tbpn

name	tbpn
description	Weekly newspaper-style summary of TBPN (Technology Business Programming Network) episodes. Use when the user asks for a TBPN summary, weekly tech news roundup, or says "tbpn summary", "tbpn newspaper", "what happened on tbpn this week", "pull the last N tbpn episodes". Also suitable for cron/scheduled end-of-week summaries.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires yt-dlp and a PO Token server (bgutil-ytdlp-pot-provider) for YouTube transcript downloads. Works with any agent that can run shell commands and fetch URLs.
metadata	{"author":"junaidrahim","version":"1.0"}

TBPN Weekly Summary

Generate a newspaper-style summary of TBPN episodes and save it as Markdown.

Configuration

Before first use, set these paths for your environment. Agents should check for a tbpn.config.json in this skill's directory. If it doesn't exist, use sensible defaults or ask the user.

{
  "ytDlp": "yt-dlp",
  "potServerDir": "~/bgutil-ytdlp-pot-provider/server",
  "outputDir": "./output",
  "tempDir": "/tmp"
}

• ytDlp — path to the yt-dlp binary (default: yt-dlp on PATH)
• potServerDir — path to the bgutil PO Token server directory
• outputDir — where to save generated summaries (e.g. an Obsidian vault folder like ~/vault/TBPN/)
• tempDir — where to store temporary transcript files

Feeds

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC-DRzaGnL_vtBUpCFH5M0tg
• Newsletter (Substack): https://tbpn.substack.com/feed

Workflow

1. Fetch episodes

• Pull the YouTube RSS feed
• Filter for full episodes (skip Shorts — URLs containing /shorts/)
• By default, get episodes from the current week (Monday–Friday)
• The user may also request a specific number of recent episodes

2. Get transcripts

• Start the PO Token server: cd <potServerDir> && node build/main.js &
• For each episode, download the auto-generated transcript:

  <ytDlp> --write-auto-sub --skip-download --sub-lang en -o '<tempDir>/tbpn-%(id)s' 'VIDEO_URL'
  

• The bgutil plugin auto-provides tokens when the server is running on port 4416
• Clean transcripts: strip VTT headers, timestamps, positioning tags, and deduplicate consecutive identical lines
• Kill the PO Token server when done
• If transcripts aren't available, fall back to episode descriptions from the RSS feed

3. Generate the summary

Read all transcripts and produce a structured summary:

• Headline — the single biggest story
• Top Stories — 3-5 major topics, each with a 2-3 sentence summary
• Interviews & Guests — notable guests and key takeaways
• Hot Takes — spicy opinions from John or Jordi worth noting
• Quick Hits — bullet list of smaller stories mentioned
• Links — relevant links mentioned on the show

Tone: informative, slightly casual, like a tech-savvy friend summarising the week. Aim for 500-800 words total.

4. Save the summary

Save to <outputDir>/YYYY-WNN.md (e.g. 2026-W14.md). Create the output directory if it doesn't exist.

Use the template in references/TEMPLATE.md.

5. PDF newspaper (optional)

If the user asks for a PDF, newspaper format, or "Wall Street Journal style":

1. Read the HTML template at references/NEWSPAPER-TEMPLATE.html
2. Replace all {{PLACEHOLDER}} values with content from the generated summary:
   • {{WEEK_NUMBER}}, {{YEAR}}, {{DATE_RANGE}}, {{EPISODE_COUNT}}
   • {{HEADLINE}}, {{HEADLINE_DECK}} — main story headline and sub-headline
   • {{LEAD_DROPCAP}}, {{LEAD_TEXT}} — first letter and body of the lead story
   • {{STORIES_LEFT}} — HTML story blocks (use .story class with <h3>, .deck, <p> tags)
   • {{STORIES_RIGHT}} — interviews (.interview-box), hot takes (.hot-takes), pull quotes (.pullquote)
   • {{QUICK_HITS_LEFT}}, {{QUICK_HITS_RIGHT}} — <li> items with <strong> labels
3. Write verbose, long-form content for the PDF — much longer than the Markdown summary:
   • A single episode's newspaper should span 3-4 printed pages (so a full week of 5 episodes produces a ~20 page paper)
   • Quote generously from the transcripts — include full paragraphs of dialogue, not just paraphrases. Pull exact lines from hosts, guests, and interviewees. Let the reader hear the voices.
   • For interviews, reproduce substantial back-and-forth exchanges, not just takeaways. Include the setup questions and the full answers.
   • Expand every story with color, context, and multiple direct quotes. If John or Jordi had a reaction, include it verbatim.
   • Hot takes should be full quotes with surrounding context, not one-liners.
   • The lead story should be several paragraphs long with multiple quoted passages.
   • Think of it as a feature article, not a summary — someone who reads the PDF should feel like they watched the episode.
4. Save the filled HTML to <tempDir>/tbpn-newspaper.html
5. Render to PDF using a browser. Ensure 1 inch (25mm) margins on all sides — top, bottom, left, and right — for readability:
   • With browser tool: open the HTML, use the PDF action with margins, save to <outputDir>/YYYY-WNN-newspaper.pdf
   • With headless Chrome: chrome --headless --print-to-pdf=output.pdf --print-to-pdf-no-header newspaper.html (do NOT use --no-margins; the default margins are correct)
   • With Playwright: use page.pdf({ margin: { top: '25mm', bottom: '25mm', left: '25mm', right: '25mm' } })
   • With wkhtmltopdf: use --margin-top 25 --margin-bottom 25 --margin-left 25 --margin-right 25
6. Send or share the PDF with the user

The template uses Google Fonts (Playfair Display, Source Serif 4, Inter) and is styled after the Wall Street Journal — cream background, double-rule masthead, drop caps, two-column layout, dark hot takes box, interview callout boxes.

6. Notify the user

After saving, let the user know: "TBPN weekly summary for Week NN is ready."

Setup

If yt-dlp or the PO Token server are not installed, refer to references/SETUP.md for installation instructions.

Notes

• TBPN streams weekdays 11 AM–2 PM PT (John Coogan & Jordi Hays)
• Show was acquired by OpenAI in April 2026
• If no episodes aired in a given week, skip and note it
• The Substack feed can supplement YouTube when transcripts are unavailable