Daily News Caster

Daily News Caster Skill

This skill allows the agent to fetch real-time news, organize it into a conversational podcast script, and generate an audio file reading the script out loud.

Workflow Instructions

When the user asks to get the latest news and make a podcast out of it, follow these steps strictly:

Step 1: Ensure Skills are Installed

If the news-aggregator-skill and tts skills are not already installed in the workspace, run the following commands to install them:

npx skills add https://github.com/cclank/news-aggregator-skill --skill news-aggregator-skill -y
npx skills add https://github.com/noizai/skills --skill tts -y

Step 2: Fetch the Latest News

Find the fetch_news.py script from the news-aggregator-skill (usually located in .cursor/skills/news-aggregator-skill/scripts/fetch_news.py or skills/news-aggregator-skill/scripts/fetch_news.py).

Run the script to fetch real-time news. You can specify a source (e.g., hackernews, github, all) or keywords based on the user's request. Example command:

python3 path/to/fetch_news.py --source all --limit 10 --deep

Step 3: Draft the Podcast Script (Internal Step)

Read the fetched news data and rewrite the information into a Markdown podcast script. Crucially, prioritize a dual-host (two-person) conversational format (e.g., Host A and Host B) in a dynamic Q&A style. The script should be:

• Dual-Host Conversational yet concise: Write an engaging back-and-forth between two hosts. Host A should ask insightful, high-value questions to guide the conversation, and Host B should provide informative, concise answers. It should feel like a smart, fast-paced Q&A dialogue.
• Avoid fluff: Do not include unnecessary fluff or overly long transitions. Keep it to the point (言简意赅) while retaining all critical information and facts.
• Clearly Labeled Speakers: Start each line or paragraph with the speaker's name (e.g., Host A: or Host B:).
• Clear text for speech: Avoid complex URLs, raw markdown links, or unpronounceable characters in the spoken text.

Save this script to a local file named podcast_script.md. Do NOT output the full markdown script to the user yet.

Example podcast_script.md Content:

**Host A:** Welcome to today's news roundup. We have some exciting tech updates today. To start things off, there's a big update from [Company Name]. What are the core implications of their new release for everyday users?

**Host B:** The main takeaway is that... [Insert concise answer and summary of News Item 1]. This completely changes how we approach [Topic].

**Host A:** That's fascinating. But does this new approach raise any security concerns, especially given recent data breaches?

**Host B:** Exactly. Experts are pointing out that... [Insert analysis or context]. 

**Host A:** Moving on to the open-source world, what's trending on GitHub today that developers should pay attention to?

**Host B:** A standout project is... [Insert concise summary of News Item 2].

**Host A:** Great insights. That's all for today's quick update. Thanks for tuning in!

Step 4: Generate the Podcast Audio Line-by-Line

To avoid sending the entire script to the API at once, you must generate the audio sentence by sentence (一人一句地生成) and then concatenate them.

Find the tts.sh script (usually located in skills/tts/scripts/tts.sh or .cursor/skills/tts/scripts/tts.sh).

1. Generate Audio for Each Line: For each dialogue line in the script, run the speak command. Use the appropriate voice or reference audio for the respective host. If the user provided reference audio files or URLs for the two roles, use them via the --ref-audio flag (requires noiz backend).

# Example for Line 1 (Host A)
bash path/to/tts.sh speak -t "Welcome to today's news roundup..." --backend noiz --ref-audio path/to/host_A.wav -o line_01.wav

# Example for Line 2 (Host B)
bash path/to/tts.sh speak -t "The main takeaway is that..." --backend noiz --ref-audio path/to/host_B.wav -o line_02.wav

2. Concatenate the Audio Files: Create a text file (e.g., list.txt) listing all the generated audio files in order:

file 'line_01.wav'
file 'line_02.wav'

Then use ffmpeg to merge them into a single podcast audio file:

ffmpeg -f concat -safe 0 -i list.txt -c copy podcast_output.wav

Step 5: Present the Final Result

After the full audio has been generated and merged, present the results to the user. You MUST provide both pieces of content:

• Output the fully drafted Markdown podcast script into the chat so the user can read it.
• Provide the path to the final podcast_output.wav file so they can listen to the audio.
• Briefly summarize the headlines that were included in the podcast.