blogwatcher

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 22f35f15a475 · 31 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishernousresearch GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldernousresearch/hermes-agent/optional-skills/research/blogwatcherThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict22f35f15a475A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedPushed today
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Monitor blogs and RSS/Atom feeds via blogwatcher-cli tool.

---
name: blogwatcher
description: "Monitor blogs and RSS/Atom feeds via blogwatcher-cli tool."
version: 2.0.0
author: JulienTant (fork of Hyaxia/blogwatcher)
license: MIT
platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
metadata:
  hermes:
    tags: [RSS, Blogs, Feed-Reader, Monitoring]
    homepage: https://github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli
prerequisites:
  commands: [blogwatcher-cli]
---

# Blogwatcher

Track blog and RSS/Atom feed updates with the `blogwatcher-cli` tool. Supports automatic feed discovery, HTML scraping fallback, OPML import, and read/unread article management.

## Working with Hermes tools (read this first)

`blogwatcher-cli` is the feed database; Hermes tools do the automation around it:

- **Recurring watch — use the cronjob tool's `monitor` field, not a bare schedule.** `monitor` runs a script each tick and only wakes the agent when output changes: set it to a script that runs `blogwatcher-cli scan >/dev/null 2>&1 && blogwatcher-cli articles` (deterministic output; new articles = changed output = agent wakes with the diff injected). Unchanged ticks cost zero LLM calls. Set `deliver` to route digests to a chat/channel; add `continuity: true` so consecutive digests can dedupe.
- **Reading an article the user asks about**: `web_extract([url])` on the article URL from `blogwatcher-cli articles` — do not re-scrape by hand.
- **One-off "watch this page for changes" without feed semantics**: skip this skill; the cronjob tool's `monitor` field accepts an http(s) URL directly.
- **One-off read of a feed or a site's latest posts, nothing to install**: the bundled `rss-feeds` skill (`scripts/feed.py read URL`); blogwatcher earns its install when you track many feeds with read/unread state.
- **Company/competitor tracking with analysis and citations**: prefer the `competitor-news-monitor` skill; blogwatcher is the lighter raw-feed layer it can sit on.

## Installation

Pick one method:

- **Go:** `go install github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli/cmd/blogwatcher-cli@latest`
- **Docker:** `docker run --rm -v blogwatcher-cli:/data ghcr.io/julientant/blogwatcher-cli`
- **Binary (Linux amd64):** `curl -sL https://github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli/releases/latest/download/blogwatcher-cli_linux_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin blogwatcher-cli`
- **Binary (Linux arm64):** `curl -sL https://github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli/releases/latest/download/blogwatcher-cli_linux_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin blogwatcher-cli`
- **Binary (macOS Apple Silicon):** `curl -sL https://github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli/releases/latest/download/blogwatcher-cli_darwin_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin blogwatcher-cli`
- **Binary (macOS Intel):** `curl -sL https://github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli/releases/latest/download/blogwatcher-cli_darwin_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin blogwatcher-cli`

All releases: https://github.com/JulienTant/blogwatcher-cli/releases

### Docker with persistent storage

By default the database lives at `~/.blogwatcher-cli/blogwatcher-cli.db`. In Docker this is lost on container restart. Use `BLOGWATCHER_DB` or a volume mount to persist it:

```bash
# Named volume (simplest)
docker run --rm -v blogwatcher-cli:/data -e BLOGWATCHER_DB=/data/blogwatcher-cli.db ghcr.io/julientant/blogwatcher-cli scan

# Host bind mount
docker run --rm -v /path/on/host:/data -e BLOGWATCHER_DB=/data/blogwatcher-cli.db ghcr.io/julientant/blogwatcher-cli scan
```

### Migrating from the original blogwatcher

If upgrading from `Hyaxia/blogwatcher`, move your database:

```bash
mv ~/.blogwatcher/blogwatcher.db ~/.blogwatcher-cli/blogwatcher-cli.db
```

The binary name changed from `blogwatcher` to `blogwatcher-cli`.

## Common Commands

### Managing blogs

- Add a blog: `blogwatcher-cli add "My Blog" https://example.com`
- Add with explicit feed: `blogwatcher-cli add "My Blog" https://example.com --feed-url https://example.com/feed.xml`
- Add with HTML scraping: `blogwatcher-cli add "My Blog" https://example.com --scrape-selector "article h2 a"`
- List tracked blogs: `blogwatcher-cli blogs`
- Remove a blog: `blogwatcher-cli remove "My Blog" --yes`
- Import from OPML: `blogwatcher-cli import subscriptions.opml`

### Scanning and reading

- Scan all blogs: `blogwatcher-cli scan`
- Scan one blog: `blogwatcher-cli scan "My Blog"`
- List unread articles: `blogwatcher-cli articles`
- List all articles: `blogwatcher-cli articles --all`
- Filter by blog: `blogwatcher-cli articles --blog "My Blog"`
- Filter by category: `blogwatcher-cli articles --category "Engineering"`
- Mark article read: `blogwatcher-cli read 1`
- Mark article unread: `blogwatcher-cli unread 1`
- Mark all read: `blogwatcher-cli read-all`
- Mark all read for a blog: `blogwatcher-cli read-all --blog "My Blog" --yes`

## Environment Variables

All flags can be set via environment variables with the `BLOGWATCHER_` prefix:

| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| `BLOGWATCHER_DB` | Path to SQLite database file |
| `BLOGWATCHER_WORKERS` | Number of concurrent scan workers (default: 8) |
| `BLOGWATCHER_SILENT` | Only output "scan done" when scanning |
| `BLOGWATCHER_YES` | Skip confirmation prompts |
| `BLOGWATCHER_CATEGORY` | Default filter for articles by category |

## Example Output

```
$ blogwatcher-cli blogs
Tracked blogs (1):

  xkcd
    URL: https://xkcd.com
    Feed: https://xkcd.com/atom.xml
    Last scanned: 2026-04-03 10:30
```

```
$ blogwatcher-cli scan
Scanning 1 blog(s)...

  xkcd
    Source: RSS | Found: 4 | New: 4

Found 4 new article(s) total!
```

```
$ blogwatcher-cli articles
Unread articles (2):

  [1] [new] Barrel - Part 13
       Blog: xkcd
       URL: https://xkcd.com/3095/
       Published: 2026-04-02
       Categories: Comics, Science

  [2] [new] Volcano Fact
       Blog: xkcd
       URL: https://xkcd.com/3094/
       Published: 2026-04-01
       Categories: Comics
```

## Notes

- Auto-discovers RSS/Atom feeds from blog homepages when no `--feed-url` is provided.
- Falls back to HTML

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent
git -C hermes-agent checkout 22f35f15a475

Works in

1. 2026-10-31
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 22f35f15a475

Questions about blogwatcher

• github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent/tree/main/optional-skills/r — the audited source at commit 22f35f15a475 and every finding aboveObserved · 31 Oct 2026

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