The markata.plugins.covers plugin generates custom cover images for your posts using configurable templates. It supports multiple cover image formats with different sizes, fonts, and layouts for various platforms (e.g., blog, social media, dev.to).

Installation

This plugin is built-in and enabled by default through the 'default' plugin. If you want to be explicit, you can add it to your list of plugins:

        
hooks = [
    "markata.plugins.covers",
]

Uninstallation

Since this plugin is included in the default plugin set, to disable it you must explicitly add it to the disabled_hooks list if you are using the 'default' plugin:

        
disabled_hooks = [
    "markata.plugins.covers",
]

Configuration

Configure multiple cover image templates in your markata.toml:

        
[[markata.covers]]
name = '-dev'                                    # Suffix for generated files
template = "static/cover-template.png"           # Base template image
font = "./static/JosefinSans-Regular.ttf"        # Title font
text_font = "./static/JosefinSans-Regular.ttf"   # Description font
font_color = "rgb(185,155,165)"                 # Title color
text_font_color = "rgb(255,255,255)"            # Description color
text_key = 'description'                        # Post attribute to use for description
padding = [0, 40, 100, 300]                     # Title padding [top, right, bottom, left]
text_padding = [0, 0]                           # Description padding

[[markata.covers]]
name = ''                                       # No suffix (default cover)
template = "static/og-template.png"             # Different template for social media
font = "./static/JosefinSans-Regular.ttf"
font_color = "rgb(255,255,255)"
text_font = "./static/JosefinSans-Regular.ttf"
text_font_color = "rgb(200,200,200)"
text_key = 'description'
padding = [10, 10, 100, 300]
text_padding = [0, 0]

Configuration Options

Each cover configuration supports:

• name: Suffix for generated files (e.g., '-dev' creates 'post-dev.png')
• template: Path to template image
• font: Path to title font file
• text_font: Path to description font file
• font_color: RGB color for title
• text_font_color: RGB color for description
• text_key: Post attribute to use for description text
• padding: List of 1-4 integers for title padding
• text_padding: List of 1-4 integers for description padding

Functionality

Cover Generation

The plugin:

1. Loads the template image for each configuration
2. Draws the post title using specified font and color
3. Optionally draws description text
4. Applies configured padding
5. Saves the generated cover with appropriate suffix

File Naming

Generated files follow this pattern:

• Main cover: <slug>.png
• Named covers: <slug><name>.png

Example:

• my-post.png (default cover)
• my-post-dev.png (dev.to cover)

Dependencies

This plugin depends on:

• Pillow (PIL) for image manipulation

        
def _lazy_import_pil():
    """Lazy import PIL modules when needed."""
    global Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
    if Image is None:
        from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

        
def resolve_padding(padding: Tuple[int, ...], markata: "Markata") -> Tuple[int, ...]:
    """Convert padding to a len 4 tuple"""
    if len(padding) == 4:
        return padding
    if len(padding) == 3:
        return (*padding, padding[1])
    if len(padding) == 2:
        return padding * 2
    if len(padding) == 1:
        return padding * 4
    raise PaddingError(f"recieved padding: {padding}")