Agent skill

Blog and Feed Watcher

Checks RSS and Atom feeds for new posts with Python's feedparser: reading one feed, combining several, filtering by keyword, finding a site's feed URL and saving results.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedProductivity & Automation

Install Blog and Feed Watcher

skills CLI

$ npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install taracodlabs/aiden blogwatcher --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/blogwatcher .claude/skills/blogwatcher && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "blogwatcher" agent skill from https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher into .claude/skills/blogwatcher/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "blogwatcher", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install taracodlabs/aiden blogwatcher --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/blogwatcher .agents/skills/blogwatcher && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "blogwatcher" agent skill from https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher into .agents/skills/blogwatcher/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "blogwatcher", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install taracodlabs/aiden blogwatcher --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/blogwatcher .cursor/skills/blogwatcher && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "blogwatcher" agent skill from https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher into .cursor/skills/blogwatcher/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "blogwatcher", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git --path skills/blogwatcher

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install taracodlabs/aiden blogwatcher --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/blogwatcher .gemini/skills/blogwatcher && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "blogwatcher" agent skill from https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher into .gemini/skills/blogwatcher/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "blogwatcher", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install taracodlabs/aiden blogwatcher

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/blogwatcher .github/skills/blogwatcher && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "blogwatcher" agent skill from https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher into .github/skills/blogwatcher/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "blogwatcher", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install taracodlabs/aiden blogwatcher --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/blogwatcher .opencode/skills/blogwatcher && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "blogwatcher" agent skill from https://github.com/taracodlabs/aiden/tree/main/skills/blogwatcher into .opencode/skills/blogwatcher/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "blogwatcher", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: blogwatcher
GitHub stars: 851
Token cost: ~1.1k tokens
SKILL.md length: 264 words
Files: 2
Skills in repo: 63
Repo updated: Sep 13, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: Apache-2.0

At a glance

Checks RSS and Atom feeds for new posts with Python's feedparser: reading one feed, combining several, filtering by keyword, finding a site's feed URL and saving results.

Works in 6 steps: Install feedparser → Read a single RSS/Atom feed → Monitor multiple feeds → …
Checking a blog or news site for its newest posts
SKILL.md covers When to Use, How to Use, Examples and Cautions
Calls pip; reaches news.ycombinator.com and simonwillison.net

What it does

This skill gives the agent a set of feedparser recipes for tracking blogs, news sites and podcasts. After installing the library with pip, it can read one feed, loop over a list of feeds, filter entries by a keyword, discover a site's feed address from common URL patterns and page parsing, and save the latest posts to a JSON file. Most feeds need no API key.

The cautions in the file are practical: some sites answer feed requests with 403 errors, feedparser handles RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 and Atom alike, publication date formats differ between feeds and should not be assumed, and very active feeds should be sliced to a limited number of entries. A skill.json file ships alongside. Worked examples include pulling the latest Hacker News posts and filtering several AI blogs for posts about agents.

When your agent uses it

Checking a blog or news site for its newest posts
Aggregating headlines from several feeds into one list
Finding the RSS feed URL for a site and fetching its latest entries

Example prompts

“What are the latest posts from Hacker News?”
“Watch these four AI blogs and show me posts about agents from the last week.”
“Does this blog have an RSS feed? If so, get the latest five posts.”

Requirements

Python with the feedparser package
beautifulsoup4 and requests for feed discovery

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

Install feedparser
Read a single RSS/Atom feed
Monitor multiple feeds
Filter posts by keyword
Find the RSS feed URL for a site
Save latest posts to a file

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 3704204. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- pip
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:
- news.ycombinator.com
- simonwillison.net
- feeds.feedburner.com
- blog.openai.com
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Blog and Feed Watcher loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 18 tokens; SKILL.md has 264 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~18
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from taracodlabs/aiden at commit 3704204, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© taracodlabs). 264 words, ~1,067 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/blogwatcher/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.

name: blogwatcher
description: Monitor RSS / Atom feeds for new posts (Python feedparser)
category: research
version: 1.0.0
origin: aiden
license: Apache-2.0
tags: rss, atom, feed, blog, news, monitor, feedparser, podcast, updates, aggregation

Blog and Feed Watcher

Monitor RSS and Atom feeds from blogs, news sites, and podcasts to track new posts. Uses the feedparser Python library — no API keys required for most feeds.

When to Use

User wants to check for new posts from specific blogs or news sites
User wants to aggregate headlines from multiple sources
User wants to monitor a research blog or tech feed for updates
User wants to read the latest posts from a site that has an RSS feed
User wants to set up periodic feed monitoring

How to Use

1. Install feedparser

powershell

pip install feedparser

2. Read a single RSS/Atom feed

python

import feedparser
from datetime import datetime

feed = feedparser.parse("https://news.ycombinator.com/rss")
print(f"Feed: {feed.feed.title}")
print(f"Posts: {len(feed.entries)}\n")

for entry in feed.entries[:5]:
  title   = entry.get("title", "No title")
  link    = entry.get("link", "")
  date    = entry.get("published", "Unknown date")
  print(f"• {title}\n  {link}\n  {date}\n")

3. Monitor multiple feeds

python

import feedparser, time

FEEDS = [
  "https://feeds.feedburner.com/oreilly/radar",
  "https://blog.openai.com/rss/",
  "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss",
  "https://simonwillison.net/atom/everything/",
]

def fetch_all(feeds, max_per_feed=5):
  results = []
  for url in feeds:
    feed = feedparser.parse(url)
    for entry in feed.entries[:max_per_feed]:
      results.append({
        "source":    feed.feed.get("title", url),
        "title":     entry.get("title", ""),
        "link":      entry.get("link", ""),
        "published": entry.get("published", ""),
      })
  return sorted(results, key=lambda x: x["published"], reverse=True)

for item in fetch_all(FEEDS):
  print(f"[{item['source']}] {item['title']}\n  {item['link']}")

4. Filter posts by keyword

python

import feedparser

def search_feed(url, keyword):
  feed    = feedparser.parse(url)
  keyword = keyword.lower()
  matches = [
    e for e in feed.entries
    if keyword in e.get("title","").lower() or keyword in e.get("summary","").lower()
  ]
  for e in matches:
    print(f"• {e.title}\n  {e.link}\n")

search_feed("https://news.ycombinator.com/rss", "llm")

5. Find the RSS feed URL for a site

Common RSS URL patterns:

https://site.com/feed
https://site.com/rss
https://site.com/feed.xml
https://site.com/atom.xml
https://site.com/blog/feed

python

import feedparser, requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup   # pip install beautifulsoup4

def find_feed(site_url):
  resp = requests.get(site_url, timeout=10, headers={"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0"})
  soup = BeautifulSoup(resp.text, "html.parser")
  for tag in soup.find_all("link", type=lambda t: t and "rss" in t or "atom" in t):
    print(tag.get("href"))

find_feed("https://simonwillison.net")

6. Save latest posts to a file

python

import feedparser, json

feed  = feedparser.parse("https://news.ycombinator.com/rss")
posts = [{"title": e.title, "link": e.link, "date": e.get("published","")} for e in feed.entries[:20]]
with open("hn_feed.json", "w") as f:
  json.dump(posts, f, indent=2)
print(f"Saved {len(posts)} posts to hn_feed.json")

Examples

"What are the latest posts from Hacker News?" → Use step 2 with https://news.ycombinator.com/rss.

"Monitor these 4 AI blogs and show me posts about agents from the last week" → Use step 3 to fetch all, then step 4 logic to filter for agent keyword.

"Does this blog have an RSS feed? If so, get the latest 5 posts" → Use step 5 to discover the feed URL, then step 2 to fetch posts.

Cautions

Some sites block RSS scrapers — use a browser-like User-Agent header if getting 403 errors
feedparser handles both RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0, and Atom — no need to distinguish them
entry.published format varies by feed — some use RFC 2822, others ISO 8601; don't assume a format
Very active feeds (e.g. Reddit) may return 100+ entries — always use slicing ([:n]) to limit output

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in skills/blogwatcher of taracodlabs/aiden.

SKILL.md
skill.json

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 3704204

Compare with similar skills

Blog and Feed Watcher next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Blog and Feed Watcher compared with similar skills
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Blog and Feed Watcher this skilltaracodlabs/aiden	851	—	~1.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	26 days ago
Tavily Web Searchallenpeng0705/EnvoyMesh	3.1k	3 repos	~2.5k	Automated safety check: Notes	None	8 days ago
MoviePilot Downloader Operationjxxghp/MoviePilot	12k	—	~4.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	GPL-3.0	today
Skyvern Browser AutomationSkyvern-AI/skyvern	23k	—	~1.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	AGPL-3.0	today
Robocorp Automationrobocorp/robocorp	653	—	~3.3k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
Native Python in n8n Code Nodesczlonkowski/n8n-skills	6.4k	—	~2.8k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	23 days ago

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Questions about Blog and Feed Watcher

What does Blog and Feed Watcher do?

Checks RSS and Atom feeds for new posts with Python's feedparser: reading one feed, combining several, filtering by keyword, finding a site's feed URL and saving results. This skill gives the agent a set of feedparser recipes for tracking blogs, news sites and podcasts. After installing the library with pip, it can read one feed, loop over a list of feeds, filter entries by a keyword, discover a site's feed address from common URL patterns and page parsing, and save the latest posts to a JSON file.

When should I use Blog and Feed Watcher?

Blog and Feed Watcher fits situations like: checking a blog or news site for its newest posts; aggregating headlines from several feeds into one list; finding the RSS feed URL for a site and fetching its latest entries.

How do I install Blog and Feed Watcher in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/blogwatcher in taracodlabs/aiden) into .claude/skills/blogwatcher in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Blog and Feed Watcher in Codex?

Run `npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/blogwatcher in taracodlabs/aiden) into .agents/skills/blogwatcher in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Blog and Feed Watcher in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add taracodlabs/aiden --skill blogwatcher -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/blogwatcher, .gemini/skills/blogwatcher, .github/skills/blogwatcher and .opencode/skills/blogwatcher in your project.

What does Blog and Feed Watcher need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Blog and Feed Watcher needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pip). Our summary lists: Python with the feedparser package; beautifulsoup4 and requests for feed discovery.

Does Blog and Feed Watcher access the network?

SKILL.md names 4 domains. In commands or code: news.ycombinator.com, simonwillison.net, feeds.feedburner.com and blog.openai.com; the agent is likely to contact these when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Blog and Feed Watcher safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Blog and Feed Watcher use?

Blog and Feed Watcher is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Blog and Feed Watcher use?

About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Blog and Feed Watcher?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Blog and Feed Watcher: Tavily Web Search (allenpeng0705/EnvoyMesh, 3.1k stars), MoviePilot Downloader Operation (jxxghp/MoviePilot, 12k stars), Skyvern Browser Automation (Skyvern-AI/skyvern, 23k stars) and Robocorp Automation (robocorp/robocorp, 653 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Blog and Feed Watcher?

taracodlabs (a GitHub organization) maintains it in taracodlabs/aiden, which has 851 GitHub stars. The repository holds 63 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 13, 2026.

Source: taracodlabs/aiden on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Blog and Feed Watcher

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Blog and Feed Watcher

When to Use

How to Use

1. Install feedparser

2. Read a single RSS/Atom feed

3. Monitor multiple feeds

4. Filter posts by keyword

5. Find the RSS feed URL for a site

6. Save latest posts to a file

Examples

Cautions

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from taracodlabs/aiden

Related

Questions about Blog and Feed Watcher