Agent SwarmTemplates

Daily Hacker News Briefing

Schedule
v1.0.0

Demonstrate web research automation by summarizing relevant technology discussion.

research
briefing
browser
Placeholders to fill:{{SLACK_CHANNEL_ID}}{{TIMEZONE}}

Template Content

Daily Hacker News Briefing

Demonstrate web research automation by summarizing relevant technology discussion.

Schedule

{
  "cron": "30 2 * * *",
  "timezone": "UTC",
  "agentRole": "lead",
  "enabled": true
}

Scheduled Task

This is the full task prompt the schedule runs on each fire — including the accumulated operational learnings baked into it. Adapt the swarm-specific references (channel IDs, agent names, repo paths) to your environment before enabling.

Task Type: General (Browser Automation + Email Report) Goal: Daily Hacker News briefing — scrape HN using browser automation, email the report, and archive it

Instructions:

  1. Use qa-use browser commands (e.g., /qa-use:explore) to scrape the following HN pages ONE AT A TIME, STRICTLY SEQUENTIAL.

    CRITICAL — DO NOT PARALLELIZE. Do NOT fan out parallel browser sessions, do NOT launch multiple Browser Use SDK flows concurrently, do NOT batch the URLs into a single multi-target call. Browser-heavy runs can cross the heartbeat-stale watchdog threshold when several pages are scraped in parallel. Strict serial execution is required.

    Workflow: Scrape URL #1 → call store-progress with a one-line update (e.g., "Scraped HN page 1 — N stories found") → scrape URL #2 → store-progress → … → URL #5 → store-progress. After every individual URL scrape, you MUST call store-progress BEFORE starting the next URL. This keeps the session heartbeat fresh and prevents the watchdog from killing the task.

    Visit each URL one-by-one in this exact order:

    You MUST visit all 5 URLs above. Do not skip any. Do not parallelize. Do not combine into a single browser call.

  2. From ALL scraped pages, filter for stories relevant to these topics:

    • AI / LLMs / foundation models
    • Agentic coding / AI-powered development
    • E2E testing / browser automation / QA
    • Developer tools / DevOps
    • Startups / SaaS relevant to your team's space

  3. Format a quick-scan briefing. Organize by source section:

    • Front Page (from pages 1-3)
    • New (from /newest)
    • Show HN (from /show)

    Each item MUST include:

    • HN title as a link
    • Post date (e.g., "Feb 24" or "2h ago") — REQUIRED on every item
    • Direct link to story (or HN comments link)
    • 1 short line on why it's relevant
    • Points/comments count if notable

    Example format per item: • Emdash — Open-source agentic dev environment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12345) · Feb 24 · 65 pts · 30 comments Direct peer to Cursor/Windsurf — agentic-first IDE.

  4. If any story is exceptionally relevant to your team's focus areas, add a "Deep Dive" section with 2-3 sentences.

  5. STORE THE REPORT: Save the full briefing as a markdown file at: /workspace/shared/hn-briefings/YYYY-MM-DD.md (using today's date). Create the directory if it doesn't exist. The file should include:

    • Title: "# HN Briefing — [DATE]"
    • Stats line: number of stories curated, number scraped, pages checked
    • The full curated list (organized by section)
    • Any deep dives This creates a persistent archive we can reference later.

  6. SEND EMAIL: Use AgentMail MCP tools to send the report as an email:

    • From inbox: lead@agent-swarm.dev
    • To: the configured recipient list for this briefing
    • Subject: "HN Briefing — [TODAY'S DATE, e.g. Feb 25, 2026]"
    • Body: Send as HTML email. Format the briefing nicely with:
      • A header: "HN Briefing — [DATE]"
      • Stats line (include "Sources: Front Page (3 pages), New, Show HN")
      • Each section clearly labeled
      • Each story as a bullet with clickable links
      • Deep dives in a separate section if applicable
    • Also include the plain text version in the text field

  7. Call store-progress when done with the formatted briefing as output.

IMPORTANT:

  • Use qa-use browser automation to browse HN, don't use web search
  • Scrape URLs SERIALLY (one at a time) and call store-progress between every URL — never parallelize, never fan-out. This prevents heartbeat-stale auto-fails.
  • Only include stories from the last ~24 hours
  • ALWAYS include the post date on each story — this is required
  • Keep it scannable — clickable links, not walls of text
  • Target 5-20 relevant stories (quality over quantity)
  • You MUST scrape all 5 URLs (3 main pages + new + show) — this is required, but ONE AT A TIME
  • The email is sent from lead@agent-swarm.dev using AgentMail MCP send_message tool
  • Recipients: use the configured recipient list for this briefing