Our review
A mission-driven local web research agent that plans scans, queries multiple sources (Hacker News, GitHub, Jina Reader), and writes a markdown brief.
Strengths
- Autonomous mission planning based on objectives
- Integration with multiple source adapters for broad coverage
- Generates structured Markdown briefs in a dedicated inbox directory
- Ability to follow promising leads iteratively
Limitations
- Requires manual setup of API keys (JINA, GitHub, Anthropic)
- Quality of results depends on the relevance of source adapters
- Can consume a large number of tokens for complex missions
When you need to quickly gather technical signals from multiple open sources and synthesize them into a structured report.
When real-time data or continuous streaming is needed, or if the user cannot provide the required API keys.
Security analysis
CautionThe skill uses Bash to run arbitrary Python and shell scripts that may access the internet and install dependencies. While the purpose (web research) is legitimate, the actual code is not provided in the SKILL.md, so users must independently verify the safety of the scripts. No destructive or obfuscated commands are present, but the power given to Bash and the reliance on external files warrant caution.
- •Skill instructs execution of external Python and shell scripts (`python agent.py`, `./quick.sh`, `./scout.sh`, `./daily.sh`) that are not included in SKILL.md, requiring trust that the associated directory contains safe code.
- •Setup command `pip install -r requirements.txt` installs unspecified dependencies from PyPI, which could pull malicious packages if the repository is compromised.
- •The agent has network access (calls web adapters), so a compromised script could exfiltrate data or perform unintended actions.
Examples
Find 3 interesting technical signals from today using hn_front, github_trending, and jina_read. Write a brief.Find open-source agent tooling worth tracking this week and write a brief.Monitor current trends in AI coding assistants from Hacker News and GitHub and summarize the top 5 signals.name: scout description: Run a local web research agent and mission-driven intelligence scanner that searches multiple sources and writes markdown briefs. Best for trend monitoring, opportunity scouting, builder discovery, and technical signal scanning. allowed-tools: [Bash, Read]
Scout
Mission-driven local web research agent backed by the files in this directory.
What it does
- plans a scan from a mission
- calls source adapters to gather signal
- follows promising leads
- writes a markdown brief to
inbox/
Best for:
- technical trend monitoring
- open-source discovery
- opportunity scouting
- builder and ecosystem research
Working adapters
- Hacker News
- GitHub
- Jina Reader
Setup
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env
Then configure one of:
- Codex auth:
codex login --device-auth ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Optional:
JINA_API_KEYGITHUB_TOKEN
Direct commands
python agent.py --mission "Find 3 interesting technical signals from today" --tokens 5000
./quick.sh --mission "Find 2 interesting GitHub repos from this week"
./scout.sh --tokens 20000 --mission "Find open-source agent tooling worth tracking"
./daily.sh --tokens 10000
Recommended smoke test
python agent.py --mission "Use hn_front, github_trending, and jina_read to find 2 interesting technical signals from today and write a brief." --tokens 2500
If the setup works, Scout writes a markdown brief to inbox/.
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