News Monitoring Workflow

Looplia makes it easy to automate news monitoring without writing code. This guide shows how to use looplia build to create a news monitoring workflow from natural language, then run it with looplia run.

What You’ll Learn

• Using looplia build to create workflows interactively
• How looplia translates your description into workflow YAML
• Running workflows with looplia run
• Combining news research with the writing kit skills to generate article ideas

Prerequisites

• Looplia CLI installed (bun install -g looplia)
• Chrome browser with the Claude in Chrome extension

The Looplia Approach

Instead of learning commands and APIs, you describe what you want:

┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│  Describe   │ →  │   Answer    │ →  │  Generate   │ →  │    Run      │
│  Your Goal  │    │  Questions  │    │  Workflow   │    │  & Review   │
└─────────────┘    └─────────────┘    └─────────────┘    └─────────────┘

Looplia handles the complexity—browser automation, content extraction, and summarization—through domain skills that work together.

Building Your Workflow

1. Start the build wizard

   Launch looplia build with your goal:

   looplia build "monitor Hacker News and summarize trending tech stories"

   Or start without a description and enter it interactively:

   looplia build

2. Describe your goal

   If you didn’t provide a description, you’ll see a prompt:

   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │  Describe what you want to automate                     │
   │                                                         │
   │  > monitor Hacker News for trending tech stories and    │
   │    summarize the top discussions                        │
   │                                                         │
   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

   Be specific about what you want: the news sources, what to extract, and how you want results formatted.

3. Answer clarification questions

   Looplia analyzes your description and asks follow-up questions to understand your needs:

   ┌─ News Sources ─────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ Which sources should be monitored?                     │
   │                                                        │
   │ ○ Hacker News only                                     │
   │ ● Hacker News + Lobsters                               │
   │ ○ Hacker News + Reddit r/programming                   │
   │ ○ Custom list (specify below)                          │
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   
   ┌─ Content Depth ────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ How deep should the analysis go?                       │
   │                                                        │
   │ ○ Headlines and scores only                            │
   │ ● Headlines + top comments                             │
   │ ○ Full article content + comments                      │
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   
   ┌─ Output Format ────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ How should results be formatted?                       │
   │                                                        │
   │ ● Markdown summary                                     │
   │ ○ JSON data                                            │
   │ ○ Both                                                 │
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

   Your answers shape the workflow that gets generated.

4. Review the generated workflow

   Looplia shows a preview of what it will create:

   ┌─ Workflow Preview ─────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ Name: news-monitor                                     │
   │ Steps: 2                                               │
   │                                                        │
   │ 1. fetch-stories (browser-research)                    │
   │    Extract top stories from HN and Lobsters            │
   │                                                        │
   │ 2. generate-summary (media-reviewer)                   │
   │    Analyze and summarize findings                      │
   │                                                        │
   │ Output: ~/.looplia/workflows/news-monitor.yaml         │
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   
   Generate this workflow? [Y/n]

The Generated Workflow

After confirming, looplia creates a workflow file. Here’s what a typical news monitoring workflow looks like:

name: news-monitor
version: 1.0.0
description: Monitor Hacker News and Lobsters for trending tech stories

steps:
  - id: fetch-stories
    skill: browser-research
    mission: |
      Navigate to Hacker News front page.
      Extract the top 10 stories with: title, points, comment count, URL.
      For stories with 100+ comments, click through and extract
      the top 3 comment threads with their replies.

      Then navigate to Lobsters front page.
      Extract the top 10 stories with the same information.
    output: ${{ sandbox }}/outputs/stories.json

  - id: generate-summary
    skill: media-reviewer
    mission: |
      Analyze the extracted stories from both sources.
      Identify:
      - Trending topics (appearing on both sites)
      - Community sentiment from comment threads
      - Notable discussions worth highlighting
      - Emerging themes in tech
      Format as a structured markdown digest.
    needs: [fetch-stories]
    input: ${{ steps.fetch-stories.output }}
    output: ${{ sandbox }}/outputs/daily-digest.md
    final: true

Note

The workflow uses domain skills like browser-research and media-reviewer—not low-level browser commands. Skills encapsulate complex behaviors so you can focus on what you want, not how to get it.

Running the Workflow

Execute your workflow with a single command:

looplia run news-monitor

Looplia will:

1. Create an isolated sandbox — Each run gets a clean environment
2. Execute steps in order — Respecting dependencies defined in needs
3. Handle browser automation — Skills manage all the details
4. Validate outputs — Ensuring each step produces expected results
5. Return the final artifact — Your formatted digest

Watching Execution

Add --verbose to see detailed progress:

looplia run news-monitor --verbose

[fetch-stories] Starting browser-research skill...
[fetch-stories] Navigating to news.ycombinator.com
[fetch-stories] Extracted 10 stories from Hacker News
[fetch-stories] Navigating to lobste.rs
[fetch-stories] Extracted 10 stories from Lobsters
[fetch-stories] ✓ Complete → outputs/stories.json

[generate-summary] Starting media-reviewer skill...
[generate-summary] Analyzing 20 stories...
[generate-summary] ✓ Complete → outputs/daily-digest.md

Workflow complete! Final output: outputs/daily-digest.md

Sample Output

Here’s what your news monitoring workflow produces:

# Tech News Digest - January 20, 2026

## Executive Summary

- AI tooling dominates discussions with new code review assistants gaining traction
- Growing skepticism around microservices, monolith architecture seeing renewed interest
- Rust continues strong adoption in systems programming
- OpenAI's GPT-5 announcement sparks mixed reactions on safety vs capability

## Top Stories

### 1. Show HN: I built an AI code reviewer (HN: 423 pts, Lobsters: 45 pts)

A developer released an open-source AI tool for pull request reviews using Claude API.

**Why it's trending:** Addresses real pain point; positive early feedback on accuracy

**Key discussion points:**
- Debate on AI vs human code review quality
- Questions about handling proprietary codebases
- Interest in self-hosting options

### 2. OpenAI announces GPT-5 preview (HN: 892 pts)

Early access revealed for next-generation model with 10x context window.

**Why it's trending:** Major industry announcement; implications for AI development

**Key discussion points:**
- Safety researchers raising concerns
- Developers excited about longer context
- Comparison to Claude and Gemini capabilities

### 3. The hidden cost of microservices (HN: 287 pts, Lobsters: 67 pts)

Technical analysis of operational overhead for small teams.

**Why it's trending:** Resonates with engineers experiencing microservices fatigue

**Key discussion points:**
- Strong agreement from experienced engineers
- Debate on when monoliths make sense
- Platform engineering as a middle ground

## Emerging Trends

- **AI developer tools**: Code assistants, review bots, and documentation generators
- **Architecture simplification**: Push back against unnecessary complexity
- **Rust adoption**: Systems programming moving away from C/C++

From News to Article Ideas

A powerful use case is combining news monitoring with the Writing Kit skills to generate article ideas from trending stories. Instead of just summarizing news, you can use it as source material for your own content.

News-to-Writing-Kit Workflow

This workflow fetches trending news, then runs it through the writing kit pipeline to generate article ideas:

name: news-to-article
version: 1.0.0
description: Transform trending news into article ideas and writing kits

steps:
  - id: fetch-stories
    skill: browser-research
    mission: |
      Navigate to Hacker News front page.
      Extract the top 5 stories with highest engagement.
      For each story, click through and extract:
      - Full article content (if accessible)
      - Top 5 comment threads with context
      Focus on stories with strong opinions or debates.
    output: ${{ sandbox }}/outputs/stories.json

  - id: analyze-content
    skill: media-reviewer
    mission: |
      Deep analysis of the fetched news stories.
      For each story, extract:
      - Key themes and concepts
      - Verbatim quotes from articles and comments
      - Points of controversy or debate
      - Underlying trends the story represents
      Identify which stories have the most potential for derivative content.
    needs: [fetch-stories]
    input: ${{ steps.fetch-stories.output }}
    output: ${{ sandbox }}/outputs/analysis.json

  - id: generate-ideas
    skill: idea-synthesis
    mission: |
      Generate creative article ideas based on the news analysis.
      For each trending story, create:
      - 3 unique angles for a new article (not just rewriting the news)
      - Compelling hooks that differentiate from the original
      - Questions worth exploring further
      - Content prompts for different formats (blog, thread, newsletter)
      Focus on adding original perspective, not summarizing.
    needs: [analyze-content]
    input: ${{ steps.analyze-content.output }}
    output: ${{ sandbox }}/outputs/ideas.json

  - id: assemble-kit
    skill: writing-kit-assembler
    mission: |
      Create a writing kit for the most promising article idea.
      Include:
      - Selected hook and angle
      - Structured outline with sections
      - Key quotes to reference (with attribution)
      - Suggested research to strengthen the piece
      - Call-to-action options
    needs: [analyze-content, generate-ideas]
    input:
      - ${{ steps.analyze-content.output }}
      - ${{ steps.generate-ideas.output }}
    output: ${{ sandbox }}/outputs/writing-kit.json
    final: true

Running the News-to-Article Workflow

looplia run news-to-article

This produces a complete writing kit based on trending news:

{
  "title": "Beyond the Hype: What AI Code Reviewers Actually Catch",
  "sourceStory": "Show HN: I built an AI code reviewer",
  "selectedAngle": "Contrarian take: AI reviewers excel at what humans hate doing",
  "hook": "What if the best use of AI code review isn't catching bugs—it's freeing humans to think about architecture?",
  "outline": {
    "sections": [
      {
        "title": "The Real Problem with Code Review",
        "points": ["Review fatigue statistics", "What gets missed when humans rush"],
        "suggestedLength": "250 words"
      },
      {
        "title": "Where AI Actually Shines",
        "points": ["Style consistency", "Security patterns", "Documentation gaps"],
        "suggestedLength": "400 words"
      },
      {
        "title": "The Human-AI Review Partnership",
        "points": ["Division of labor", "Real team experiences"],
        "suggestedLength": "350 words"
      }
    ]
  },
  "keyQuotes": [
    {
      "text": "Finally something that catches actual bugs, not just style issues",
      "source": "HN commenter",
      "useFor": "Opening or supporting argument"
    }
  ],
  "researchSuggestions": [
    "Find statistics on code review effectiveness",
    "Interview developers using AI review tools"
  ],
  "callToAction": [
    "Share your experience with AI-assisted code review",
    "Try the tool and report back"
  ]
}

Tip

The key to good derivative content is adding original perspective. The writing kit helps you find angles the original story didn’t explore, rather than just rewriting what’s already been said.

Customizing Your Workflow

The generated workflow is a starting point. Edit ~/.looplia/workflows/news-monitor.yaml to customize:

Change sources

Modify the fetch-stories mission to target different sites:

mission: |
  Navigate to Reddit r/programming.
  Extract top 20 posts from the past 24 hours.
  Include: title, score, comment count, flair, URL.

Adjust depth

Change how much content gets extracted:

mission: |
  For ALL stories (not just high-engagement ones),
  click through and extract the full article text.

Add filtering

Focus on specific topics:

mission: |
  Extract stories related to:
  - AI/ML/LLMs
  - Rust programming
  - DevOps and infrastructure

  Skip stories about other topics.

Change output format

Request different formatting:

mission: |
  Output as JSON with the following structure:
  {
    "date": "...",
    "stories": [...],
    "trends": [...],
    "summary": "..."
  }

Workflow Variations

Try these prompts with looplia build for different monitoring setups:

Reddit Programming Digest

looplia build "monitor Reddit r/programming, r/rust, and r/golang for top weekly discussions"

ProductHunt Tracker

looplia build "track new ProductHunt launches, extract founder info and early user feedback"

Multi-Source Daily Digest

looplia build "daily tech digest combining Hacker News, Lobsters, and Reddit with deduplication"

Topic-Focused Monitor

looplia build "monitor tech news for AI safety discussions and research paper releases"

News-to-Content Pipeline

looplia build "fetch trending tech news and generate article ideas with writing outlines"

Tip

The more specific your description, the better the generated workflow. Include details about sources, content depth, filtering criteria, and output format.

See Also

• Writing Kit Workflow — Transform content into structured writing kits
• Understanding Workflows — Workflow schema reference
• Building Custom Workflows — Create workflows manually
• build Command — Interactive workflow creation
• run Command — Workflow execution options