Aggregates RSS feeds from the past week, synthesizes top stories with Gemini, and publishes a newsletter digest to Ghost CMS. Outputs formatted Markdown for Substack or other platforms.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/opendirectory-gtm-skills:newsletter-digestThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Aggregate content from RSS feeds, synthesize the week's top stories with Gemini, and publish a digest to Ghost CMS. Supports weekly digests, topic-focused roundups, and curated picks formats.
Aggregate content from RSS feeds, synthesize the week's top stories with Gemini, and publish a digest to Ghost CMS. Supports weekly digests, topic-focused roundups, and curated picks formats.
Apply to all generated digest content:
Banned words — do not use any of these in the digest: incredible, amazing, leveraging, synergize, game-changing, game changer, delve, harness, unlock, groundbreaking, cutting-edge, remarkable, paradigm, revolutionize, disruptive, transformative, thrilled, excited to share, powerful, innovative, comprehensive, actionable, crucial, vital, pivotal, elucidate, utilize, dive deep, tapestry, illuminate, revolutionize
Every claim, statistic, and summary in the digest must come from the fetched articles. Never fabricate data points, quotes, or facts. If a source article has no meaningful content, skip it.
1a. Verify feeds are configured
Check if feeds.json exists in the skill directory:
ls /Users/ksd/Desktop/Varnan_skills/newsletter-digest/feeds.json 2>/dev/null
If missing, ask the user: "Which RSS feeds should I monitor? Share a list of URLs and I'll create feeds.json."
The format is:
[
{ "url": "https://example.com/feed", "name": "Source Name" },
{ "url": "https://another.com/rss", "name": "Another Source" }
]
1b. Verify required environment variables
Check that these are set:
GEMINI_API_KEY (required): for synthesisGHOST_URL and GHOST_ADMIN_KEY (required for Ghost publishing, optional if output-only)If GEMINI_API_KEY is missing, stop and ask the user to set it.
GHOST config is optional. If not set, the skill outputs formatted Markdown instead of publishing.
1c. Verify script dependencies
ls /Users/ksd/Desktop/Varnan_skills/newsletter-digest/node_modules 2>/dev/null | head -1
If missing:
cd /Users/ksd/Desktop/Varnan_skills/newsletter-digest && npm install
Run the fetch script:
node /Users/ksd/Desktop/Varnan_skills/newsletter-digest/scripts/fetch-feeds.js
The script:
feeds.json for the list of feedsrss-parser/tmp/newsletter-digest-articles.jsonIf the script errors on a specific feed, it logs a warning and continues. One bad feed does not stop the run.
After the script completes, verify the output:
node -e "
const fs = require('fs');
const data = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('/tmp/newsletter-digest-articles.json', 'utf8'));
console.log('Total articles:', data.articles.length);
console.log('From feeds:', data.feedsSummary.map(f => f.name + ': ' + f.count).join(', '));
console.log('Date range:', data.dateRange.from, 'to', data.dateRange.to);
"
If fewer than 3 articles are found, warn the user and ask if they want to extend the date range to 14 days. Pass --days=14 to the script to widen the window.
Read references/digest-format.md in full before generating any content. Internalize:
Read references/output-template.md and select the template matching the requested format.
If the user did not specify a format, default to Weekly Roundup.
Read /tmp/newsletter-digest-articles.json and build a synthesis prompt.
Prompt structure:
You are a newsletter editor writing a digest of this week's top stories.
Sources (use ONLY these — do not invent facts):
[For each article: Title | Source | Date | Summary]
Task:
Write a [FORMAT] digest following this structure:
[Paste the selected template from references/output-template.md]
Rules:
- Every claim, statistic, and quote must come from the sources above
- Write in active voice, short sentences, contractions allowed
- Do not use: incredible, amazing, leveraging, game-changing, delve, groundbreaking, cutting-edge, revolutionize
- No em dashes, no semicolons, no hashtags
- Include [Source: Name](URL) attribution after each major claim
- Output plain text with HTML heading tags only (no markdown asterisks)
Call Gemini with this prompt. Target model: gemini-2.0-flash or the latest available.
If the response contains any banned words or invented statistics not present in the source articles, regenerate with a stricter prompt.
Run every check before presenting. Fix violations first.
Fix all violations before presenting to the user.
Present the digest to the user in this order:
Ask: "Ready to publish to Ghost as a draft, or would you like to edit first?"
If GHOST_URL and GHOST_ADMIN_KEY are set and user confirms:
Run the publish script:
node /Users/ksd/Desktop/Varnan_skills/newsletter-digest/scripts/ghost-publish.js \
--title "DIGEST_TITLE" \
--status "draft"
The script reads /tmp/newsletter-digest-output.json (written by the agent in Step 6) and posts to Ghost.
After posting, the script returns the Ghost admin URL for the draft. Present this to the user: "Draft saved at: [URL]. Review and publish from your Ghost dashboard."
If the user wants to publish immediately, pass --status "published" to the script.
If Ghost is not configured or user says "output only":
Output the digest in three formats:
Add: "Substack does not offer a public API. Copy the Markdown version into your Substack editor directly."
Substack has no public API. Programmatic posting is not possible without reverse-engineering internal endpoints, which violates their terms. The skill outputs a formatted Markdown digest ready to paste into the Substack editor. This is the correct approach.
npx claudepluginhub varnan-tech/opendirectory --plugin opendirectory-gtm-skillsRun the daily content pipeline to fetch signals, analyze relevance, draft output, edit for voice fidelity, and deliver the brief
Creates, curates, and grows email newsletters across 6 formats (curated, story-driven, educational, interview, data-driven, personal update) with editorial structure, content sourcing, commentary writing, and subscriber growth guidance.
Writes, optimizes, and grows Substack newsletters and web posts including ghostwriting with voice matching, algorithm optimization, Notes strategy, SEO, growth tactics, and monetization planning.