feat(seo): wire autofill into publish path behind SEO_AUTOFILL (default off, dry-run support)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/bot/bot.py

@@ -278,7 +278,11 @@ async def cmd_generate(update: Update, ctx: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
 
     chat_id = update.effective_chat.id
     output_arg = ctx.args[0].lower() if ctx.args else ""
-    lang = "en" if len(ctx.args) > 1 and ctx.args[1].lower() == "en" else "es"
+    rest = [a.lower() for a in ctx.args[1:]]
+    lang = "en" if "en" in rest else "es"
+    # `/generate blog en dry` forces SEO dry-run for this one call (proposes SEO to
+    # Telegram, writes a bare draft). Global default still comes from SEO_AUTOFILL.
+    seo_override = "dryrun" if ("dry" in rest or "dryrun" in rest) else None
 
     type_map = {
         "podcast": OutputType.PODCAST,
@@ -347,7 +351,8 @@ async def cmd_generate(update: Update, ctx: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
         processor = ContentProcessor(db, ollama)
         generator = OutputGenerator(db, ollama, processor)
 
-        output = await generator.generate(session_id, output_type, gen_progress, lang=lang)
+        output = await generator.generate(session_id, output_type, gen_progress,
+                                           lang=lang, seo_override=seo_override)
 
         # Send as file if very long
         if len(output) > 8000:
@@ -384,6 +389,18 @@ async def cmd_generate(update: Update, ctx: ContextTypes.DEFAULT_TYPE):
         else:
             await send_chunked(update.message, output)
 
+        # SEO autofill / dry-run summary — a SEPARATE short message so it is never
+        # buried inside the long .md document. None on the flag-off path.
+        if getattr(generator, "last_publish_notice", None):
+            try:
+                await update.message.reply_text(
+                    generator.last_publish_notice,
+                    parse_mode=ParseMode.MARKDOWN,
+                    disable_web_page_preview=True,
+                )
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.warning("Failed to send SEO summary message", error=str(e))
+
         try:
             stats = await db.get_usage_stats(session_id)
             total_cost = sum(s.get("total_cost", 0) for s in stats)

src/config.py

@@ -48,6 +48,15 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     ghost_url_en: str = Field("", env="GHOST_URL_EN")
     ghost_api_key_en: str = Field("", env="GHOST_API_KEY_EN")
 
+    # SEO autofill — "off" | "on" | "dryrun" (default off).
+    #   off    = today's exact behavior (bare draft, no second LLM call).
+    #   on     = adds best-effort meta/OG/Twitter/tags/internal-links to the DRAFT
+    #            (status stays "draft" — NEVER auto-publishes; see src/seo/autofill.py).
+    #   dryrun = runs the full pipeline + reports the proposed SEO to Telegram, but
+    #            writes a BARE draft (no seo fields), for inspection before trusting
+    #            the write path. A `/generate blog en dry` arg forces dryrun per-call.
+    seo_autofill: str = Field("off", env="SEO_AUTOFILL")
+
     # Alerts
     cost_alert_threshold: float = Field(0.15, env="COST_ALERT_THRESHOLD")
 
@@ -61,6 +70,15 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
             return []
         return [int(uid.strip()) for uid in self.telegram_allowed_users.split(",") if uid.strip()]
 
+    @property
+    def seo_autofill_enabled(self) -> bool:
+        """True when autofill should run (either live 'on' or 'dryrun')."""
+        return (self.seo_autofill or "").strip().lower() in ("on", "true", "1", "yes", "dryrun")
+
+    @property
+    def seo_autofill_dryrun(self) -> bool:
+        return (self.seo_autofill or "").strip().lower() == "dryrun"
+
     class Config:
         env_file = ".env"
 

src/generator/generator.py

@@ -290,8 +290,94 @@ def _seo_checklist(slug: str) -> str:
     )
 
 
+# Language-aware default tag when no seo/tags are supplied. Fixes the historical
+# hardcoded "investigacion" that mis-tagged EN posts; EN canonical is "investigation".
+_DEFAULT_TAG = {"en": "investigation", "es": "investigacion"}
+
+
+def _resolve_seo_mode(override: str | None = None) -> str:
+    """Effective SEO autofill mode: 'off' | 'on' | 'dryrun'.
+    A per-call override ('dryrun'/'on', e.g. from `/generate blog en dry`) wins;
+    otherwise it derives from settings.seo_autofill."""
+    if override in ("on", "dryrun"):
+        return override
+    if settings.seo_autofill_dryrun:
+        return "dryrun"
+    if settings.seo_autofill_enabled:
+        return "on"
+    return "off"
+
+
+def _seo_checklist_slim(slug: str) -> str:
+    """Slimmed checklist for the autofill path: meta/OG/excerpt/tags/links are
+    already on the draft, so only the human-only bits remain."""
+    return (
+        "⚠️ Antes de publicar: añade *feature image + alt*, luego:\n"
+        f"`seo-check {slug}`"
+    )
+
+
+def _bare_ghost_notice(ghost: "GhostPublisher", post: dict) -> str:
+    """Today's exact draft-published notice (editor link + full checklist).
+    Used for the flag-off path and as the autofill failure fallback."""
+    return (
+        f"\n\n---\n"
+        f"📤 *Borrador publicado en Ghost*\n"
+        f"Editar: {ghost.url}/ghost/#/editor/post/{post['id']}"
+        f"{_seo_checklist(post.get('slug', ''))}"
+    )
+
+
+def _seo_link_summary(seo: dict, n_links: int) -> str:
+    pairs = [(l["phrase"], l["slug"]) for l in seo.get("internal_links", [])]
+    return f"{n_links} insertados" + (f" — {pairs}" if pairs else "")
+
+
+def _seo_live_message(ghost: "GhostPublisher", post: dict, seo: dict, n_links: int) -> str:
+    """Separate Telegram message for the live autofill path (SEO written to draft)."""
+    slug = post.get("slug", "")
+    warns = seo.get("seo_warnings") or []
+    warn_line = ("\n⚠️ revisar: " + "; ".join(warns)) if warns else ""
+    return (
+        f"📤 *Borrador en Ghost — SEO autorrelleno*\n"
+        f"Editar: {ghost.url}/ghost/#/editor/post/{post['id']}\n\n"
+        f"🔖 *SEO escrito en el draft:*\n"
+        f"• meta title ({len(seo['meta_title'])}): {seo['meta_title']}\n"
+        f"• meta desc ({len(seo['meta_description'])}): {seo['meta_description']}\n"
+        f"• excerpt: {len(seo['custom_excerpt'])} car.\n"
+        f"• tags: {', '.join(seo['tags'])}\n"
+        f"• internal links: {_seo_link_summary(seo, n_links)}"
+        f"{warn_line}\n\n"
+        f"🖼️ *Imagen sugerida:*\n"
+        f"`imagefinder --query \"{seo['image_query']}\" --context \"{seo['image_context']}\" --lang {ghost.lang}`\n\n"
+        f"{_seo_checklist_slim(slug)}"
+    )
+
+
+def _seo_dryrun_message(ghost: "GhostPublisher", post: dict, seo: dict, n_links: int) -> str:
+    """Separate Telegram message for DRY-RUN: bare draft created, SEO only proposed."""
+    slug = post.get("slug", "")
+    warns = seo.get("seo_warnings") or []
+    warn_line = ("\n⚠️ revisar: " + "; ".join(warns)) if warns else ""
+    return (
+        f"🧪 *DRY-RUN SEO* — draft creado SIN escribir SEO (solo revisión)\n"
+        f"Editar: {ghost.url}/ghost/#/editor/post/{post['id']}\n\n"
+        f"🔖 *SEO propuesto (NO escrito en Ghost):*\n"
+        f"• meta title ({len(seo['meta_title'])}): {seo['meta_title']}\n"
+        f"• meta desc ({len(seo['meta_description'])}): {seo['meta_description']}\n"
+        f"• excerpt ({len(seo['custom_excerpt'])} car.): {seo['custom_excerpt']}\n"
+        f"• tags: {', '.join(seo['tags'])}\n"
+        f"• internal links que se insertarían: {_seo_link_summary(seo, n_links)}"
+        f"{warn_line}\n\n"
+        f"🖼️ *Imagen sugerida:*\n"
+        f"`imagefinder --query \"{seo['image_query']}\" --context \"{seo['image_context']}\" --lang {ghost.lang}`\n\n"
+        f"{_seo_checklist_slim(slug)}"
+    )
+
+
 class GhostPublisher:
     def __init__(self, lang: str = "es"):
+        self.lang = lang
         if lang == "en":
             self.url = (settings.ghost_url_en or "").rstrip("/")
             self.api_key = settings.ghost_api_key_en or ""
@@ -302,6 +388,16 @@ class GhostPublisher:
     def is_configured(self) -> bool:
         return bool(self.url and self.api_key)
 
+    def _build_html(self, markdown_content: str) -> str:
+        """Canonical markdown → Ghost body HTML conversion: strip the ResearchOwl
+        header, render markdown, drop the first <h1> (Ghost renders the title).
+        Shared so callers that need the linked HTML produce the SAME html that gets
+        posted (no drift between link-insertion and the mobiledoc body)."""
+        import markdown as _md
+        clean = _strip_researchowl_header(markdown_content)
+        html = _md.markdown(clean, extensions=["extra"])
+        return re.sub(r"<h1[^>]*>.*?</h1>", "", html, count=1, flags=re.DOTALL).lstrip()
+
     def _make_token(self) -> str:
         key_id, secret = self.api_key.split(":", 1)
         now = int(time.time())
@@ -314,18 +410,25 @@ class GhostPublisher:
         return f"{signing}.{sig}"
 
     async def publish_draft(self, title: str, markdown_content: str,
-                            tags: list[str] | None = None) -> dict:
+                            tags: list[str] | None = None,
+                            seo: dict | None = None,
+                            body_html: str | None = None) -> dict:
+        """Create a Ghost DRAFT. status is ALWAYS "draft" — never published.
+
+        Purely-additive SEO hooks (both default None → byte-identical to the
+        original behavior):
+          * body_html — pre-converted + internal-linked HTML from the caller; used
+            verbatim when given, else markdown_content is converted as before.
+          * seo — a generate_seo_fields dict; when given, its meta/OG/Twitter fields
+            are added to the post and its (allow-list) tags are used.
+        """
         import aiohttp as _aio
-        import markdown as _md
 
-        clean = _strip_researchowl_header(markdown_content)
+        # Caller-supplied linked HTML wins; otherwise convert markdown as before.
-        html = _md.markdown(clean, extensions=["extra"])
+        html = body_html if body_html is not None else self._build_html(markdown_content)
-
-        # Ghost añade el título automáticamente — eliminar el primer <h1> para evitar duplicado
-        html = re.sub(r"<h1[^>]*>.*?</h1>", "", html, count=1, flags=re.DOTALL).lstrip()
 
         logger.info("Ghost publish_draft", html_length=len(html),
-                    html_preview=html[:200])
+                    html_preview=html[:200], seo=bool(seo))
 
         if not html.strip():
             raise ValueError("Ghost: HTML vacío tras conversión markdown — contenido no enviado")
@@ -342,14 +445,25 @@ class GhostPublisher:
         })
 
         token = self._make_token()
-        body = {
+        # Language-aware default tag (fixes the hardcoded "investigacion" for EN).
-            "posts": [{
+        tag_names = tags or [_DEFAULT_TAG.get(self.lang, "investigation")]
+        post_obj = {
             "title": title,
             "mobiledoc": mobiledoc,
-                "status": "draft",
+            "status": "draft",            # NEVER "published" — draft only, always.
-                "tags": [{"name": t} for t in (tags or ["investigacion"])],
+            "tags": [{"name": t} for t in tag_names],
-            }]
         }
+        if seo:
+            post_obj.update({
+                "meta_title": seo["meta_title"],
+                "meta_description": seo["meta_description"],
+                "custom_excerpt": seo["custom_excerpt"],
+                "og_title": seo["og_title"],
+                "og_description": seo["og_description"],
+                "twitter_title": seo["twitter_title"],
+                "twitter_description": seo["twitter_description"],
+            })
+        body = {"posts": [post_obj]}
         async with _aio.ClientSession() as sess:
             async with sess.post(
                 f"{self.url}/ghost/api/admin/posts/",
@@ -372,15 +486,86 @@ class OutputGenerator:
         self.db = db
         self.ollama = ollama
         self.processor = processor
+        # Set during a blog generation when the autofill/dry-run path runs: a short
+        # markdown SEO summary the bot sends as a SEPARATE Telegram message (so it is
+        # never buried inside the long .md document). None on the flag-off path.
+        self.last_publish_notice: str | None = None
+
+    async def _publish_blog_to_ghost(self, lang: str, full_output: str, topic: str,
+                                     session_id: int, seo_override: str | None) -> str:
+        """Publish a blog DRAFT to Ghost, gated by the SEO autofill mode.
+
+        Returns the ghost_notice to APPEND to the returned document (flag-off /
+        fallback bare-draft path only). For the autofill 'on'/'dryrun' paths it sets
+        self.last_publish_notice (a separate Telegram message) and returns "".
+
+        NEVER raises and NEVER blocks publishing: any autofill failure degrades to
+        today's exact bare-draft publish. status is always "draft".
+        """
+        ghost = GhostPublisher(lang=lang)
+        if not ghost.is_configured():
+            return ""
+        title = _extract_title(full_output) or topic
+        mode = _resolve_seo_mode(seo_override)
+
+        if mode in ("on", "dryrun"):
+            try:
+                from src.seo.autofill import (
+                    fetch_published_menu, generate_seo_fields, insert_internal_links,
+                )
+                article_md = _strip_researchowl_header(full_output)
+                menu = await fetch_published_menu(lang)
+                seo = await generate_seo_fields(
+                    article_md, menu, lang, title=title,
+                    db=self.db, session_id=session_id,
+                )
+                if seo is None:
+                    raise RuntimeError("generate_seo_fields returned None")
+                # Build the SAME html that will be posted, then link it deterministically.
+                html = ghost._build_html(article_md)
+                linked_html, n_links = insert_internal_links(
+                    html, seo["internal_links"], menu, lang)
+
+                if mode == "dryrun":
+                    # Bare draft (today's write path) — do NOT write seo fields; only
+                    # surface the proposal so Jose can inspect before trusting writes.
+                    result = await ghost.publish_draft(title, full_output)
+                    post = result["posts"][0]
+                    self.last_publish_notice = _seo_dryrun_message(ghost, post, seo, n_links)
+                else:
+                    result = await ghost.publish_draft(
+                        title, full_output, tags=seo["tags"], seo=seo,
+                        body_html=linked_html)
+                    post = result["posts"][0]
+                    self.last_publish_notice = _seo_live_message(ghost, post, seo, n_links)
+                logger.info("Auto-published blog to Ghost",
+                            mode=mode, post_id=post["id"], links=n_links)
+                return ""
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.warning("SEO autofill failed; falling back to bare draft",
+                               error=str(e))
+                # fall through to the bare-draft publish below
+
+        # OFF mode, or autofill failed → today's exact bare-draft publish.
+        try:
+            result = await ghost.publish_draft(title, full_output)
+            post = result["posts"][0]
+            logger.info("Auto-published blog to Ghost (bare)", post_id=post["id"])
+            return _bare_ghost_notice(ghost, post)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning("Auto-publish to Ghost failed", error=str(e))
+            return ""
 
     async def generate(self, session_id: int, output_type: OutputType,
-                       progress_callback=None, lang: str = "es") -> str:
+                       progress_callback=None, lang: str = "es",
+                       seo_override: str | None = None) -> str:
         """Generate an output for a research session"""
+        self.last_publish_notice = None
         if output_type in (OutputType.REPORT_EXTENDED,
                            OutputType.BLOG_EXTENDED,
                            OutputType.PODCAST_EXTENDED):
             return await self.generate_extended(session_id, output_type, progress_callback,
-                                                lang=lang)
+                                                lang=lang, seo_override=seo_override)
 
         session = await self.db.get_session(session_id)
         if not session:
@@ -426,24 +611,11 @@ class OutputGenerator:
         # Save to DB
         await self.db.save_output(session_id, output_type, full_output)
 
-        # Auto-publish to Ghost for blog outputs
+        # Auto-publish to Ghost for blog outputs (autofill mode gated inside helper).
         ghost_notice = ""
         if output_type in (OutputType.BLOG, OutputType.BLOG_EXTENDED):
-            ghost = GhostPublisher(lang=lang)
+            ghost_notice = await self._publish_blog_to_ghost(
-            if ghost.is_configured():
+                lang, full_output, topic, session_id, seo_override)
-                try:
-                    title = _extract_title(full_output) or topic
-                    result = await ghost.publish_draft(title, full_output)
-                    post = result["posts"][0]
-                    ghost_notice = (
-                        f"\n\n---\n"
-                        f"📤 *Borrador publicado en Ghost*\n"
-                        f"Editar: {ghost.url}/ghost/#/editor/post/{post['id']}"
-                        f"{_seo_checklist(post.get('slug', ''))}"
-                    )
-                    logger.info("Auto-published blog to Ghost", post_id=post["id"])
-                except Exception as e:
-                    logger.warning("Auto-publish to Ghost failed", error=str(e))
 
         logger.info("Output generated", type=output_type, length=len(full_output))
         return full_output + ghost_notice
@@ -500,7 +672,8 @@ class OutputGenerator:
         return systems.get(output_type, "You are a helpful research assistant.")
 
     async def generate_extended(self, session_id: int, output_type: OutputType,
-                                progress_callback=None, lang: str = "es") -> str:
+                                progress_callback=None, lang: str = "es",
+                                seo_override: str | None = None) -> str:
         """
         Generación por secciones para outputs exhaustivos.
         1. Recupera muestra de contexto para el outline
@@ -601,24 +774,11 @@ class OutputGenerator:
 
         await self.db.save_output(session_id, output_type, full_output)
 
-        # Auto-publish to Ghost for extended blog outputs
+        # Auto-publish to Ghost for extended blog outputs (autofill mode gated inside).
         ghost_notice = ""
         if output_type == OutputType.BLOG_EXTENDED:
-            ghost = GhostPublisher(lang=lang)
+            ghost_notice = await self._publish_blog_to_ghost(
-            if ghost.is_configured():
+                lang, full_output, topic, session_id, seo_override)
-                try:
-                    title = _extract_title(full_output) or topic
-                    result = await ghost.publish_draft(title, full_output)
-                    post = result["posts"][0]
-                    ghost_notice = (
-                        f"\n\n---\n"
-                        f"📤 *Borrador publicado en Ghost*\n"
-                        f"Editar: {ghost.url}/ghost/#/editor/post/{post['id']}"
-                        f"{_seo_checklist(post.get('slug', ''))}"
-                    )
-                    logger.info("Auto-published extended blog to Ghost", post_id=post["id"])
-                except Exception as e:
-                    logger.warning("Auto-publish to Ghost failed (extended)", error=str(e))
 
         logger.info("Extended output generated", type=output_type,
                     sections=len(sections), length=len(full_output))

src/seo/autofill.py

@@ -0,0 +1,623 @@
+"""SEO autofill — best-effort meta/OG/Twitter/tags/internal-links for a draft.
+
+Step 2 (this file): pure, testable units. NOTHING here is wired into the live
+publish path yet (that is Step 3, behind `settings.seo_autofill`). Every public
+function is isolation-safe: on ANY failure it degrades (menu → [], fields → None,
+link insertion → unchanged html), so it can never block or break article
+publishing, and it never changes a post's `status` away from `draft`.
+
+Three units:
+  * fetch_published_menu(lang)  — live "menu" of existing posts to link to.
+  * generate_seo_fields(...)    — one Haiku JSON call → validated SEO dict.
+  * insert_internal_links(...)  — deterministic, LLM never touches HTML.
+
+The SEO rules engine (length limits, link counting) is the SAME vendored module
+the auditor (Tool A) and validator (Tool C) use: src/seo/rules.py.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import re
+
+import structlog
+
+from src.config import settings
+from src.llm import get_anthropic_client
+from src.seo import rules as R
+
+logger = structlog.get_logger(__name__)
+
+# Canonical site host per language. The wrapped <a> hrefs use the www host (the
+# site's canonical form); rules.internal_links still counts them because its
+# SITE_HOST ("theexclusionzone.com") is a substring of "www.theexclusionzone.com".
+SITE_BY_LANG = {
+    "en": "www.theexclusionzone.com",
+    "es": "www.zonadeexclusion.com",
+}
+
+# Tag allow-list — the model may ONLY pick from these; invented tags are dropped
+# deterministically after the call (never trust the LLM to self-limit). EN is the
+# live vocabulary Jose confirmed; ES is not yet constrained, so we don't enforce
+# it (model picks freely there until an ES vocab is pinned down).
+ALLOWED_TAGS = {
+    "en": [
+        "uap", "declassified", "military-cases", "classic-cases",
+        "investigation", "spain-cases", "latin-america",
+    ],
+    # "es": [...]  # TODO: pin the live ES tag vocabulary before constraining.
+}
+
+# Language-aware default tag when nothing from the allow-list fits / the model
+# returns none. EN canonical is "investigation" (NOT the legacy "investigacion").
+DEFAULT_TAG = {"en": "investigation", "es": "investigacion"}
+
+MAX_INTERNAL_LINKS = 3
+
+# Blocking violations at generation time = only the length/missing rules on the
+# fields WE generate. feature_image*, internal_links.too_few, social *.empty and
+# the INFO rules are expected / non-blocking at draft time.
+_BLOCKING_PREFIXES = ("meta_title.", "meta_description.", "custom_excerpt.")
+
+
+# ─── 1. Published menu ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+async def fetch_published_menu(lang: str) -> list[dict]:
+    """Live list of published posts on the same site/lang: [{slug, title}, ...].
+
+    Reuses GhostPublisher's per-lang URL + JWT minting. On ANY failure
+    (unconfigured, timeout, non-200, bad JSON) → return [] and log; never raise.
+    """
+    try:
+        # Lazy import to avoid a heavy/circular import at module load.
+        from src.generator.generator import GhostPublisher
+        import aiohttp as _aio
+
+        pub = GhostPublisher(lang=lang)
+        if not pub.is_configured():
+            logger.warning("seo.menu: Ghost not configured for lang", lang=lang)
+            return []
+
+        token = pub._make_token()
+        url = (
+            f"{pub.url}/ghost/api/admin/posts/"
+            "?filter=status:published&fields=id,slug,title&limit=all"
+        )
+        timeout = _aio.ClientTimeout(total=30)
+        async with _aio.ClientSession(timeout=timeout) as sess:
+            async with sess.get(
+                url,
+                headers={
+                    "Authorization": f"Ghost {token}",
+                    "Accept-Version": "v5.0",
+                },
+            ) as resp:
+                if resp.status != 200:
+                    body = await resp.text()
+                    logger.warning("seo.menu: non-200 from Ghost",
+                                   status=resp.status, body=body[:200])
+                    return []
+                data = await resp.json()
+
+        menu = [
+            {"slug": p["slug"], "title": p.get("title", "")}
+            for p in data.get("posts", [])
+            if p.get("slug")
+        ]
+        logger.info("seo.menu: fetched", lang=lang, count=len(menu))
+        return menu
+    except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001 — isolation guarantee
+        logger.warning("seo.menu: fetch failed, using empty menu",
+                       lang=lang, error=str(e))
+        return []
+
+
+# ─── 2. SEO field generation (one Haiku JSON call) ──────────────────────────
+
+def _system_prompt(lang: str) -> str:
+    allow = ", ".join(ALLOWED_TAGS.get(lang, []))
+    out_lang = "SPANISH" if lang == "es" else "ENGLISH"
+    tag_clause = (
+        f"TAGS: choose 2-4 tags ONLY from this exact list (never invent a tag, "
+        f"never translate it, never use \"investigacion\"): {allow}.\n"
+        if allow else
+        "TAGS: 2-4 lowercase-hyphenated topical tags appropriate to the article.\n"
+    )
+    return (
+        "You are an SEO editor for an investigative blog about UAP/UFO history.\n"
+        "You are given a FINISHED article and a MENU of existing published posts on the site.\n"
+        "Return ONLY a single JSON object — no prose, no markdown fences — with these fields.\n\n"
+        "HARD LIMITS (count characters; never exceed — and aim BELOW the cap for safety):\n"
+        f"- meta_title:        <= {R.META_TITLE_MAX} characters (aim ~50). Compelling, specific, "
+        "front-load the key entity.\n"
+        f"- meta_description:  <= {R.META_DESC_MAX} characters (aim ~125 — one SHORT sentence). "
+        "Earn the click; describe what the article answers, not clickbait.\n"
+        f"- custom_excerpt:    <= {R.CUSTOM_EXCERPT_MAX} characters (aim ~260). 1-2 sentences "
+        "summarizing the article's substance.\n\n"
+        + tag_clause +
+        "\nINTERNAL LINKS — quality over count, mirror the site's manual policy:\n"
+        "- The \"phrase\" MUST be a SHORT entity name (typically 1-4 words: a person, program, "
+        "office, or named incident) copied VERBATIM from the ARTICLE body. NEVER use a menu "
+        "title or slug as the phrase — the phrase has to literally appear in the article text.\n"
+        "- Link that phrase to a MENU post ONLY if that post's PRIMARY SUBJECT — what it is "
+        "actually ABOUT (judge from its slug + title) — IS that same entity. Not merely a post "
+        "that mentions it. If unsure the target is really ABOUT the entity, DO NOT link it.\n"
+        "  GOOD: phrase \"AARO\" → aaro-... post (short phrase from the body; that post is ABOUT AARO).\n"
+        "  GOOD: phrase \"GIMBAL\" → gimbal-gofast-... post (it is ABOUT the GIMBAL video).\n"
+        "  BAD:  phrase \"AATIP\" → gimbal-gofast-... post (that post is NOT about AATIP). Skip it.\n"
+        "  BAD:  using the full menu title \"AARO's UFO Investigation: What Eight Decades...\" as the "
+        "phrase (that string is not in the article body — it will fail to match). Use \"AARO\".\n"
+        "- 0 to 3 links. NEVER force a link to hit a number. ONE strong, on-subject link beats two "
+        "loose ones. Skip if no target is genuinely about the phrase.\n"
+        "- Use only slugs from the MENU. Never link the article to itself.\n"
+        "- Give the phrase EXACTLY as it appears in the article (case-sensitive), so it can be matched.\n\n"
+        "IMAGE: suggest a concrete image search query (subjects/objects a stock site would have — "
+        "NOT the headline) and a one-sentence context describing what the article is about.\n\n"
+        f"Write meta_title, meta_description, custom_excerpt, image_query and image_context in {out_lang}.\n\n"
+        "JSON schema (all fields required):\n"
+        '{"meta_title": "...", "meta_description": "...", "custom_excerpt": "...", '
+        '"tags": ["..."], "internal_links": [{"phrase": "...", "slug": "..."}], '
+        '"image_query": "...", "image_context": "..."}'
+    )
+
+
+def _user_message(article_text: str, link_menu: list[dict]) -> str:
+    menu_lines = "\n".join(
+        f"- {m['slug']} — {m.get('title','')}" for m in link_menu
+    ) or "(no existing posts)"
+    return (
+        "MENU of existing published posts (slug — title):\n"
+        f"{menu_lines}\n\n"
+        "ARTICLE:\n"
+        f"{article_text}"
+    )
+
+
+def _parse_json_object(text: str) -> dict:
+    """Strip optional ``` fences and parse the first JSON object. Raises on failure."""
+    t = text.strip()
+    t = re.sub(r"^```(?:json)?\s*", "", t)
+    t = re.sub(r"\s*```$", "", t).strip()
+    # If extra prose snuck in, grab the outermost {...}.
+    if not t.startswith("{"):
+        m = re.search(r"\{.*\}", t, re.DOTALL)
+        if m:
+            t = m.group(0)
+    obj = json.loads(t)
+    if not isinstance(obj, dict):
+        raise ValueError("model did not return a JSON object")
+    return obj
+
+
+_REQUIRED_STR = ("meta_title", "meta_description", "custom_excerpt",
+                 "image_query", "image_context")
+
+
+def _coerce(obj: dict, lang: str) -> dict:
+    """Validate shape + constrain tags to the allow-list. Raises on missing required strings."""
+    for k in _REQUIRED_STR:
+        if not isinstance(obj.get(k), str) or not obj[k].strip():
+            raise ValueError(f"missing/empty required field: {k}")
+
+    raw_tags = obj.get("tags") or []
+    if not isinstance(raw_tags, list):
+        raw_tags = []
+    allow = ALLOWED_TAGS.get(lang)
+    if allow:
+        seen, tags = set(), []
+        allow_set = set(allow)
+        for t in raw_tags:
+            if isinstance(t, str):
+                s = t.strip().lower()
+                if s in allow_set and s not in seen:
+                    seen.add(s)
+                    tags.append(s)
+        if not tags:
+            tags = [DEFAULT_TAG.get(lang, "investigation")]
+    else:
+        tags = [t.strip().lower() for t in raw_tags
+                if isinstance(t, str) and t.strip()] or [DEFAULT_TAG.get(lang, "investigacion")]
+
+    links = []
+    for item in (obj.get("internal_links") or []):
+        if isinstance(item, dict) and item.get("phrase") and item.get("slug"):
+            links.append({"phrase": str(item["phrase"]), "slug": str(item["slug"])})
+
+    return {
+        "meta_title": obj["meta_title"].strip(),
+        "meta_description": obj["meta_description"].strip(),
+        "custom_excerpt": obj["custom_excerpt"].strip(),
+        "tags": tags,
+        "internal_links": links,
+        "image_query": obj["image_query"].strip(),
+        "image_context": obj["image_context"].strip(),
+    }
+
+
+def _markdown_to_html(article_text: str) -> str:
+    """Same conversion publish_draft uses, so validation sees the real body."""
+    import markdown as _md
+    html = _md.markdown(article_text, extensions=["extra"])
+    return re.sub(r"<h1[^>]*>.*?</h1>", "", html, count=1, flags=re.DOTALL).lstrip()
+
+
+def _synthetic_post(fields: dict, html: str, title: str, slug: str) -> dict:
+    mt, md = fields["meta_title"], fields["meta_description"]
+    return {
+        "html": html,
+        "title": title,
+        "slug": slug or "",
+        "meta_title": mt,
+        "meta_description": md,
+        "custom_excerpt": fields["custom_excerpt"],
+        "og_title": mt, "og_description": md,
+        "twitter_title": mt, "twitter_description": md,
+        "feature_image": "",       # human adds later
+        "feature_image_alt": "",   # human adds later
+    }
+
+
+def _blocking(violations) -> list:
+    return [v for v in violations if v.rule.startswith(_BLOCKING_PREFIXES)]
+
+
+# Length-limited fields we generate. The retry aims at (limit - margin), well
+# UNDER the hard limit: Haiku cannot count to an exact char count and reliably
+# overshoots its target by 20-50 chars, so the margin must absorb that overshoot.
+# Margins are per-field (bigger for the long free-text fields that overshoot most).
+_LEN_LIMITS = {
+    "meta_title": R.META_TITLE_MAX,
+    "meta_description": R.META_DESC_MAX,
+    "custom_excerpt": R.CUSTOM_EXCERPT_MAX,
+}
+_LEN_MARGIN = {
+    "meta_title": 10,        # target 50
+    "meta_description": 35,   # target 110
+    "custom_excerpt": 45,     # target 255
+}
+
+
+# Minimum useful length per field. If a CLEAN boundary-trim would drop a field
+# below this, we DON'T trim it — better a slightly-over field a human nudges than
+# a butchered stub. Falls back to path-1 (keep + flag) for that field only.
+_MIN_USEFUL = {
+    "meta_title": 25,
+    "meta_description": 80,
+    "custom_excerpt": 120,
+}
+
+# Connective / function words (EN + ES) we must not leave dangling at the end of
+# a word-boundary trim — they all "expect more" after them, so ending on one reads
+# as cut-off. Compared lowercased, after stripping trailing punctuation. Includes
+# correlatives (neither/nor), interrogatives (why/what), and contracted auxiliaries
+# (won't/can't) that surfaced as bad trims in testing.
+_DANGLING_WORDS = {
+    # English — articles / prepositions / basic connectives
+    "and", "or", "but", "the", "a", "an", "of", "to", "in", "on", "for", "with",
+    "at", "by", "from", "as", "that", "which", "is", "was", "were", "this",
+    "its", "their", "his", "her", "into", "over", "after", "about", "between",
+    "during", "against", "among", "without", "within", "upon", "toward", "towards",
+    "via", "per", "amid", "despite", "near", "off", "out", "up", "down",
+    # English — correlatives / subordinators / interrogatives / negation
+    "nor", "neither", "either", "both", "whether", "while", "since", "though",
+    "although", "unless", "until", "because", "if", "than", "then", "yet", "so",
+    "not", "no", "why", "how", "when", "where", "what", "who", "whom", "whose",
+    # English — contracted auxiliaries (read as mid-clause)
+    "won't", "can't", "cannot", "don't", "doesn't", "didn't", "isn't", "aren't",
+    "wasn't", "weren't", "hasn't", "haven't", "still", "just", "ever",
+    # Spanish
+    "y", "o", "u", "pero", "el", "la", "los", "las", "un", "una", "de", "del",
+    "en", "con", "por", "para", "que", "su", "sus", "al", "como", "se", "lo",
+    "ni", "sino", "porque", "aunque", "mientras", "cuando", "donde", "segun",
+    "según", "sin", "entre", "sobre", "tras", "ante", "hacia", "hasta", "desde",
+    "ya", "muy", "mas", "más", "menos", "tan", "no",
+}
+
+# Characters safe to strip from the end of a trimmed phrase (whitespace, commas,
+# semicolons, colons, dashes/em-dashes). Sentence-final . ! ? are intentionally
+# NOT here — if a trim happens to land on one we keep it.
+_TRAIL_PUNCT = " \t,;:—–- "
+
+
+def _drop_sentences_to_fit(text: str, limit: int) -> str:
+    """Drop WHOLE trailing sentences until the text fits within `limit`.
+
+    Splits on sentence terminators (. ! ?) keeping the delimiter, then returns the
+    longest run of complete leading sentences that is <= limit. Never a mid-
+    sentence cut. Returns "" if even the first sentence is over limit (caller's
+    min-useful guardrail then keeps the original)."""
+    parts = [p for p in re.findall(r"[^.!?]*[.!?]+|\S[^.!?]*$", text.strip()) if p.strip()]
+    if not parts:
+        return ""
+    out = ""
+    for p in parts:
+        candidate = out + p
+        if len(candidate.strip()) <= limit:
+            out = candidate
+        else:
+            break
+    return out.strip()
+
+
+def _trim_to_word_boundary(text: str, limit: int) -> str:
+    """Trim to the last WORD boundary that fits, then strip trailing punctuation
+    and any dangling connective word. No mid-word cut, no ellipsis. The result
+    reads as a complete-ish phrase. Returns "" if nothing survives the cleanup."""
+    text = text.strip()
+    if len(text) <= limit:
+        return text
+    out = ""
+    for w in text.split():
+        candidate = w if not out else f"{out} {w}"
+        if len(candidate) <= limit:
+            out = candidate
+        else:
+            break
+    # Clean the tail: alternately strip trailing punctuation and dangling words
+    # until the phrase ends on a content word.
+    while out:
+        stripped = out.rstrip(_TRAIL_PUNCT)
+        if stripped != out:
+            out = stripped
+            continue
+        # Capture the trailing word INCLUDING internal apostrophes, so contractions
+        # ("won't", "doesn't") match the dangling list instead of just their tail.
+        m = re.search(r"([^\W\d_]+(?:['’][^\W\d_]+)*)$", out, re.UNICODE)
+        if m and m.group(1).lower() in _DANGLING_WORDS:
+            out = out[:m.start()].rstrip(_TRAIL_PUNCT)
+            continue
+        break
+    return out.strip()
+
+
+def _shorten_over_limit(fields: dict) -> tuple[dict, list[dict]]:
+    """FINAL, deterministic, boundary-aware shortener — runs only after the LLM +
+    retry have tried, only on fields STILL over their hard limit. This is NOT the
+    forbidden ugly truncation: custom_excerpt drops whole trailing sentences; the
+    single-line metas trim to a word boundary and clean dangling punctuation.
+
+    Quality guardrail: if a clean shorten would fall below the field's minimum
+    useful length, we keep the LLM's over-limit text and flag it (path-1 fallback
+    for that field only). Mutates `fields` in place; also returns it.
+
+    Returns (fields, log) where log entries are
+    {field, before, after, applied, reason} for reporting/auditing."""
+    log: list[dict] = []
+    for field, limit in _LEN_LIMITS.items():
+        before = fields.get(field, "")
+        if len(before) <= limit:
+            continue
+        if field == "custom_excerpt":
+            after = _drop_sentences_to_fit(before, limit)
+        else:
+            # Single-line metas: prefer a clean WHOLE-sentence prefix (many metas
+            # are 2 sentences — keeping just the first reads as a complete thought).
+            # Only fall back to a word-boundary trim if that prefix is too short.
+            after = _drop_sentences_to_fit(before, limit)
+            if not after or len(after) < _MIN_USEFUL[field]:
+                after = _trim_to_word_boundary(before, limit)
+
+        if after and len(after) <= limit and len(after) >= _MIN_USEFUL[field]:
+            fields[field] = after
+            log.append({"field": field, "before": before, "after": after,
+                        "applied": True, "reason": "shortened"})
+            logger.info("seo.shorten: field shortened",
+                        field=field, before_len=len(before), after_len=len(after))
+        else:
+            reason = "would-be-too-short" if after else "no-clean-boundary"
+            log.append({"field": field, "before": before, "after": before,
+                        "applied": False, "reason": reason})
+            logger.info("seo.shorten: kept over-limit (clean trim unsafe)",
+                        field=field, before_len=len(before),
+                        trimmed_len=len(after), reason=reason)
+    return fields, log
+
+
+def _retry_instruction(fields: dict) -> str:
+    """Forceful, field-specific shrink instruction listing actual length, hard
+    limit, the exact overage, and a sub-limit target. Empty string if nothing over."""
+    lines = []
+    for field, limit in _LEN_LIMITS.items():
+        cur = len(fields.get(field, ""))
+        if cur > limit:
+            target = limit - _LEN_MARGIN[field]
+            cut = cur - target
+            lines.append(
+                f"- {field} is currently {cur} characters. The HARD limit is {limit}. "
+                f"Rewrite it to AT MOST {target} characters (aim for {target}, NOT {limit}; "
+                f"shorter is better than longer) — cut at least {cut} characters by removing a "
+                f"clause, adjective, or example. Keep the same meaning and language."
+            )
+    if not lines:
+        return ""
+    return (
+        "\n\nSTOP. YOUR PREVIOUS OUTPUT EXCEEDED A HARD CHARACTER LIMIT. "
+        "Fix ONLY the field(s) below; leave every other field exactly as you had it:\n"
+        + "\n".join(lines)
+        + "\nReturn the FULL JSON object again with ALL fields present, only these shortened. "
+        "When in doubt, cut MORE — a shorter field is always acceptable, an over-limit one is not."
+    )
+
+
+async def generate_seo_fields(
+    article_text: str,
+    link_menu: list[dict],
+    lang: str,
+    *,
+    title: str = "",
+    slug: str = "",
+    db=None,
+    session_id: int | None = None,
+) -> dict | None:
+    """Second, dedicated Haiku call → validated SEO dict, or None on hard failure.
+
+    Returns: meta_title, meta_description, custom_excerpt, tags[],
+    internal_links[{phrase,slug}], image_query, image_context, og_/twitter_*
+    (derived deterministically), and seo_warnings[] for any non-fatal issues.
+    On ANY exception → None (caller falls back to a bare draft).
+    """
+    try:
+        client = get_anthropic_client()
+        system = _system_prompt(lang)
+        user = _user_message(article_text, link_menu)
+
+        async def _raw(messages: list, max_tokens: int = 1024,
+                       temperature: float | None = None) -> str:
+            kwargs = {
+                "model": settings.claude_model,
+                "max_tokens": max_tokens,
+                "system": system,
+                "messages": messages,
+            }
+            if temperature is not None:
+                kwargs["temperature"] = temperature
+            msg = await client.messages.create(**kwargs)
+            if db is not None and session_id is not None:
+                try:
+                    await db.log_api_call(
+                        session_id, "seo_fields", settings.claude_model,
+                        msg.usage.input_tokens, msg.usage.output_tokens,
+                    )
+                except Exception as log_err:  # noqa: BLE001
+                    logger.warning("seo.fields: usage log failed", error=str(log_err))
+            return msg.content[0].text
+
+        base_msgs = [{"role": "user", "content": user}]
+        text1 = await _raw(base_msgs)
+        fields = _coerce(_parse_json_object(text1), lang)
+
+        # Validate against the shared engine using the real body (md→html + links).
+        body_html = _markdown_to_html(article_text)
+        linked_html, _ = insert_internal_links(body_html, fields["internal_links"], link_menu, lang)
+        violations = R.check_post(_synthetic_post(fields, linked_html, title, slug))
+        blocking = _blocking(violations)
+
+        if blocking:
+            detail = "; ".join(
+                f"{v.rule}: {v.message}" for v in blocking
+            )
+            instr = _retry_instruction(fields)
+            logger.info("seo.fields: blocking violation, one stricter retry", detail=detail)
+            try:
+                # Real edit turn: hand the model its OWN previous JSON to shorten,
+                # rather than re-rolling from scratch (which kept overshooting). Lower
+                # max_tokens to physically discourage rambling.
+                retry_msgs = base_msgs + [
+                    {"role": "assistant", "content": text1},
+                    {"role": "user", "content": instr},
+                ]
+                # temperature=0 so the shorten instruction binds deterministically.
+                retry = _coerce(_parse_json_object(
+                    await _raw(retry_msgs, max_tokens=768, temperature=0.0)), lang)
+                rlinked, _ = insert_internal_links(
+                    _markdown_to_html(article_text), retry["internal_links"], link_menu, lang)
+                rviol = R.check_post(_synthetic_post(retry, rlinked, title, slug))
+                if not _blocking(rviol):
+                    fields, violations, blocking = retry, rviol, []
+                else:
+                    # Keep the retry's text but record it stayed over (never truncate).
+                    fields, violations, blocking = retry, rviol, _blocking(rviol)
+            except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001
+                logger.warning("seo.fields: retry failed, keeping first output", error=str(e))
+
+        # Final boundary-aware shortener — only for fields the LLM + retry left
+        # over limit. Clean (sentence-drop / word-boundary), never mid-word, and
+        # skipped (kept + flagged) if it would butcher the field below min-useful.
+        shorten_log: list[dict] = []
+        if blocking:
+            fields, shorten_log = _shorten_over_limit(fields)
+            slinked, _ = insert_internal_links(
+                _markdown_to_html(article_text), fields["internal_links"], link_menu, lang)
+            violations = R.check_post(_synthetic_post(fields, slinked, title, slug))
+            blocking = _blocking(violations)
+
+        mt, md = fields["meta_title"], fields["meta_description"]
+        fields["og_title"] = fields["twitter_title"] = mt
+        fields["og_description"] = fields["twitter_description"] = md
+        fields["seo_warnings"] = [
+            f"{v.rule}: {v.message}" for v in blocking
+        ]
+        if shorten_log:
+            fields["seo_shortened"] = [
+                {"field": e["field"], "applied": e["applied"], "reason": e["reason"]}
+                for e in shorten_log
+            ]
+        return fields
+    except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001 — isolation guarantee
+        logger.warning("seo.fields: generation failed, falling back to bare draft",
+                       error=str(e))
+        return None
+
+
+# ─── 3. Deterministic internal-link insertion ──────────────────────────────
+
+def insert_internal_links(
+    html: str,
+    suggestions: list[dict],
+    menu: list[dict],
+    lang: str = "en",
+) -> tuple[str, int]:
+    """Wrap the FIRST verbatim, word-boundary occurrence of each suggested phrase
+    in an <a> to its menu slug. Deterministic — the LLM never edits HTML.
+
+    Rules: slug must be in the menu; phrase must appear verbatim in a TEXT node
+    (never inside a tag, never inside an existing <a>); word-boundary match (no
+    partial words); each phrase/slug used at most once; cap at MAX_INTERNAL_LINKS.
+    A phrase that is missing or already linked is silently skipped (never forced,
+    never an error). Returns (modified_html, links_inserted).
+    """
+    if not html or not suggestions:
+        return html, 0
+
+    site = SITE_BY_LANG.get(lang, SITE_BY_LANG["en"])
+    menu_slugs = {m["slug"] for m in menu if m.get("slug")}
+
+    # Split into tag tokens and text tokens; we only ever edit text tokens, and
+    # only when not inside an <a>…</a> (anchor depth 0). This guarantees no nested
+    # links and no edits inside tag attributes.
+    tokens = re.split(r"(<[^>]+>)", html)
+    inserted = 0
+    used_phrases: set[str] = set()
+    used_slugs: set[str] = set()
+
+    for sug in suggestions:
+        if inserted >= MAX_INTERNAL_LINKS:
+            break
+        phrase = (sug.get("phrase") or "").strip()
+        slug = (sug.get("slug") or "").strip()
+        if not phrase or not slug:
+            continue
+        if slug not in menu_slugs:
+            continue
+        if phrase in used_phrases or slug in used_slugs:
+            continue
+
+        pat = re.compile(r"(?<!\w)" + re.escape(phrase) + r"(?!\w)")
+        anchor_depth = 0
+        done = False
+        for i, tok in enumerate(tokens):
+            if tok.startswith("<") and tok.endswith(">"):
+                low = tok.lower()
+                if low.startswith("<a") and not low.startswith("</a"):
+                    anchor_depth += 1
+                elif low.startswith("</a"):
+                    anchor_depth = max(0, anchor_depth - 1)
+                continue
+            if anchor_depth > 0 or not tok:
+                continue
+            m = pat.search(tok)
+            if not m:
+                continue
+            replacement = (
+                f'<a href="https://{site}/{slug}/">{m.group(0)}</a>'
+            )
+            tokens[i] = tok[:m.start()] + replacement + tok[m.end():]
+            inserted += 1
+            used_phrases.add(phrase)
+            used_slugs.add(slug)
+            done = True
+            break
+        if not done:
+            logger.debug("seo.links: phrase not found / already linked, skipped",
+                         phrase=phrase, slug=slug)
+
+    return "".join(tokens), inserted