Automatically Sending WordPress Posts to Flickr with Flickerer (Yet Another Janky Plugin)

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On 75CentralPhotography, we publish a lot of photos. For years, I’ve wanted a dead-simple way to push those posts to Flickr without manually downloading/re-uploading images or copy/pasting captions and tags every time.

So, in true tradition, I built another janky WordPress plugin.

This one is called Flickerer. It automatically sends a post to Flickr when the post transitions to published, and it also gives you a manual “Send to Flickr” button in the post editor for testing or one-off sends.

Why I Built It

The workflow problem was pretty straightforward:

  • Publish post in WordPress
  • Copy the image manually to Flickr
  • Copy title/caption manually to Flickr
  • Recreate tags manually
  • Repeat forever

That got old quickly (and by “quickly”, I mean I’ve been doing it this way for 19 years).

I wanted WordPress to remain the publishing source of truth and Flickr to be a downstream destination. So Flickerer does the repetitive bits for me:

  • Uses the first image in post content (or featured image fallback)
  • Uses post title as Flickr title
  • Uses stripped post content as Flickr description/caption
  • Derives Flickr tags from EXIF metadata plus optional default tags

Release Version

Release version: 0.1.0

Repository: https://github.com/MattGHarvey/Flickrer

Key Features

Automatic Publish Hook

When a post transitions from non-published to published, Flickerer queues a delayed send to Flickr. The delay helps avoid weird edge cases from plugins that briefly manipulate post status during publish workflows.

Manual Send Button in Post Editor

Every post has a Send to Flickr button in a sidebar metabox so you can test credentials or trigger a one-off upload.

Image Resolution Logic

Flickerer tries, in order:

  1. First image found in post content
  2. Featured image

If the first image is an external URL, the plugin downloads it temporarily and uploads that file.

Smart Caption and Tags

  • Caption: WordPress post content with HTML stripped
  • Tags: merged from optional default tags plus selected EXIF fields
  • Visibility: configurable public/friend/family options

OAuth-Based Flickr Connection

No hardcoded tokens in code. You enter API credentials in WordPress settings, click connect, authorize via Flickr, and the plugin stores access tokens in WordPress options.

Installation

  1. Copy the plugin folder into your WordPress plugins directory.
  2. Activate Flickerer.
  3. Go to Settings → Flickerer.
  4. Enter your Flickr API Key and API Secret.
  5. Click Connect Flickr Account and complete authorization.

Getting Your Flickr API Credentials

You’ll need a Flickr API Key and Secret before connection can work.

  1. Sign in to Flickr with the account you want to post to.
  2. Open Flickr App Garden create page: https://www.flickr.com/services/apps/create/
  3. Create a new app (non-commercial is fine for most personal blog use).
  4. Complete app details and submit.
  5. Copy the generated Key and Secret from your app details page.
  6. Paste those into Settings → Flickerer in WordPress.

You can manage existing Flickr apps here: https://www.flickr.com/services/apps/by/me

How It Works (High Level)

  1. Post is published.
  2. Plugin verifies Flickr credentials exist.
  3. Plugin resolves an uploadable image file path.
  4. Plugin builds title, caption, and tags.
  5. Plugin uploads via Flickr OAuth + upload API.
  6. Plugin stores the Flickr photo ID and upload timestamp in post metadata.

A Couple of Notes

  • The plugin requires PHP cURL for Flickr uploads.
  • EXIF-based tagging depends on available EXIF data and the PHP EXIF extension.
  • New installs default to public visibility on, friend/family visibility off.
  • This intentionally favors simple behavior over lots of abstraction. If you’re looking for architectural purity, this may be spiritually upsetting.

Known Janky Bits (By Design)

  • It currently does not prevent intentional re-sends if you manually click send again.
  • Tag extraction is useful but pragmatic, not magical.
  • Error handling is mostly geared for practical admin feedback and debugging.

In other words: very usable, mildly chaotic.

Get Started Today

If your WordPress workflow already contains everything you want to publish to Flickr, Flickerer can remove most of the copy/paste glue work and keep your posting process moving.

If you try it and have ideas for improvements, feel free to open an issue or PR:

https://github.com/MattGHarvey/Flickrer

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Mockery?

Always welcome.

Featured Image By Jon Tyson

Questions? Comments? Concerns?