News Brief Automation
Turn ad-hoc “go check the news and summarize it” work into a repeatable automation made of:
- one prompt file under
automation/cron/
- one report folder under
reports/
- one stable output format
- one explicit dedupe rule against the latest saved report
Workflow
- Identify the recurring job:
- source set
- cadence
- selection criteria
- output language
- save location
- delivery target
- Prefer one prompt file per job under
automation/cron/<job-name>.md.
- Create a matching report directory under
reports/<topic>/.
- Instruct the agent to compare candidates against the newest saved report before drafting the final output.
- Require “save first, send second” so future runs always have a concrete baseline for dedupe.
- Make the format stable and easy to skim.
- If a run has little novelty, emit a short incremental edition instead of padding the report.
What A Good Cron Prompt Must Contain
Each recurring prompt should explicitly define:
- the goal
- the schedule context
- the priority sources to inspect
- what counts as worth including
- the required output structure
- dedupe rules against the newest prior report
- save path and filename convention
- send-after-save behavior
- fallback behavior if a source is unavailable
Use direct instructions. Avoid fuzzy wording like “make it good” or “summarize nicely”.
Good Defaults
Source handling
Prefer primary index pages first, then open individual links only when context is missing.
Common defaults:
- Hacker News: homepage +
newest
- GitHub: Trending
- Hugging Face: hot/trending models, datasets, spaces
- RSS/blogs: feed page first, article page second
- Generic news sites: homepage/section page first, article page second
Selection logic
Prioritize items that are:
- newly surfaced
- rapidly rising
- widely discussed
- practically useful
- unusually opinionated or technically deep
For technical audiences, bias toward:
- AI
- developer tools
- open source
- infrastructure
- security
- data engineering
- engineering practice
Deduplication
Always inspect the newest report in the target report folder.
Keep only:
- new items
- items with clear rank/momentum change
- items with meaningful new developments
- previously seen items that deserve a shorter refreshed mention
Drop or compress:
- unchanged repeats
- low-signal filler
- items included yesterday/last run with no meaningful change
If most candidates repeat prior coverage, explicitly publish an incremental short edition.
Output structure
Prefer Markdown with:
- dated title
- short “what matters now” section
- numbered list of items
- link for each item
- one-line reason to care
- optional discussion angle / watchpoint
Keep tone concise and opinionated enough to be useful.
File And Naming Conventions
Use this layout unless the user asks otherwise:
automation/cron/<job-name>.md
reports/<topic>/YYYY-MM-DD.md
reports/<topic>/YYYY-MM-DD-HH00.md
Use date-only filenames for once-per-day reports. Use hour-stamped filenames for multiple runs per day.
Common Patterns
Daily digest
Use when the user wants one higher-signal summary per day.
Recommended traits:
- 5-10 items
- more synthesis
- a “today’s observation” section
- date-only filenames
Intraday brief
Use when the user wants multiple updates per day.
Recommended traits:
- 3-8 items
- stronger dedupe
- incremental mode when nothing major changed
- hour-stamped filenames
Mixed-source trend watch
Use when combining 2-4 complementary sources like GitHub + Hugging Face + HN.
Recommended traits:
- sectioned output per source
- final cross-source observations
- avoid repeating the same project across sections unless the angle differs
Editing Existing Automations
When converting an existing one-off prompt into a reusable workflow:
- Preserve the parts that already work:
- source order
- output shape
- report path
- Remove accidental details that do not generalize.
- Keep the reusable operating logic:
- fetch
- select
- dedupe
- save
- send
- Move concrete examples and templates into
references/ so SKILL.md stays lean.
Quality Bar Before Packaging Or Publishing
Before packaging or publishing:
- keep
SKILL.md concise and trigger-focused
- ensure the description clearly says when the skill should activate
- provide at least one reusable prompt template in
references/
- avoid extra docs like README or changelog files inside the skill
- package the exact skill folder
- reject vague prompts that do not specify dedupe or save paths
References
- Read
references/examples.md for concrete example automations.
- Read
references/templates.md for reusable cron prompt templates.
