| name | pr-opportunity-scanner |
| description | Daily scan for free PR opportunities: community threads (Reddit/HN/Dev.to) asking for tool recommendations, fresh roundup articles where your product can be featured, and a weekly local conference/meetup scan. Runs as cron or on-demand. For sales pipeline signals, see signal-scanner. For brand mentions, see social-listening. |
| user-invocable | true |
Context
Read MEMORY.md for: product description, wedge, competitors, repos, target community/region.
Read memory/pr-opportunities.json for already-surfaced URLs (dedup).
Follow output preferences from USER.md. For chat platforms: keep under ~15 lines.
Repos / assets to promote (pull from MEMORY.md → list of public repos and key links).
Product angles (pull from MEMORY.md → top differentiators and use cases).
PR Opportunity Scanner
Find places where your product can get free visibility — community discussions and fresh articles where the product naturally fits.
Query Categories (2 daily + 1 weekly)
1. Community Discussions (highest ROI)
People actively asking for recommendations — a relevant reply drives real signups.
exa-search__web_search_advanced_exa \
query="recommend [YOUR_CATEGORY] tool OR best [YOUR_CATEGORY] for [JTBD] OR [YOUR_CATEGORY] tool for [USE_CASE] OR looking for alternative to [INCUMBENT]" \
numResults=10 \
startPublishedDate="YYYY-MM-DD" \
type=keyword
Target sites: Reddit (subreddits where your ICP hangs out), Hacker News, Dev.to, Lobsters, GitHub Discussions, your community's preferred forums.
What makes a good opportunity:
- Thread is < 48h old (stale threads = wasted effort)
- Has engagement (>5 comments or >10 upvotes)
- Question matches your product's wedge from MEMORY.md
- No existing mention of your product (check first!)
2. Fresh Roundup Articles
Authors publishing tool lists/comparisons — contact them or leave a comment.
exa-search__web_search_advanced_exa \
query="best [YOUR_CATEGORY] tools 2026 OR top tools for [JOB_TO_BE_DONE] OR [YOUR_CATEGORY] comparison OR [YOUR_CATEGORY] roundup" \
numResults=10 \
startPublishedDate="YYYY-MM-DD"
What makes a good opportunity:
- Published in last 7 days
- Lists competitors ([COMPETITOR_A], [COMPETITOR_B], [COMPETITOR_C], [COMPETITOR_D]) but NOT your product
- Author has contact info or comments section
- Site has meaningful traffic (not a spam blog)
3. Local Conferences & Meetups (weekly, Mondays only)
Upcoming tech events in your target region — speaking slots, booths, networking, CFPs.
exa-search__web_search_advanced_exa \
query="[YOUR_REGION] tech conference 2026 OR [YOUR_CITY] meetup OR [YOUR_REGION] AI conference OR developer conference [YOUR_REGION] OR startup conference [YOUR_REGION]" \
numResults=10 \
startPublishedDate="YYYY-MM-DD"
Add a localized-language query if useful (e.g. local-language search terms).
What makes a good opportunity:
- Event is 2+ weeks away (enough time to apply as speaker / prepare)
- Relevant audience matching ICP from MEMORY.md
- Has CFP open, or free/cheap booth, or networking format
- Not purely corporate/government if low ICP density
Track a curated list of recurring local events (maintain in MEMORY.md → pr.events).
Action types:
- CFP open → draft talk proposal (topic: your wedge angle)
- Networking event → note date, register
- Booth/sponsor opportunity → evaluate cost vs reach
- Meetup → offer to give a lightning talk
Scan Workflow
Daily Cron Mode
- Load state — read
memory/pr-opportunities.json
- Set dates —
startPublishedDate = 2 days ago (catch things missed yesterday)
- Run Query 1 (community discussions) — 1 Exa call
- Run Query 2 (roundup articles) — 1 Exa call
- If Monday → Run Query 3 (local conferences, 1-2 Exa calls,
startPublishedDate = 7 days ago)
- Deduplicate — skip URLs already in pr-opportunities.json
- Score & filter each result:
- RELEVANCE: Does your product genuinely fit? (skip if forced)
- FRESHNESS: < 24h = high, 24-48h = medium, > 48h = low
- ACTIONABILITY: Can the founder act in < 5 min? (comment vs write article)
- For conferences: TIME_TO_EVENT (> 2 weeks = actionable, < 2 weeks = info only)
- Pick top 3 — best opportunities only (conferences = separate section)
- For each opportunity, draft the action:
- Discussion → draft a short, helpful reply (not salesy — value first, mention product naturally)
- Article → draft a short outreach message to the author, or a comment
- Conference → draft CFP abstract / registration note / lightning talk pitch
- Update state — add surfaced URLs to pr-opportunities.json
- Report to chat — or
HEARTBEAT_OK if nothing worth reporting
On-Demand Mode
When the user asks "find PR opportunities" or "where can we get visibility":
- Run both queries with wider date range (14 days)
- Present top 5-10 ranked results
- Offer to draft replies/outreach for selected ones
State File: memory/pr-opportunities.json
{
"last_scan": "2026-03-29T10:30:00Z",
"surfaced": [
{
"url": "https://reddit.com/r/...",
"found": "2026-03-29",
"type": "discussion",
"status": "surfaced|acted|skipped",
"title": "..."
}
]
}
Keep last 90 days. Prune older entries on each scan.
Output Format (Chat)
When opportunities found:
PR Scan [date]:
1. [discussion/article] Title
link
Action: [draft reply / contact author]
[2-line draft of what to say]
2. ...
Reply "go 1" to post, "skip" to dismiss.
Monday conference section (appended when Query 3 runs):
Local conferences:
1. [Event name] — [city], [date]
[CFP open / registration / networking]
Action: [submit talk / register / skip]
Nothing found:
HEARTBEAT_OK
Reply Drafting Rules
- Value first, product second. Answer the question helpfully. Mention your product only if it genuinely solves the problem.
- No marketing speak. Write as a peer sharing a tool, not a vendor pitching.
- Short. 3-5 sentences for Reddit/HN. 2-3 sentences for comments on articles.
- Include proof. Link to repo, demo, or specific feature — not the landing page.
- Disclose. "Disclosure: I'm the founder" — Reddit/HN expect this.
- Run through
humanizer mentally — no AI-sounding patterns.
Cost
- 2 Exa queries/day + 1-2 extra on Mondays: ~$0.02-0.10
- Monthly: ~$1-3
- Negligible compared to signal-scanner
Cron Setup (example)
Job ID: pr-scan-001
Schedule: 0 10 * * * (daily 10:00 in your timezone)
Session: isolated
Deliver: announce → [your chat channel]
Prompt: "Run pr-opportunity-scanner skill in daily cron mode. Today is {date}."
Related Skills
- signal-scanner — buying signals for sales pipeline (different purpose)
- social-listening — brand/competitor mention monitoring (on-demand)
- social-writer — craft LinkedIn/X posts based on found opportunities
- copywriting — write longer submissions or guest post pitches
- content-strategy — plan content calendar around discovered topics
- humanizer — polish any drafted replies before posting
