Castreader Openclaw Skill

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name: castreader description: > URL to audio: extract any web page and convert to natural AI speech (Kokoro TTS). The only skill that turns a URL into a podcast-quality MP3 — no API key needed. Also reads synced books from WeChat Reading / Kindle library aloud. Triggers: read this article, listen to webpage, URL to audio, text-to-speech, read aloud, web page reader, article to podcast, read a book chapter. version: 3.2.13 metadata: openclaw: emoji: "🔊" requires: anyBins: ["node"] os: ["darwin", "linux", "win32"] homepage: https://castreader.ai/openclaw

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CastReader — Read Web Pages & Books Aloud

Setup (once per session)

cd  && npm install

How to find target (chatId)

User messages look like: [Telegram username id:8716240840 ...] The number after id: is the target. You MUST use this number in every message tool call. Example: target is "8716240840".

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Mode A: When user sends a URL

Step 1: Extract article

node scripts/read-url.js "" 0

Returns: { title, language, totalParagraphs, totalCharacters, paragraphs[] }

Step 2: Show info + ask user to choose

Reply with this text:

📖 {title}
🌐 {language} · 📝 {totalParagraphs} paragraphs · 📊 {totalCharacters} chars
📋 Summary:
{write 2-3 sentence summary from paragraphs}
Reply a number to choose:
1️⃣ Listen to full article (~{totalCharacters} chars, ~{Math.ceil(totalCharacters / 200)} sec to generate)
2️⃣ Listen to summary only (~{summary_char_count} chars, ~{Math.ceil(summary_char_count / 200)} sec to generate)

STOP. Wait for user to reply 1 or 2.

Step 3a: User chose 1 (full article)

Reply: 🎙️ Generating full audio (~{totalCharacters} chars, ~{Math.ceil(totalCharacters / 200)} seconds)...

node scripts/read-url.js "" all

Then send the audio file using the message tool:

{"action":"send", "target":"", "channel":"telegram", "filePath":"", "caption":"🔊 {title}"}

Reply: ✅ Done!

Step 3b: User chose 2 (summary only)

Reply: 🎙️ Generating summary audio...

Save the SAME summary text you showed in Step 2 to a file and generate:

echo "
" > /tmp/castreader-summary.txt
node scripts/generate-text.js /tmp/castreader-summary.txt 

Then send the audio file using the message tool:

{"action":"send", "target":"", "channel":"telegram", "filePath":"/tmp/castreader-summary.mp3", "caption":"📋 Summary: {title}"}

Reply: ✅ Done!

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Mode B: When user asks to read a book (微信读书 / Kindle)

Books are synced from WeChat Reading or Kindle to ~/castreader-library/books/. Each book is stored in a folder like 书名-hashid (e.g. 儒林外史-dc532c705c6d3edc5503acc).

⚠️ CRITICAL: You MUST use sync-books.js --list to get the exact book folder ID. NEVER guess or construct the folder path yourself. The folder name includes a title prefix that you cannot predict.

Step 1: List available books

node scripts/sync-books.js --list

Returns: { books: [{ id, title, author, language, totalChapters, totalCharacters, source, syncedAt }] }

The id field is the exact folder name you must use in all subsequent commands. Example: "儒林外史-dc532c705c6d3edc5503acc".

Step 2: Show book list and let user choose

Reply with the book list:

📚 Your synced books:
1. 📖 {title} — {author}
   🌐 {language} · 📑 {totalChapters} chapters · 📊 {totalCharacters} chars · 📱 {source}
2. ...
Reply the number of the book you want to read.

STOP. Wait for user to choose a book.

Step 3: Show chapter list and let user choose

node scripts/sync-books.js --book ""

Use the exact id from Step 1 output. Returns the book content with chapter list.

Reply:

📖 {title} — {author}
📑 {totalChapters} chapters · 📊 {totalCharacters} chars
📋 Chapters:
1. {chapter 1 title}
2. {chapter 2 title}
...
Reply a number to listen to a chapter, or "all" to listen to the full book.

STOP. Wait for user to choose.

Step 4a: User chose a chapter number

node scripts/sync-books.js --book "" --chapter  --audio

Returns: { title, audioFile, fileSizeBytes }

Send the audio:

{"action":"send", "target":"", "channel":"telegram", "filePath":"", "caption":"🔊 {bookTitle} — Chapter {num}"}

Step 4b: User chose "all" (full book)

node scripts/sync-books.js --book "" --audio

Returns: { title, audioFile, fileSizeBytes }

Send the audio:

{"action":"send", "target":"", "channel":"telegram", "filePath":"", "caption":"🔊 {bookTitle} (full)"}

Reading a chapter as text (no audio)

If the user wants to read (not listen), use without --audio:

node scripts/sync-books.js --book "" --chapter 

Returns: { title, author, language, chapter: { number, title, text }, totalChapters }

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Rules

ALWAYS extract first (index=0 for URLs, --list for books), show info, wait for user choice. Never skip.

ALWAYS send audio files using the message tool with target (numeric chatId) and channel ("telegram"). Never just print the file path.

For books: ALWAYS run --list first and use the exact id from the output. NEVER construct book paths manually or use partial IDs.

Do NOT use built-in TTS tools. ONLY use read-url.js, generate-text.js, and sync-books.js.

Do NOT use web_fetch. ONLY use read-url.js.

Do NOT use the read tool to directly access files in ~/castreader-library/. ONLY use sync-books.js.

ALWAYS extract first (index=0 for URLs, --list for books), show info, wait for user choice. Never skip.

ALWAYS send audio files using the message tool with target (numeric chatId) and channel ("telegram"). Never just print the file path.

For books: ALWAYS run --list first and use the exact id from the output. NEVER construct book paths manually or use partial IDs.

Do NOT use built-in TTS tools. ONLY use read-url.js, generate-text.js, and sync-books.js.

Do NOT use web_fetch. ONLY use read-url.js.

Do NOT use the read tool to directly access files in ~/castreader-library/. ONLY use sync-books.js.