Pilot Podcast Production Setup

Deploy a podcast production pipeline with 3 agents. Use this skill when: 1. User wants to set up an automated podcast production pipeline 2. User is configur...

Security Scan

The skill's instructions largely match its stated goal, but there are small inconsistencies and operational risks you should understand before installing (notably a missing declared config path and that it instructs installing additional skills which may request credentials and network access).

Purpose & Capability

Name/description align with required binaries (pilotctl and clawhub) and the described actions (install skills, set hostnames, write manifests, handshake agents). However, the SKILL.md writes setup manifests to ~/.pilot/setups but the registry metadata declared no required config paths — a minor inconsistency between declared requirements and actual runtime behavior.

Instruction Scope

Instructions stay within the podcast-setup scope: they call clawhub to install other pilot-* skills, use pilotctl to set hostnames, publish/subscribe, and write a JSON manifest to ~/.pilot/setups. These operations are expected for deploying agents, but the distributor role explicitly sends publish-notifications to external endpoints (port 443) — meaning network egress of episode metadata is part of normal operation and should be considered when deciding trust. The instructions do not ask the agent to read unrelated system files or secret env vars, but they do create files in the user's home that were not declared in metadata.

Install Mechanism

This is an instruction-only skill with no install spec or code files; nothing is written by the skill bundle itself. Risk comes from the runtime actions the instructions tell you to run (clawhub install), not from any bundled installer or external download URL.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables or primary credential, and SKILL.md does not attempt to read secrets or env vars. That is proportionate. Caveat: the skill instructs installing other pilot-* skills which may later require credentials (e.g., posting to podcast platforms or Slack); those are not covered here and should be reviewed before installation.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request permanent platform-wide privileges. The manifest-writing behavior is limited to ~/.pilot/setups (per the instructions). The agent may be configured to run installed skills that perform autonomous actions (normal for skills), so verify trust relationships/handshakes before enabling communication between agents.

What to consider before installing

This skill is essentially an instruction template that uses pilotctl and clawhub to install and configure three agents. Before installing or running it: 1) Ensure pilotctl and clawhub are official, trusted binaries from your organization or vendor (these tools will be used to install other skills). 2) Review the individual pilot-* skills the template installs (pilot-discover, pilot-stream-data, pilot-archive, pilot-task-router, pilot-share, pilot-cron, pilot-webhook-bridge, pilot-announce, pilot-slack-bridge) — they may require credentials or network access (e.g., Slack API tokens, webhook URLs, platform publish credentials). 3) Be aware the instructions write manifests to ~/.pilot/setups (metadata did not declare this path) and that the distributor role will send data to external services (port 443) — only connect agents and services you trust. 4) If you need tighter control, run the steps manually on isolated test hosts first and inspect any prompts or credential requests from the installed pilot-* packages. If you want, provide the exact source (where you would obtain pilotctl/clawhub) and I can point out additional specific risks.

Podcast Production Setup

Deploy 3 agents that automate podcast production from research to distribution.

Roles

Role	Hostname	Skills	Purpose
researcher	<prefix>-researcher	pilot-discover, pilot-stream-data, pilot-archive	Finds trending topics, guest suggestions, and talking points
producer	<prefix>-producer	pilot-task-router, pilot-share, pilot-cron	Organizes show notes, talking points, and recording schedules
distributor	<prefix>-distributor	pilot-webhook-bridge, pilot-announce, pilot-slack-bridge	Publishes episodes to platforms and posts to social media

Setup Procedure

Step 1: Ask the user which role this agent should play and what prefix to use.

Step 2: Install the skills for the chosen role:

# For researcher:
clawhub install pilot-discover pilot-stream-data pilot-archive

# For producer:
clawhub install pilot-task-router pilot-share pilot-cron

# For distributor:
clawhub install pilot-webhook-bridge pilot-announce pilot-slack-bridge

Step 3: Set the hostname:

pilotctl --json set-hostname <prefix>-<role>

Step 4: Write the setup manifest:

mkdir -p ~/.pilot/setups
cat > ~/.pilot/setups/podcast-production.json << 'MANIFEST'
<role-specific manifest from templates below>
MANIFEST

Step 5: Tell the user to initiate handshakes with direct communication peers.

Manifest Templates Per Role

researcher

{
  "setup": "podcast-production", "setup_name": "Podcast Production",
  "role": "researcher", "role_name": "Topic Researcher",
  "hostname": "<prefix>-researcher",
  "description": "Finds trending topics, guest suggestions, audience questions, and talking points for episodes.",
  "skills": {
    "pilot-discover": "Find trending topics, potential guests, and audience questions in the podcast niche.",
    "pilot-stream-data": "Stream real-time industry news and social signals for timely episode angles.",
    "pilot-archive": "Store episode briefs and source material for reference and audit trail."
  },
  "peers": [{"role": "producer", "hostname": "<prefix>-producer", "description": "Receives episode briefs and organizes production"}],
  "data_flows": [{"direction": "send", "peer": "<prefix>-producer", "port": 1002, "topic": "episode-brief", "description": "Episode briefs with topics, guests, and talking points"}],
  "handshakes_needed": ["<prefix>-producer"]
}

producer

{
  "setup": "podcast-production", "setup_name": "Podcast Production",
  "role": "producer", "role_name": "Episode Producer",
  "hostname": "<prefix>-producer",
  "description": "Organizes show notes, talking points, intros/outros, timestamps, and coordinates recording schedules.",
  "skills": {
    "pilot-task-router": "Route incoming episode briefs to the appropriate production template.",
    "pilot-share": "Send completed episode packages downstream to the distributor agent.",
    "pilot-cron": "Schedule recurring production tasks and recording reminders."
  },
  "peers": [
    {"role": "researcher", "hostname": "<prefix>-researcher", "description": "Sends episode briefs with topics and guests"},
    {"role": "distributor", "hostname": "<prefix>-distributor", "description": "Receives episode packages for distribution"}
  ],
  "data_flows": [
    {"direction": "receive", "peer": "<prefix>-researcher", "port": 1002, "topic": "episode-brief", "description": "Episode briefs with topics, guests, and talking points"},
    {"direction": "send", "peer": "<prefix>-distributor", "port": 1002, "topic": "episode-package", "description": "Episode packages with show notes and timestamps"}
  ],
  "handshakes_needed": ["<prefix>-researcher", "<prefix>-distributor"]
}

distributor

{
  "setup": "podcast-production", "setup_name": "Podcast Production",
  "role": "distributor", "role_name": "Content Distributor",
  "hostname": "<prefix>-distributor",
  "description": "Publishes episodes to RSS feeds, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Posts show notes and clips to social media.",
  "skills": {
    "pilot-webhook-bridge": "Push episode metadata to podcast platforms via webhook and trigger RSS updates.",
    "pilot-announce": "Broadcast publication events to internal teams and content calendar.",
    "pilot-slack-bridge": "Post episode summaries and links to the podcast team Slack channel."
  },
  "peers": [{"role": "producer", "hostname": "<prefix>-producer", "description": "Sends completed episode packages for distribution"}],
  "data_flows": [
    {"direction": "receive", "peer": "<prefix>-producer", "port": 1002, "topic": "episode-package", "description": "Episode packages with show notes and timestamps"},
    {"direction": "send", "peer": "external", "port": 443, "topic": "publish-notification", "description": "Publish notifications to RSS, platforms, and social"}
  ],
  "handshakes_needed": ["<prefix>-producer"]
}

Data Flows

• researcher -> producer : episode-brief (port 1002)
• producer -> distributor : episode-package (port 1002)
• distributor -> external : publish-notification via webhook (port 443)

Handshakes

# researcher and producer handshake with each other:
pilotctl --json handshake <prefix>-producer "setup: podcast-production"
pilotctl --json handshake <prefix>-researcher "setup: podcast-production"

# producer and distributor handshake with each other:
pilotctl --json handshake <prefix>-distributor "setup: podcast-production"
pilotctl --json handshake <prefix>-producer "setup: podcast-production"

Workflow Example

# On producer -- subscribe to episode briefs:
pilotctl --json subscribe <prefix>-researcher episode-brief

# On distributor -- subscribe to episode packages:
pilotctl --json subscribe <prefix>-producer episode-package

# On researcher -- publish an episode brief:
pilotctl --json publish <prefix>-producer episode-brief '{"topic":"Future of AI Agents","guests":["Jane Smith"],"talking_points":["autonomous deployments","agent collaboration"]}'

# On producer -- publish episode package to distributor:
pilotctl --json publish <prefix>-distributor episode-package '{"title":"EP42: Future of AI Agents","duration_minutes":45,"show_notes":"Deep dive into autonomous deployments.","timestamps":["00:00 Intro","12:30 Main topic","40:00 Wrap-up"]}'

Dependencies

Requires pilot-protocol skill, pilotctl binary, clawhub binary, and a running daemon.