competitor-news-monitor

Monitors declared companies for material news and delivers cited digests on a schedule.

Updated Dec 7, 2025
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/harlanljones/dotfiles --skill competitor-news-monitor-harlanljones
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: competitor-news-monitor
Source: https://github.com/harlanljones/dotfiles/tree/main/dot_hermes/skills/research/competitor-news-monitor
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/harlanljones/dotfiles --skill competitor-news-monitor-harlanljones

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Keeping up with competitor announcements manually means scanning dozens of sources and still missing pricing changes, launches, or executive moves buried in syndicated coverage. This Skill turns competitor tracking into a repeatable, scheduled process that surfaces only material events with primary-source evidence. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Watchlist Contracts: Freeze canonical company names, domains, aliases, event categories, and materiality thresholds into a state file so decisions stay consistent across runs. - Scheduled Cron Ticks: Run recurring checks via a cronjob that collects incrementally from the last cutoff, deduplicates syndicated stories into single events, and scores materiality. - Cited Digests: Deliver per-event reports with evidence links, what changed, why it matters, and confidence — or stay silent when nothing material happened. - Use Case: Ask to monitor five competitors weekly; the Skill builds source coverage (newsrooms, changelogs, filings, status pages), schedules a Monday 9am job, and emails you a digest only when something material occurs. ## Quick Start Set up a weekly competitor watch for Acme Corp and Globex covering pricing changes, product launches, and executive moves, and send me a digest each Monday morning.

Frequently Asked Questions about competitor-news-monitor

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I monitor competitor news automatically?▼

Define a watchlist with company names, domains, event categories, and a materiality threshold, then schedule a recurring cronjob tick. Each run collects new items since the last cutoff, deduplicates them by underlying event, and delivers a digest citing primary sources.

How to track competitor pricing and product launches?▼

Include official pricing pages, changelogs, and product blogs in the source coverage for each company, not just broad web search. The tick checks these primary sources incrementally and flags changes as material events with evidence links.

What sources does competitor news monitoring cover?▼

Coverage spans official newsrooms and changelogs, pricing and product pages, regulatory filings and investor relations, status and security pages, reputable trade and financial press, and job postings as weak supporting signals. Optional RSS and Reddit sources can be added.

How does the monitor avoid duplicate news stories?▼

It deduplicates by underlying event rather than by article, collapsing syndicated stories, rewrites, URL variants, and revised filings into one entry. Independently sourced corroboration is kept attached to that single event.

What happens when a news source fails during a check?▼

A source failure is recorded as unknown coverage, never reported as "no news." The cutoff only advances for successfully covered sources, so failed sources are retried on the next run instead of silently losing coverage.

When should I not use a competitor news monitor?▼

Skip it for one-off company research, where direct web search and extraction are faster, and for plain feed reading, where a blog watcher fits better. It is designed for ongoing, threshold-based monitoring of a fixed company set.