Watchboard Intelligence

Query Watchboard intelligence dashboards (watchboard.dev) for structured event data, casualties, KPIs, contested claims, and daily digests across 51+ tracker...

Security Scan

The skill is internally consistent with its description: it queries a public, no-auth JSON API on watchboard.dev, caches results to /tmp, and exposes a CLI—there are no unrelated credentials, installs, or hidden network endpoints.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description (Watchboard intelligence dashboards) match the code and SKILL.md: the code fetches JSON endpoints from https://watchboard.dev/api/v1, exposes commands for listing trackers, summaries, events, KPIs, breaking items, search, and RSS. No unrelated services, credentials, or binaries are requested.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructions are specific and map directly to the CLI in scripts/watchboard.py. The instructions tell the agent to call the public API and optionally use RSS as a fallback. The runtime code only reads/writes local cache files (/tmp/watchboard-cache/) and performs network requests to the declared BASE_URL; it does not attempt to read other system files or environment variables.

Install Mechanism

No install spec is provided (instruction-only + a python script). The code uses only Python stdlib (urllib, json, xml.etree) and requires Python 3.8+, which is consistent with the SKILL.md claim of zero dependencies.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables, no credentials, and requests no config paths. The code does not read credentials from env or disk beyond its local cache directory, so requested access is proportional to purpose.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and autonomous invocation is allowed (platform default). The only persistent action is writing cached HTTP responses to /tmp/watchboard-cache/ with a 1h TTL; it does not modify other skills or system-wide configuration.

Assessment

This skill appears to do exactly what it claims: query the public watchboard.dev API and show structured tracker data. Before installing, consider: (1) it makes outbound network requests to watchboard.dev — only install if you trust that remote site; (2) it writes cached JSON to /tmp/watchboard-cache/ (temporary but world-readable on multi-user systems), so cached content could be visible to other local users; (3) there is no integrity/signature check of API responses, so if your environment's DNS or network were compromised you could receive tampered data; (4) the skill has no secrets or privileged access required. If you have concerns, review the scripts/watchboard.py source locally or run the skill in a sandboxed environment (network-restricted or monitored) before granting it broader use.

Watchboard Intelligence Dashboards

Query structured intelligence data from watchboard.dev — 51+ trackers covering conflicts, politics, culture, science, and space with AI-curated daily updates and source tiers.

Zero dependencies — stdlib only (urllib, json). Works on any machine with Python 3.8+.

API

Public JSON API at https://watchboard.dev/api/v1/. No API key needed. CORS enabled. Data cached 1h server-side.

Endpoint	Returns
/api/v1/trackers.json	Directory of all trackers with metadata
/api/v1/trackers/{slug}.json	Full tracker: config, meta, KPIs, digest, recent events
/api/v1/breaking.json	Trackers with active breaking news
/api/v1/kpis/{slug}.json	Just KPIs for a tracker
/api/v1/events/{slug}.json	Last 30 events for a tracker
/api/v1/search-index.json	All event titles for client-side search

CLI

Run python3 scripts/watchboard.py <command>:

Command	Use	Token cost
list [--domain X] [--status X]	Show all trackers (dynamic from API)	Low
summary <slug>	Meta + latest digest + top KPIs	Low (~2-3KB)
breaking	All trackers with breaking news	Low-Medium
events <slug> [--limit N]	Recent events (last 30)	Medium
kpis <slug>	All KPIs with contested notes	Medium
search <query> [--tracker slug]	Search events across all/one tracker	Medium
detail <slug>	Full tracker data (all sections)	Medium-High
rss <slug>	RSS feed (fallback)	Low

Add --json to any command for raw JSON output (useful for programmatic processing).

Examples

# Quick briefing on Iran conflict
python3 scripts/watchboard.py summary iran-conflict

# What's breaking right now?
python3 scripts/watchboard.py breaking

# Casualty figures and key metrics
python3 scripts/watchboard.py kpis ukraine-war

# Find events mentioning "ceasefire"
python3 scripts/watchboard.py search ceasefire

# Events in Gaza, last 10
python3 scripts/watchboard.py events gaza-war --limit 10

# All conflict trackers
python3 scripts/watchboard.py list --domain conflict

# Full detail with raw JSON
python3 scripts/watchboard.py --json detail iran-conflict

Strategy

1. Quick briefing → summary <slug> — meta + digest + top KPIs in one call
2. What's happening now? → breaking — all trackers with active developments
3. Specific data (casualties, oil prices, KPIs) → kpis <slug> with contested notes
4. Recent events → events <slug> — last 30 events with sources and types
5. Find specific events → search "keyword" across all trackers, or --tracker slug to narrow
6. Deep dive → detail <slug> — everything in one call (config, meta, KPIs, digest, events)
7. RSS fallback → rss <slug> — if JSON API is unavailable

Data quality

Every data point has a source tier:

• Tier 1: Official/primary sources (Pentagon, CENTCOM, government statements)
• Tier 2: Major news outlets (Reuters, AP, Al Jazeera, NPR)
• Tier 3: Academic/analytical sources
• Tier 4: Unverified/social media

KPIs include contested flags with detailed notes showing conflicting claims from different sources.

Caching

Results cached 1h locally in /tmp/watchboard-cache/. Server data updates 1-4 times daily (nightly digest at ~6 AM UTC, breaking events throughout the day).

Tracker discovery

The tracker list is dynamic — fetched from the API at runtime, not hardcoded. Currently 51+ trackers across domains:

• conflict: iran-conflict, gaza-war, ukraine-war, sudan-conflict, etc.
• governance: sheinbaum-presidency, amlo-presidency, trump-presidencies, etc.
• culture: bad-bunny, bts, world-cup-2026
• space: artemis-2, spacex-history
• human-rights: ayotzinapa, ice-history
• science: quantum-theory, covid-pandemic
• historical: world-war-2, september-11, tlatelolco-1968

Use list to see the current full directory. Use list --domain conflict to filter.