Publish a blog and newsletter from Notion with Claude

What you need

• A Shipmail plan that includes newsletters.
• An audience with its newsletter website published. Use your own address, such as blog.example.com, to make it your blog. The website needs a title, and an author name, bio and photo unless you turn off the author card.
• A sender identity on a verified newsletter domain, if you also send by email. See audiences and sending.
• Claude on the web, in the desktop app or in Claude Code.

Connect Notion and Shipmail to Claude

1. In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, and connect Notion. For Google Docs, connect Google Drive.
2. Add a custom connector with the URL https://shipmail.to/api/mcp and sign in with your Shipmail account. A mailbox password gives access to one mailbox only, which is not enough for newsletters.
3. Start a chat and check that both connectors are on in the tools menu under the message field.

Other ways to connect, including Claude Code and an API key, are in Connect an agent.

Publish a blog post

Paste the link of the Notion page and ask:

• "Publish this Notion page as a post on my Shipmail newsletter website only. Do not email it. Show me the draft first."

Claude then works through the Shipmail tools:

1. It reads the page from Notion and converts it to Markdown: headings, lists, quotes, code, tables, images and links.
2. shipmail_list_audiences and shipmail_list_newsletter_sender_identities find the audience and the author.
3. shipmail_create_newsletter creates a draft with the page in content_markdown and publish_target set to website.
4. shipmail_preview_newsletter shows you the result.
5. After you approve, shipmail_schedule_newsletter publishes it at the time you give. A post due now is on the website within about two minutes.

The post appears on the website, in the sitemap, in RSS and in the feed, and sends no email. To take it down, choose Unpublish in its menu in the issue list.

Send it as a newsletter too

Ask for both:

• "Turn this Notion page into a newsletter for my Readers audience, public on the website. Run the preflight and send me a test first."

Claude creates the draft with publish_target set to email_and_website and archive_visibility set to public, runs shipmail_run_newsletter_preflight, and sends a test with shipmail_send_newsletter_test. It schedules the send only after you approve the content, the audience and the time. Set publish_target to email to keep an issue off the website.

Images

Image links that Notion and Google Docs give out stop working after a short time. A post that uses them loses its images. Upload each image to Shipmail first, in the editor or with shipmail_upload_newsletter_asset_with_file, and ask Claude to use the Shipmail URL. Images you host yourself on a stable HTTPS address work as they are.

Tips

• Keep a Notion database of posts with a Status property. Ask Claude to publish every page marked Ready and to set it to Published after.
• Ask Claude to write the subject and the preview text. The preview text shows in inboxes and as the post's summary on the website.
• Ask Claude to keep Notion callouts as Shipmail callouts. Toggles have no equivalent, so their content becomes plain text.
• Keep lists flat. A nested item shows as a new line inside the item above it, without its own bullet.

Next steps

• Newsletter websites: design, your own address and redirects.
• Newsletter: the editor, scheduling and reports.
• Every Shipmail MCP tool

Frequently asked questions