webhook.rb - Webhook test
• scripts/test-newsletter-integration.sh - Full test suite
• scripts/simulate-github-action.rb - Local simulator
• .env.example - Environment variable template
• .gitignore includes .github/notified-posts.json

✅ Local Testing

1. Basic Webhook Test

export NEWSLETTER_WEBHOOK_SECRET='d9bd68f101c326057976e366c7c29ddfb3397abb2cbc01890488c6e9aeef0e2f'
ruby scripts/test-newsletter-webhook.rb

• Test passes with success message

2. Full Integration Test

./scripts/test-newsletter-integration.sh

• All tests pass
• No errors reported

3. GitHub Actions Simulation

ruby scripts/simulate-github-action.rb

• Simulation completes successfully
• Tracking file created

✅ GitHub Actions Testing

1. Create Test Branch

git checkout -b test-newsletter-verify
git push origin test-newsletter-verify

• Branch created and pushed

2. Run Test Workflow

• Go to Actions tab → “Test Newsletter Integration”
• Run workflow manually with dry-run = true
• Verify successful completion
• Run again with dry-run = false
• Check logs for successful notification

✅ Pre-Production Verification

• API endpoint responds: curl -I https://newsletter-subscribers.vercel.app/api/webhook/new-post
• Webhook secret is correctly set in GitHub Secrets
• Test workflow ran successfully
• No syntax errors in Ruby scripts
• Draft posts are properly ignored in tests

✅ Go-Live Steps

1. Clean Up Test Files

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b newsletter-integration-final

# Remove test workflow
git rm .github/workflows/test-newsletter.yml

# Commit
git add .
git commit -m "Add newsletter webhook integration"

2. Create Pull Request

• Create PR from newsletter-integration-final to main
• Review all changed files
• Verify no test data or secrets in code
• Merge PR

3. First Live Test

• Create a new blog post
• Push to main branch
• Monitor Actions tab for workflow execution
• Verify green checkmark
• Check .github/notified-posts.json was created/updated
• Confirm email received by test subscriber

✅ Post-Launch Monitoring

• Set up monitoring for failed workflows
• Document the integration in team wiki
• Add webhook secret to password manager
• Schedule periodic tests (monthly)

🚨 Rollback Plan

If issues occur:

# Disable workflow
mv .github/workflows/notify-newsletter.yml .github/workflows/notify-newsletter.yml.disabled
git add . && git commit -m "Disable newsletter notifications" && git push

📞 Support Contacts

• Newsletter API Issues: Check https://newsletter-subscribers.vercel.app status
• GitHub Actions: Check https://www.githubstatus.com/
• Webhook Secret: Stored in password manager under “status.health Newsletter Webhook”

Important Values to Remember: