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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί Topic Monitor
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

Topic Monitor

by @robbyczgw-cla

Monitor topics of interest and proactively alert when important developments occur. Use when the user wants automated monitoring of specific subjects like pr...

Versionv1.5.2
Downloads10,272
Stars⭐ 27
#legal#automation
TERMINAL
clawhub install topic-monitor

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: topic-monitor version: 1.5.2 description: Monitor topics of interest and proactively alert when important developments occur. Use when the user wants automated monitoring of specific subjects like product releases, news topics, technology updates, RSS/Atom feeds, or GitHub releases. Supports scheduled web search plus feed polling, boolean topic filters, AI importance scoring with sentiment tracking, smart alerts vs weekly digests, and memory-aware contextual summaries. metadata: {"openclaw":{"requires":{"bins":["python3"],"env":{"TOPIC_MONITOR_TELEGRAM_ID":"optional - Telegram chat ID for alerts","TOPIC_MONITOR_DATA_DIR":"optional - defaults to .data/ in skill dir","WEB_SEARCH_PLUS_PATH":"optional - defaults to relative path"},"note":"All env vars optional. Defaults work out of the box."}}}

Topic Monitor

Monitor topics continuously and alert only when something looks relevant.

What’s new in v1.5.0

  • RSS/Atom feed monitoring as a first-class source via feeds
  • GitHub release monitoring via github_repos β†’ https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/releases.atom
  • Feed auto-discovery from normal URLs
  • OPML import for feed lists
  • Advanced filters with required_keywords and exclude_keywords
  • Sentiment analysis on findings: positive, negative, neutral, mixed
  • Sentiment shift alerts with alert_on_sentiment_shift

    • Quick start

    python3 scripts/quick.py "AI Model Releases"
python3 scripts/quick.py "OpenClaw Releases" --github-repos "openclaw/openclaw"
python3 scripts/quick.py "Security Advisories" --feeds "https://example.com/security.xml"

    Then test it:

    python3 scripts/monitor.py --dry-run --verbose

    Core model

    Each topic can mix multiple sources:

  • Web search via query
  • RSS/Atom feeds via feeds
  • GitHub releases via github_repos

    • All collected results flow into the same pipeline:

    1. gather results 2. deduplicate 3. apply advanced filters 4. score importance 5. classify sentiment 6. alert immediately or save for digest 7. track state and sentiment history

    Topic config

    Each topic supports these keys:

  • id
  • name
  • query
  • keywords
  • feeds
  • github_repos
  • required_keywords
  • exclude_keywords
  • frequency β†’ hourly|daily|weekly
  • importance_threshold β†’ high|medium|low
  • channels
  • context
  • alert_on
  • alert_on_sentiment_shift
  • ignore_sources
  • boost_sources

    • Example config

    {
  "topics": [
    {
      "id": "openclaw-news",
      "name": "OpenClaw Updates",
      "query": "OpenClaw AI assistant update release",
      "keywords": ["OpenClaw", "release", "update"],
      "feeds": ["https://example.com/blog/rss.xml"],
      "github_repos": ["openclaw/openclaw"],
      "required_keywords": ["release"],
      "exclude_keywords": ["rumor", "affiliate"],
      "frequency": "daily",
      "importance_threshold": "medium",
      "channels": ["telegram"],
      "context": "Track product updates and releases",
      "alert_on": ["keyword_exact_match", "github_release"],
      "alert_on_sentiment_shift": true,
      "ignore_sources": [],
      "boost_sources": ["github.com"]
    }
  ]
}

    Advanced filters

    required_keywords

    All listed terms must appear in the title/snippet before scoring.

    "required_keywords": ["release", "stable"]

    exclude_keywords

    Any matching term filters the result out before scoring.

    "exclude_keywords": ["beta", "rumor", "affiliate"]

    This is intentionally simple boolean logic:

  • any exclude match β†’ reject
  • any missing required term β†’ reject

    • RSS/Atom feeds

    Direct feeds

    python3 scripts/manage_topics.py add "Security Feeds" \
  --feeds "https://example.com/rss.xml,https://example.com/atom.xml" \
  --keywords "security,CVE,patch"

    Feed discovery

    Discover feeds from a normal website URL:

    python3 scripts/manage_topics.py discover-feed https://example.com/blog
python3 scripts/monitor.py --discover-feed https://example.com/blog

    Add a topic and auto-discover feeds in one step:

    python3 scripts/manage_topics.py add "Vendor Blog" \
  --discover-feeds "https://example.com/blog" \
  --keywords "release,announcement"

    OPML import

    Import feed subscriptions from an OPML file:

    python3 scripts/manage_topics.py import-opml feeds.opml

    Imported topics default to daily / medium unless you override:

    python3 scripts/manage_topics.py import-opml feeds.opml --frequency hourly --importance high

    Feed caching

    Feed polling uses feedparser and stores per-feed cache data in monitor state:

  • etag
  • last-modified
  • last check metadata

    • That allows efficient conditional requests and avoids reprocessing unchanged feeds.

    GitHub release monitoring

    Track repo releases with:

    "github_repos": ["openclaw/openclaw", "anthropics/claude-code"]

    These map to GitHub Atom feeds automatically:

  • https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases.atom
  • https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases.atom

    • CLI example:

    python3 scripts/manage_topics.py add "CLI Releases" \
  --github-repos "openclaw/openclaw,anthropics/claude-code" \
  --keywords "release,version"

    GitHub release items are labeled clearly in alerts.

    Sentiment analysis

    Each scored finding also gets a sentiment label:

  • positive
  • negative
  • neutral
  • mixed

    • Alerts and digest entries include that sentiment.

    Sentiment shift alerts

    Enable:

    "alert_on_sentiment_shift": true

    When enabled, a result that changes sentiment versus the topic’s previous sentiment history gets promoted for alerting.

    State tracks:

  • last_sentiment
  • sentiment_history

    • Scripts

    scripts/manage_topics.py

    # Add topic
python3 scripts/manage_topics.py add "Topic Name" \
  --query "search query" \
  --keywords "word1,word2" \
  --feeds "https://example.com/rss.xml" \
  --github-repos "openclaw/openclaw" \
  --required-keywords "release" \
  --exclude-keywords "beta,rumor"
    List topics
    
python3 scripts/manage_topics.py list
    Edit topic
    
python3 scripts/manage_topics.py edit topic-id --feeds "https://example.com/rss.xml"
    Discover feeds
    
python3 scripts/manage_topics.py discover-feed https://example.com/blog
    Import OPML
    
python3 scripts/manage_topics.py import-opml feeds.opml
    Test topic
    
python3 scripts/manage_topics.py test topic-id

    scripts/monitor.py

    python3 scripts/monitor.py
python3 scripts/monitor.py --dry-run
python3 scripts/monitor.py --topic openclaw-news --verbose
python3 scripts/monitor.py --discover-feed https://example.com/blog

    Alert output

    Alerts can now include:

  • source label (Web, Feed, GitHub Release)
  • score and reason
  • sentiment
  • sentiment shift marker when applicable

    • Installation note

    Feed support uses Python feedparser.

    Install if needed:

    pip3 install feedparser

    Troubleshooting

    Feeds not showing results

  • verify the feed URL manually
  • try discover-feed against the site URL
  • install feedparser
  • run python3 scripts/monitor.py --dry-run --verbose

    • Too much noise

  • tighten required_keywords
  • add exclude_keywords
  • increase importance_threshold

    • Missing GitHub release alerts

  • confirm repo is owner/repo
  • verify releases exist on GitHub
  • test with --verbose

    • Notes

  • Search and feed results are merged into the same scoring pipeline.
  • Existing web-search behavior remains supported.
  • Digest entries store sentiment so weekly output reflects tone changes too.

    • πŸ’‘ Examples

    python3 scripts/quick.py "AI Model Releases"
python3 scripts/quick.py "OpenClaw Releases" --github-repos "openclaw/openclaw"
python3 scripts/quick.py "Security Advisories" --feeds "https://example.com/security.xml"

    Then test it:

    python3 scripts/monitor.py --dry-run --verbose

    πŸ“‹ Tips & Best Practices

  • Search and feed results are merged into the same scoring pipeline.
  • Existing web-search behavior remains supported.
  • Digest entries store sentiment so weekly output reflects tone changes too.