KOTOTSUGI

KOTOTSUGI is a standalone WordPress plugin. It is not an add-on or module for atshift Fields or atshift User Profile Fields, and neither plugin is required.

The name KOTOTSUGI is written as 言継ぎ in Japanese. It combines koto, evoking words or an utterance, with tsugi, meaning to continue, inherit, or pass something onward. The name reflects the plugin’s role in carrying an AI-created Markdown draft into WordPress, where a person can keep editing and refining it.

KOTOTSUGI gives the block editor a focused Markdown import workspace. Paste a draft from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any Markdown-aware writing tool, or load a local Markdown file. Review the generated article in a wide preview, then add editable blocks at the current cursor position, replace the current body, or create a separate draft.

The importer supports headings, paragraphs, emphasis, links, images, lists, tables, quotes, fenced code blocks, horizontal rules, and GitHub-style callouts such as [!NOTE] and [!WARNING].

Quick Post adds a separate, passphrase-protected posting page for contributors who should not need the WordPress admin screen. An administrator fixes the display language, post author, default category, and whether a submission is saved as a draft or published immediately.

Version 1.0 includes:

• A source-and-preview workspace inside the WordPress block editor.
• Local .md, .markdown, and .txt file loading with drag and drop.
• A bundled sample article localized for all 15 supported languages.
• Service-neutral AI authoring rules for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other writing tools.
• Editable WordPress blocks for headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, quotes, code, links, images, and callouts.
• Focused YAML Front Matter for titles, excerpts, slugs, tags, categories, and featured images.
• Preflight checks for unsupported syntax, heading hierarchy, image URLs, and title conflicts.
• Three insertion methods: add at the cursor, replace the current body, or create a separate draft.
• Permission-checked remote image import with private-network and SVG rejection.
• A separate Quick Post page for ordinary text, simple notation, local images, review, and submission.
• Administrator controls for the Quick Post destination, author, category, display language, and draft or publish behavior.
• Bundled translations for 15 locales.

GitHub and WordPress.org release packages include the same translations for English (US), Japanese, Spanish (Spain), German, French, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Russian, Dutch, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Turkish, Indonesian, Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan), and Korean.

Usage

Open KOTOTSUGI from the editor sidebar, then choose a .md, .markdown, or .txt file or open the workspace and paste Markdown. The desktop workspace shows the source and preview side by side; narrow screens use workspace tabs. Use “Post settings” to review Front Matter values and “Review before applying” to check warnings, choose an insertion method, and adjust conversion options.

For a first trial, choose “Load sample Markdown” in the sidebar. KOTOTSUGI loads a bundled sample and opens the workspace immediately.

The preflight check reports unsupported syntax, malformed or relative image URLs, heading-level jumps, multiple H1 headings, and title conflicts before content is applied. Each result links back to the relevant Markdown line. Informational adjustments do not block insertion; errors do.

Choose “Add at cursor” to insert blocks at the current position, “Replace post content” to replace existing blocks after confirmation, or “Create new draft” to save the import as a separate WordPress draft. Adding or replacing blocks never auto-saves the current post.

Files are read locally in the browser and are not uploaded by KOTOTSUGI. The maximum file size is 2 MB.

When remote image import is enabled, HTTP and HTTPS images referenced in Markdown are downloaded by WordPress and saved as media attachments. Images are limited to the site’s upload limit or 10 MB, whichever is smaller. Private-network URLs, unsupported image types, and SVG files are rejected. If an image cannot be imported, KOTOTSUGI keeps its original external URL and continues inserting the article.

Tell the AI how to write for KOTOTSUGI

Before asking ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another AI to write, choose Copy AI authoring rules in KOTOTSUGI and paste the text into the conversation, or give the AI the bundled KOTOTSUGI-RULES.md file. The rules cover supported structure, Front Matter, heading order, and image alternative text, helping the AI produce a draft that is ready to review and import. Although the file is written in English, it tells the AI to write the article, reader-facing post settings, and alternative text in the language you request, including your native language.

Quick Post

Quick Post is intended for shop staff, older adults, people with disabilities, anyone who finds the WordPress admin screen difficult, and anyone who wants to publish without learning many controls. It keeps only the steps needed to write, review, and submit an article; no knowledge of Markdown or the block editor is required.

Quick Post keeps the contributor flow narrow: enter a title and article text, review the preview, acknowledge relevant conversion warnings, and submit. Plain text and pasted Markdown are both accepted. Blank lines create paragraphs, ・ creates lists, and a short line on its own becomes a heading.

An optional “More ways to write” section introduces @ for a map-linked place, ! for important information, ※ for a note, ¥ for a price, and ☎ for a telephone link. Natural labels such as Place: and Phone: work too. Up to five JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP images can be attached with editable alternative text. KOTOTSUGI saves them to the Media Library and adds image blocks after the article.

Front Matter status and author values are silently ignored in Quick Post because the administrator fixes those choices in its settings.

The source textarea works with the operating system’s standard dictation. KOTOTSUGI does not request microphone access, record audio, or connect to a speech service.

The posting page uses a shared passphrase, atomically throttles repeated login failures, keeps a server-tracked signed browser session for 30 days, verifies submission tokens, and prevents duplicate submissions. Signing out revokes that browser session. Changing delegated authority, changing the passphrase, or using the administrator’s sign-out-all action invalidates existing sessions.

Administrators choose a fixed publishing destination for the posting page. Posts, Pages, and custom post types that support titles and the editor are available. KOTOTSUGI verifies that the selected author can create or publish that content type, and requires the author’s upload permission when images are attached.

The free workflow requires a person to supply, review, and submit each draft. Inbound email, webhooks, rule-based automatic publishing, multiple posting profiles, approval flows, delivery logs, and retries are not included in this version.

Supported Markdown

• ATX headings (# Heading)
• Paragraphs, bold, italic, inline code, and links
• Images (![Alternative text](https://example.com/image.jpg))
• Ordered and unordered lists
• Simple GitHub Flavored Markdown tables
• Quotes and fenced code blocks
• Horizontal rules
• Callouts: NOTE, TIP, IMPORTANT, WARNING, and CAUTION
• YAML Front Matter post settings

Supported Front Matter

KOTOTSUGI recognizes a focused YAML-compatible subset intended for AI-generated Markdown. Values can be edited or disabled before they are applied.

• title: post title
• excerpt or description: post excerpt
• slug: post slug
• tags: inline or multi-line list of tags
• categories: inline or multi-line list of categories
• featured_image, cover, or image: remote featured image URL
• featured_image_alt or image_alt: featured image alternative text

Unknown Front Matter keys are listed in the workspace and are not applied. KOTOTSUGI does not change the post author, publication status, or publication date from Front Matter.

Links

• Official website: upf.at-shift.net/en/kototsugi
• GitHub repository: github.com/at-shift/atshift-kototsugi
• AI authoring rules: KOTOTSUGI-RULES.md

Privacy

KOTOTSUGI does not send site data, article drafts, or uploaded files to the plugin author or an AI service. It does not include analytics, telemetry, advertising, or remote executable code.

Markdown files are read locally in the browser. Quick Post submissions and attached images are sent only to the WordPress site where KOTOTSUGI is installed. When an administrator enables remote image import, WordPress requests only the image URLs referenced by the submitted Markdown after validating permissions, network destinations, formats, and size limits.

KOTOTSUGI does not include an AI model or connect to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another writing service. Contributors decide separately whether to use an external AI service and are responsible for that service’s privacy terms.

Related Projects

These are separate, optional WordPress plugins from the same publisher. KOTOTSUGI does not depend on them.

• atshift User Profile Fields – create and manage configurable WordPress user profile fields.
• atshift Fields – create and organize custom fields for posts, pages, and custom post types.
• atshift Freeform Login – customize the WordPress login screen and add reusable login forms.
• atshift Feed Builder – build purpose-specific RSS 2.0 and JSON Feed 1.1 feeds from structured WordPress content.