topic-patrol

name	topic-patrol
description	Proactively explore the web for topics matching the user's interests and share findings conversationally. Designed for cron execution with Flash model.
enabled	true

Topic Patrol

Explore the web based on the user's interests and share discoveries like a curious friend — not a news bot.

1. Read     → USER.md (Interests + Work Context + sources) + prior state
2. Explore  → Route to the right source tool per topic
3. Filter   → "Would I tell a friend about this?"
4. Share    → Conversational message to home channel (or stay silent)
5. Record   → Update state + findings log

Trigger Patterns

• Cron job — scheduled every 4-8 hours with a lightweight model (e.g. gemini-2.5-flash)
• Manual — user says "patrol", "track this topic", "what's new in {X}", or "anything interesting lately?"

When triggered manually, reply directly in the conversation instead of posting to home channel.

Execution Flow

Step 1: Understand the User

1. Read USER.md:
   • Interests section — primary exploration source. Each topic may have a sources: line (see Source Routing below).
   • Work Context section — anchor findings to what the user is currently working on
   • If Interests is empty, fall back to Work Context topics. If both are empty, skip and stay silent.
2. Read patrol/state.json (default: { "lastRun": null, "rotationIndex": 0 } if missing)
3. Read patrol/findings.md (default: empty if missing) — for dedup
4. Check for entries marked deferred from a previous quiet-hours run. If still relevant, share them first before exploring new topics.

Step 2: Explore

Run 2-3 queries, rotating through Interests across runs via rotationIndex. Wrap around to 0 when it exceeds the number of Interest topics.

Source Routing

Each Interest topic in USER.md may have an optional sources: line. Route queries to the appropriate tool based on source type:

Source prefix	Tool	Example query
(no sources specified)	web_search + web_fetch	{interest} latest news 2026
HN	web_search with site:news.ycombinator.com	site:news.ycombinator.com {interest}
Reddit/{subreddit}	web_search with site:reddit.com/r/{subreddit}	site:reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA {interest}
github:{owner}/{repo}	github skill tools (releases, issues)	Check latest releases / recent issues
@{handle}	Twitter/X MCP tools if available, else web_search	from:{handle} {interest} or web_search fallback
rss:{url}	RSS MCP tools if available, else skip	Fetch and filter feed entries
URL (e.g. https://blog.nodejs.org)	web_fetch directly	Read the page and look for new content

Fallback rule: if the specified source tool is not available, fall back to web_search with a site: filter or topic keywords. Never error on a missing tool — degrade gracefully.

Query Categories

Category	What to search	Example
Interest-driven	A topic from the Interests section, using its sources	site:news.ycombinator.com AI agents
Work-adjacent	Something near the user's current work	{technology} best practices tips
Serendipity (occasional)	Cross-topic or tangential discovery	{work_context_tool} alternative approaches

For promising results, read the actual page with web_fetch to get substance beyond snippets. Do not curate based on search snippets alone.

Not every run needs a Serendipity query. Rotate it in roughly 1 in 3 runs.

Step 3: Filter — "Would I tell a friend?"

For each finding, consider:

• Novel? — not already in patrol/findings.md
• Interesting? — not a generic press release or product announcement
• Relevant? — connects to the user's work or stated interests
• Worth sharing? — would make someone say "oh cool, I didn't know that"

Use your judgment. If nothing clears the bar, share nothing — silence is better than noise.

Step 4: Share (only when worth it)

Check the current time via geminiclaw_status. Respect quiet hours (23:00–08:00) — defer delivery until morning.

Post to home channel via geminiclaw_post_message. Limit to 1-2 topics per message.

Tone: natural, conversational. Explain WHY it's interesting, not just WHAT it is. Connect it to the user's current work. End with a question or action prompt.

Good:

Hey — spotted something relevant to your {work_context} work.
{1-2 sentence summary of the finding and why it matters}.

Source: {URL}

Want me to dig into this further?

Bad (do NOT do this):

📰 Topic Patrol Report
1. {topic}: {summary}
2. {topic}: {summary}
3. {topic}: {summary}

Step 5: Update State

1. Append to patrol/findings.md (whether shared or not):

   ## YYYY-MM-DD
   - {topic}: {one-line summary} — shared / skipped ({reason}) / deferred (quiet hours)
   

   Prune entries older than 14 days to keep the file small. Use geminiclaw_status for the current date.

2. Update patrol/state.json:

   { "lastRun": "2026-03-10T14:00:00+09:00", "rotationIndex": 2 }
   

If nothing was found, still update lastRun and increment rotationIndex.

Cron Setup

Schedule: { "type": "every", "intervalMin": 360 }
Timezone: [user's timezone from config]
Prompt: "Run the topic-patrol skill."
Model: flash

Graceful Degradation

Condition	Behavior
USER.md has no Interests or Work Context	Stay silent — nothing to explore
web_search not available	Stay silent — cannot explore
Source tool not available (RSS, Twitter, etc.)	Fall back to web_search with site: filter
patrol/state.json missing	Start fresh with defaults
patrol/findings.md missing	Treat as empty (no dedup history)
Quiet hours (23:00–08:00)	Skip delivery, record findings for next run

Prohibited Patterns

• Formatted news-briefing style (numbered lists, emoji headers, "report" framing)
• Cramming 3+ topics into a single message
• Sharing something just because it's new — it must be genuinely interesting
• Reporting "nothing found" — silence is the correct response
• Sending duplicates without checking patrol/findings.md