Community Intel

Community Intel

Automated community intelligence gathering and trend monitoring for open-source projects and products.

Requirements

How It Works

Run as a nightly or weekly cron job. The agent searches multiple platforms for mentions of a target project/product, reads full threads, and compiles a structured intelligence report. Over time, it learns which sources are productive and adjusts accordingly.

Configuration

Set these in your cron message or workspace config:

PROJECT_NAME: "YourProject"
SEARCH_TERMS: ["yourproject", "your-project", "YourProject"]
SUBREDDITS: ["r/yourproject", "r/selfhosted", "r/programming"]
INTEL_FILE: "memory/project-intel.md"       # cumulative findings log
DISCORD_CHANNEL: ""                          # optional: channel ID for posting
EMAIL_TO: ""                                 # optional: email for delivery

Research Sources

Primary (search every run)

Secondary (rotate or check weekly)

OpenClaw Cron Setup

Add via CLI:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Community Intel" \
  --schedule "45 22 * * *" \
  --tz "America/Chicago" \
  --session-target isolated \
  --timeout 600 \
  --message "$(cat <<'EOF'
You are doing community research for [PROJECT_NAME].
Search for mentions across Reddit, Twitter/X, Hacker News, GitHub, and YouTube.
Look for: interesting use cases, creative integrations, tips and tricks,
new tools, complaints, security issues, and feature requests.
Steps:
1. Read [INTEL_FILE] for context on past findings and best sources
2. Search each platform for [SEARCH_TERMS]
3. Go deep -- read full threads, follow links, check comments
4. Compile findings into a structured summary
5. Append findings to [INTEL_FILE] with today's date and run number
6. Post summary to Discord channel [DISCORD_CHANNEL] (if configured)
7. Rate each source 1-3 stars based on today's yield
Be thorough. Quality over speed. If a source has nothing new, note that
so we can deprioritize it over time.
EOF
)"

Or add via config.patch:

{
  "cron": [{
    "name": "Community Intel",
    "schedule": "45 22 * * *",
    "tz": "America/Chicago",
    "sessionTarget": "isolated",
    "timeout": 600,
    "message": "You are doing community research for [PROJECT_NAME]..."
  }]
}

Report Format

Each run produces a report in this structure:

### YYYY-MM-DD (run N) -- Research Run
Headline: [one-line summary of biggest findings]
🔥 Cool Use Cases
[Description with source link]
💡 Tips & Tricks
[Practical discovery with details]
🛠️ New Tools / Integrations
[New project, tool, or integration discovered]
📢 Community Buzz
[Sentiment, complaints, praise, trends]
🔒 Security / Risks
[Any security findings, vulnerabilities, concerns]
📊 Source Quality
Reddit: ⭐⭐⭐ (active discussions)
HN: ⭐⭐ (one thread)
Twitter: ⭐ (quiet day)
YouTube: ⭐⭐⭐ (new tutorials)

Intel File Structure

Maintain a cumulative intel file (INTEL_FILE) with three sections:

# [PROJECT_NAME] Intel
Best Sources (updated YYYY-MM-DD, run N)
Reddit ⭐⭐⭐ -- Active community, good use cases
Hacker News ⭐⭐ -- Occasional deep technical threads
GitHub ⭐⭐ -- Steady issue flow
Twitter/X ⭐ -- Mostly retweets, low signal
YouTube ⭐⭐⭐ -- Tutorial explosion lately
Community Resources Discovered
tool-name -- Description
directory-site -- Curated list of projects
Findings Log
YYYY-MM-DD (run N)
... (newest first, oldest at bottom)

The agent reads this file at the start of each run to:

Research Techniques

Search query patterns that work well:

Reading threads effectively:

Tips

Set these in your cron message or workspace config:

PROJECT_NAME: "YourProject"
SEARCH_TERMS: ["yourproject", "your-project", "YourProject"]
SUBREDDITS: ["r/yourproject", "r/selfhosted", "r/programming"]
INTEL_FILE: "memory/project-intel.md"       # cumulative findings log
DISCORD_CHANNEL: ""                          # optional: channel ID for posting
EMAIL_TO: ""                                 # optional: email for delivery