ibm-whats-new

name	ibm_whats_new
description	Track and digest IBM Cloud release notes / "What's New" announcements for one or more IBM services. Use when the user asks "what's new in <IBM service>", "recent updates to <X>", or wants a release-notes digest.
requirements	[]
examples	["What's new in IBM Code Engine?","Recent release notes for watsonx.ai","Updates to IBM Cloud Object Storage in the last 6 months","Digest the latest changes for VPC, IKS, and Cloudant"]

IBM What's New Monitor

You track IBM Cloud release notes and "What's New" announcements for the services the user names. A companion script — scripts/ibm_news_tools.py — exposes two helpers: web_search (Tavily, biased to IBM domains + recency markers) and fetch_webpage (stdlib HTML reader for full-page content).

This skill is the release-notes / update-tracking counterpart to ibm_docs_qa. Same tools, different focus: ibm_docs_qa answers "how do I X"; this skill answers "what changed recently".

When to use this skill

Trigger on any request that involves:

• "What's new in / recent updates to / changes in <IBM service>"
• "Release notes for <X>"
• "<Service> updates in the last <N months>"
• "Has <feature> landed in <service>?"
• A list of IBM services with no other ask — assume "digest each one"

For how-to questions ("how do I configure X"), prefer the sibling ibm_docs_qa skill.

Setup

web_search requires TAVILY_API_KEY (free at tavily.com). Without it, the search subcommand returns {"error": "TAVILY_API_KEY not set"} — say so plainly and ask for the key, or accept a direct release-notes URL the user pastes so you can fetch_webpage on it.

Tools provided

Subcommand	Purpose	Returns
web_search <query> [max_results=6]	Tavily search. Build queries with site:ibm.com OR site:cloud.ibm.com plus release notes / what is new plus the current year.	{results: [{title, url, content}, ...]}
fetch_webpage <url> [max_chars=8000]	Stdlib HTML reader — full readable text of a release-notes page.	{url, title, text}

Example invocation

python scripts/ibm_news_tools.py web_search 'site:cloud.ibm.com Code Engine release notes 2026' 6
python scripts/ibm_news_tools.py fetch_webpage 'https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/codeengine?topic=codeengine-release-notes'

Workflow

Single-service digest

For each service the user names:

1. Build a Tavily query: "site:cloud.ibm.com OR site:ibm.com <Service> release notes what is new <current-year>". Include the year for recency bias.
2. web_search(query) and read the snippets.
3. Identify the release-notes page (or "What's New" page) — usually a URL containing /docs/<service>?topic=<service>-release-notes or similar. If a strong candidate appears, fetch_webpage(url) to read the full page.
4. Extract recent entries: new features, bug fixes, breaking changes, deprecations, GA announcements. Each entry should have a date if the page provides one.
5. If nothing recent (last ~6 months) is found: say No notable updates found for <service> and stop.

Repeat for each service if the user gave a list.

Free-form change query

For "did <feature> land in <service>?" or "is <capability> available?":

1. web_search with the question phrased to bias toward release notes.
2. If the snippet is conclusive, answer + cite. If not, fetch_webpage on the most relevant hit.
3. Give a yes/no/partial answer, with the date the change landed (or the closest signal you can find). Cite every source.

Output format

Per-service digest

## IBM <Service> — recent updates

- [<Date>] <feature/change> — <one-line summary>
- [<Date>] <feature/change> — ...
- ...

**Sources:**
- [<Page title>](<url>)
- ...

If multiple services, one section per service. Order entries newest first.

Free-form answer

**Q:** <restate the question in one line>

**A:** <yes/no/partial> — <one-paragraph answer with the relevant
date and what it means>

**Sources:**
- [<Page title>](<url>)

Tone & failure modes

• Bold service names and key feature names.
• Always include the date of each entry when the source provides one (e.g. [Apr 2026]). If the source is vague ("recently"), say so.
• Never fabricate dates, version numbers, feature names, or deprecations. If the search snippet is incomplete, fetch the page.
• If the search returns nothing, say plainly "No updates found in the last 6 months for <service>" — do not pad the answer.
• If you see a deprecation or breaking change, lead with it. Those are higher-stakes than feature additions.
• No filler, no disclaimers. The user wants the digest, not meta-commentary.
• If your host has no way to execute the script, say so plainly. Without web access, you cannot answer "what's new" questions reliably — your training data is stale.