news

The main thread reads only:

• context.md (root — personal context, life stage)
• .claude/skills/news/digest-history.md (if exists — last digest date, coverage, recent story slugs)
• interests/ai-news/context.md (Last AI Coverage date — updated by both /news and /ai-news)

Domain context files are read by the topic agents, not the main thread (see step 3). Each agent reads its own domain's context and derives queries from it — this keeps the main context lean and means search targeting can never drift from what the context files say is current.

2. Determine Coverage Period

• First run (no history): Last 7 days
• Previous digest exists: From last digest date to now
• --full flag: Last 14 days regardless of history
• If /ai-news ran within the last 3 days (check Last AI Coverage in interests/ai-news/context.md): lighten the AI search — major headlines only, reference the deep dive. Otherwise cover AI fully (the normal case).

3. Search for News

This is the slow part of the skill — many searches across ~10 topic areas. Fan it out across parallel subagents instead of running every search sequentially in the main thread. This is faster and keeps the main context clean (only the distilled results come back, not dozens of raw search dumps).

Parallel fan-out (preferred)

Spawn one research agent per topic area, all in a single message (multiple Agent tool calls in one turn so they run concurrently). Use the Explore or general-purpose agent type. Give each agent:

• The domain context file(s) to read first (listed per topic area below)
• Its topic area's template queries (from the list below)
• The coverage period (from step 2)
• The filter criteria (from "Filter Criteria" below) and source tiers
• This instruction: "Read the listed context file(s) first and derive additional or replacement searches from whatever is current there (currently playing, TBR, watchlist, owned hardware, next fixture). Return ONLY a compact markdown list of 2–5 items, each as - **Mon D** — one-liner ([Source](url)). No preamble, no commentary. Only include items whose date you can confirm from the source itself — search snippets misdate stories, so if you can't pin a date inside the coverage window, drop the item. Drop anything not genuinely relevant to the profile in the context files."

Suggested agent split (collapse low-yield ones together to keep agent count ~7–9):

• AI & coding tools (lighter if /ai-news ran within 3 days — pass that flag to the agent)
• iOS / app development
• 3D printing
• Board games + video games (one agent, both)
• Books/fantasy + TV (one agent, both)
• Football (own agent while a tournament section is active in hobbies/football/; off-season, fold into the books/TV agent and surface only major items)
• Home network / smart home
• UK personal finance + gov.uk policy/benefits (one agent, both)
• Parenting + wider net (one agent, both — light; parenting only while life-stage gated, see edge cases)

When all agents return, the main thread owns synthesis — agents only gather. Specifically, in the main thread:

• Dedupe across agents (the same story can surface from more than one agent — keep the single best instance).
• Dedupe against recent digests using the ongoing-story rule (see Filter Criteria): check the story slugs in the last 2–3 rows of digest history and drop ongoing stories with no material change. Per-topic agents don't see the digest history, so this stays a main-thread job.
• Apply the /ai-news overlap rule from step 2 if it fired: drop or down-rank AI items the recent deep dive already covered and add the reference note.
• Categorise and prioritise into step 4's categories.
• Enforce the counts and format from step 5: item target scaled to the coverage window, Wider Net strictly 1-2, and the exact item format. Agents returning ~2-5 each is raw input, not the final count.

Sequential fallback

Fall back to running the WebSearch queries directly in parallel batches if either: subagents aren't available, or the run is small — a single --topic (one topic area, no fan-out benefit). In this path the main thread reads the relevant domain context file(s) itself before searching. The synthesis responsibilities above (dedup, filter, counts, format) apply identically.

Topic Areas & Search Queries

The queries below are starting templates, not the spec. Each agent reads its domain context file(s) first and adds or replaces queries based on what's current there. {...} placeholders are filled from context. Hardcoded specifics go stale — context wins.

AI & Coding Tools — context: interests/ai-news/context.md (preferences, focus areas):

Claude OR Anthropic OR "Claude Code" news [time period]
OpenAI OR GPT OR Gemini announcement [time period]
AI coding tools Cursor Windsurf Copilot update [time period]

iOS / App Development — context: hobbies/app-development/context.md (current projects, stack):

SwiftUI iOS Xcode news [time period]
Apple developer announcement [time period]
indie iOS app development news [time period]

3D Printing — context: hobbies/3d-printing/context.md (printer model, what matters):

{printer brand/model from context} news announcement [time period]
3D printing news Bambu Prusa [time period]
site:reddit.com/r/BambuLab news [time period]

Board Games — context: hobbies/board-games/context.md (collection, wishlist, taste):

board game news releases [time period]
site:boardgamegeek.com/thread hot [time period]
{wishlist / collection favourites from context} news [time period]
board game Kickstarter notable [time period]

Video Games — context: hobbies/video-games/context.md (platforms, genres, currently playing):

{currently playing titles from context} update news [time period]
{owned platforms from context} news update [time period]
{favourite genres from context} new release Steam [time period]

Books & Fantasy — context: interests/books/context.md (TBR, followed authors, series in progress):

{followed authors from context} news [time period]
{TBR titles / series in progress from context} release news [time period]
fantasy sci-fi book release announcement [time period]

TV & Streaming — context: interests/tv-shows/context.md (watchlist, followed shows, patterns):

{watchlist + followed shows from context} news [time period]
prestige TV drama new series [time period]
HBO Apple TV+ Netflix best new show [time period]

Football (Portugal & tournaments) — context: hobbies/football/context.md + the active section it points to (e.g. hobbies/football/world-cup-2026/):

Portugal national team news squad [time period]
{active tournament from context} news [time period]
{next opponent / group stage from context} preview [time period]
{active tournament} UK TV coverage BBC ITV kickoff times [time period]

While a tournament section is active, this is its own agent and its own output category. Off-season, fold into the entertainment agent and surface only major Portugal news.

Home Network / Smart Home — context: home/home-network/context.md (UniFi ecosystem, NAS, owned gear):

UniFi Ubiquiti news release [time period]
Synology NAS news [time period]
Home Assistant update [time period]
{owned gear from context} vulnerability CVE [time period]

UK Personal Finance — context: finances/context.md (what's active — ISA, pension, mortgage):

UK tax ISA pension news [time period]
UK personal finance news HMRC [time period]
UK mortgage rates news [time period]

Gov.uk (policy, benefits & announcements) — context: root context.md (life stage drives what matters — currently parental leave/pay, childcare support, Child Benefit, tax/HMRC, consumer/regulatory). Prefer site:gov.uk for primary sources:

site:gov.uk news announcement [time period]
gov.uk childcare OR "Child Benefit" OR "parental leave" change [time period]
gov.uk OR HMRC tax benefits change [time period]
UK government policy families consumers [time period]

Parenting (life-stage gated) — context: baby/context.md (Leo's age, current phase, active watch items). Only runs while the life stage calls for it — see edge cases:

NHS baby guidance update [time period]
baby sleep research news [time period]
{age-appropriate next phase from context, e.g. weaning} guidance news [time period]
UK baby product recall safety alert [time period]

Wider Net (serendipity):

breakthrough technology science [time period]
MIT Technology Review breakthrough [time period]
interesting longevity health research [time period]
Spain expat digital nomad news [time period]
UK electric vehicle affordable [time period]
indie maker side project success [time period]

Source Priorities

Tier 1 — Official & Authoritative:

• Company blogs (Anthropic, Apple, Ubiquiti, publisher announcements)
• gov.uk, HMRC, NHS
• BoardGameGeek, official publisher pages
• FIFA/UEFA, FPF (football official sources)

Tier 2 — Quality News:

• The Verge, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Wired
• MoneyWeek, ThisIsMoney, MoneySavingExpert
• Polygon, Dicebreaker (board games)
• Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, Kotaku (video games)
• Tor.com, Book Riot (books)
• BBC Sport, The Athletic, A Bola, Record (football)

Tier 3 — Community:

• Reddit: r/BambuLab, r/boardgames, r/SteamDeck, r/pcgaming, r/patientgamers, r/Fantasy, r/UKPersonalFinance, r/Ubiquiti, r/iOSProgramming, r/SwiftUI
• Hacker News
• BGG forums

Filter Criteria

Include if:

• Directly relevant to Pedro's owned hardware, collections, or active interests (per the context files)
• New release, major update, or significant announcement
• Actionable for UK context (not US-only)
• Security vulnerability affecting owned hardware — always include, flag as an action item
• Genuinely interesting or surprising

Exclude if:

• Ongoing story with no material change (see rule below)
• Already covered by a /ai-news deep dive within 3 days (reference it instead)
• Rumour without substance
• Niche drama / controversy without product impact
• US-only financial or regulatory news

Ongoing-story rule: the Notes column in digest history holds story slugs from recent digests. Re-report an ongoing story only on material change — "mortgage rates still elevated" is not news; "BoE cuts the rate" is. A story that appeared in the last 2–3 digests with nothing new gets dropped, however prominent it is in the search results.

4. Categorise & Prioritise

Group items into personalised categories. Only show categories that have items.

Categories (in display order)

1. AI & Dev Tools — Model releases, coding tool updates, Apple/Xcode news
2. Making & Building — 3D printing, app development, indie maker news
3. Entertainment — Board games, video games, books/fantasy, TV shows
4. Football — Portugal, active tournament coverage (own category while a tournament section is active in hobbies/football/; off-season, rare major items fold into Entertainment)
5. Parenting — Only while the life-stage gated topic is active. NHS guidance, age-relevant research, recalls
6. Home & Network — UniFi, Synology, smart home, property
7. Money — UK tax, ISA, pension, mortgage, benefits
8. UK & Gov — Gov.uk policy and announcements relevant to Pedro: parental leave/pay, childcare support, Child Benefit, HMRC/tax changes, consumer and regulatory updates. Fold purely financial gov.uk items (e.g. ISA limits, dividend tax) into Money instead to avoid overlap.
9. Wider Net — 1-2 items from outside the usual interests. Science breakthroughs, health research, Spain/expat life, EVs, fascinating long reads. Keep this tight — quality over quantity.

Prioritisation within categories

• Most impactful / personally relevant first
• Time-sensitive items (limited availability, deadlines, kickoff times) flagged
• Items that span multiple interests get a cross-reference note

5. Format Output

# News Roundup
*{Date} — covering {start} to {end}*

## {Category}

- **{Mon D}** — One-liner description ([Source](url))
- **{Mon D}** — One-liner description ([Source](url))

{...remaining non-empty categories...}

## Wider Net

- **{Mon D}** — One-liner with brief context on why it's interesting ([Source](url))

---

*Want more detail on any of these? Just ask.*

Item count scales with the coverage window — a short digest is a correct digest; never pad with marginal items to hit a number:

Format rules:

• Category headers as ##
• Each item: - **Mon D** — One-liner ([Source](url))
• Most recent first within each category
• Omit empty categories
• Wider Net items get a short "why you'd care" note (one extra clause)
• If /ai-news ran within 3 days, add a note: "For full AI coverage, see your last /ai-news digest ({date})."
• Wider Net: strictly 1-2 items. This is a teaser, not a section.

6. Update Digest History & AI Coverage

Digest history — create or update .claude/skills/news/digest-history.md:

# News Digest History

| Date | Coverage Period | Items | Notes |
|------|-----------------|-------|-------|
| YYYY-MM-DD | {start} to {end} | {count} | {story slugs} |

• Notes = terse comma-separated story slugs (e.g. boe-rate-cut, severance-s3-date, unifi-cve-2026-34908), not prose. They exist for the ongoing-story dedup rule — slugs, not summaries.
• Cap the table at 10 rows: when adding a new row, delete the oldest beyond 10. The skill only ever needs the last date and recent slugs.

AI coverage — update the Last AI Coverage section in interests/ai-news/context.md with today's date and the coverage window. /news is the primary AI source; this is how /ai-news knows what's already been covered.

7. Cross-Capture into Context Files

The digest keeps surfacing facts the repo wants. After presenting the digest, if any item qualifies, make one short offer (don't interrupt the digest flow, and don't offer when nothing qualifies):

• Release date for something on a watchlist/TBR/wishlist → offer a one-line update to the owning context (e.g. Severance S3 date → interests/tv-shows/context.md, a TBR paperback date → interests/books/context.md)
• Security vulnerability affecting owned hardware → flag prominently in the digest as an action item AND offer an ⏳ **OPEN:** marker in the owning context (e.g. home/home-network/context.md) so /today surfaces it until patched
• New dated commitment Pedro will act on (deadline, decision date) → offer to add it to protocols/key-dates.md + the owning domain file

8. Handle "Tell Me More"

If user asks for more detail on an item:

1. Use WebFetch on the source URL
2. Summarize key details (2-3 paragraphs)
3. Note practical implications for Pedro specifically
4. Search Reddit for community reactions if relevant
5. Offer to search for related coverage

9. Handle Topic Filter

If --topic flag is set:

• Only search and display that topic area (sequential path — no fan-out benefit)
• Go deeper: more search queries, include Reddit threads, community discussion
• Target 8-12 items — deeper than the topic would get in a full digest
• Still include Wider Net (1 item only)