Weibo Publisher

Automate posting to Weibo (Sina Weibo) using browser automation through OpenClaw's managed browser.

Prerequisites

• Weibo account must be logged in via managed browser (profile="openclaw")
• Browser must have active session with valid cookies

Quick Start

Basic Post

# 1. Prepare content with Unicode escape (for Chinese text)
content = "刚刚解决了一个技术难题！💪"
escaped_content = content.encode('unicode_escape').decode('ascii')

# 2. Navigate to Weibo homepage
browser(action="navigate", targetUrl="https://weibo.com/", targetId=<tab_id>)

# 3. Get page snapshot to find elements
browser(action="snapshot", targetId=<tab_id>)

# 4. Click the post textbox (ref from snapshot, usually e31 or e136)
browser(action="act", request={"kind": "click", "ref": "e31"}, targetId=<tab_id>)

# 5. Type content with Unicode escape
browser(action="act", request={"kind": "type", "ref": "e31", "text": escaped_content}, targetId=<tab_id>)

# 6. Get fresh snapshot to find send button
browser(action="snapshot", targetId=<tab_id>)

# 7. Click send button (ref from snapshot, usually e32 or e194)
browser(action="act", request={"kind": "click", "ref": "e32"}, targetId=<tab_id>)

# 8. Wait and verify by navigating to profile
sleep(3)
browser(action="navigate", targetUrl="https://weibo.com/u/<your_uid>", targetId=<tab_id>)
browser(action="snapshot", targetId=<tab_id>)

Element References

Common element references on Weibo homepage (as of 2026-03-02):

• Main post textbox: e31 (placeholder: "有什么新鲜事想分享给大家？")
• Send button: e32 (text: "发送", becomes enabled after typing)
• Quick post button (top nav): e10 (text: "发微博")
• Quick post textbox (popup): e746 (when using quick post popup)
• Quick post send button: e804

Important Notes:

• Element references change frequently between sessions
• Always take a fresh snapshot before each operation
• Refs may differ between homepage (/) and profile page (/u/<uid>)
• Send button is disabled until content is entered

Content Features

Supported Content Types

1. Plain text: Direct text input
2. Emoji: Include emoji directly in text (e.g., "😊🎉")
3. Hashtags: Use #topic# format (e.g., "#微博话题#")
4. Mentions: Use @username format
5. Line breaks: Use \n in text

Content Limits

• Maximum length: ~2000 characters (Weibo's limit)
• Recommended length: 140-280 characters for better engagement

Workflows

Workflow 1: Simple Post

Use the main homepage textbox for quick posts:

1. Open https://weibo.com/
2. Snapshot to get element refs
3. Click textbox (e136)
4. Type content
5. Click send (e194)
6. Verify success

Workflow 2: Quick Post (Popup)

Use the "发微博" button for popup posting:

1. Open https://weibo.com/
2. Click "发微博" button (usually e75)
3. Snapshot to get popup element refs
4. Type in popup textbox (e1028)
5. Click popup send button (e1086)
6. Verify success

Workflow 3: Scheduled Post

For posts to be published later:

1. Follow Workflow 1 or 2 to enter content
2. Click "定时微博" icon (clock icon, ref varies)
3. Select date and time
4. Click send

State Management

Track posting history in memory/weibo-state.json:

{
  "lastPublishTime": 1740880260,
  "lastPublishDate": "2026-03-02T12:38:00+08:00",
  "lastContent": "Your last post content..."
}

Update this file after each successful post.

Error Handling

Common Issues

1. "request: must be object" validation error

   • Symptom: Validation failed for tool "browser": - request: must be object
   • Cause: Chinese quotation marks in text causing JSON parsing failure
   • Solution: Use Unicode escape for all Chinese characters (see Technical Details)

2. Login expired

   • Symptom: Redirected to login page
   • Solution: Manually log in via browser, then retry

3. Send button disabled

   • Symptom: Button has disabled attribute
   • Solution: Check if textbox is empty or content violates rules

4. Element refs changed

   • Symptom: Elements not found with old refs
   • Solution: Take fresh snapshot and use updated refs

5. Content rejected

   • Symptom: Error message after clicking send
   • Solution: Check for sensitive words, adjust content

6. Post not appearing

   • Symptom: No error but post doesn't show on timeline
   • Solution: Wait 5-10 seconds, refresh page, check if content triggered review

Best Practices

1. Always use Unicode escape for Chinese: Prevents JSON parsing errors with quotation marks
2. Always snapshot first: Element refs change frequently between sessions
3. Separate operations: Click textbox → Type content → Snapshot → Click send (don't combine)
4. Verify after posting: Navigate to profile page and snapshot to confirm post appears
5. Rate limiting: Wait at least 60 seconds between posts to avoid restrictions
6. Content quality: Keep posts engaging, use hashtags for visibility
7. State tracking: Always update weibo-state.json after successful posts
8. Handle emoji properly: Emoji work in Unicode escape format (e.g., \ud83d\udcaa for 💪)

Technical Details

Browser Automation

• Profile: openclaw (managed browser)
• Method: Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)
• Session: Cookie-based, persists across restarts
• No API needed: Pure browser automation

Request Format

Critical: The request parameter must be a JSON object, not a string:

// ✅ Correct
request={"kind": "type", "ref": "e136", "text": "content"}

// ❌ Wrong
request="{\"kind\": \"type\", \"ref\": \"e136\", \"text\": \"content\"}"

Unicode Escape for Chinese Content (IMPORTANT!)

Problem: Chinese quotation marks (""、'') in JSON text can cause parsing errors.

Solution: Use Unicode escape (\uXXXX) for all Chinese characters:

# Convert Chinese text to Unicode escape
text = "刚刚解决了一个技术难题，感觉特别有成就感！"
escaped = text.encode('unicode_escape').decode('ascii')
# Result: \u521a\u521a\u89e3\u51b3\u4e86...

Example:

// ✅ Correct - Unicode escaped
request={"kind": "type", "ref": "e31", "text": "\u521a\u521a\u89e3\u51b3\u4e86\u4e00\u4e2a\u6280\u672f\u96be\u9898"}

// ❌ Wrong - Direct Chinese with quotes
request={"kind": "type", "ref": "e31", "text": "刚刚解决了一个"技术难题""}

Why: Chinese quotation marks conflict with JSON string delimiters, causing the request parameter to be serialized as a string instead of an object.

Reference Files

• EXAMPLES.md: Real-world posting examples (including Unicode escape examples)
• TROUBLESHOOTING.md: Detailed error solutions (including critical Issue 11 & 12)
• UNICODE_ESCAPE.md: Complete guide to Unicode escape for Chinese content

Scripts

• post_weibo.py: Standalone Python script for posting (optional)