Daily Devotional Auto

Daily Devotional Auto Skill

Automated daily devotional generation for OpenClaw. Fetches news, generates contextual devotionals, creates videos with your voice, and uploads to YouTube automatically.

Overview

daily-devotional-auto provides complete automation for devotional content:

• News-based context fetching (national/international)
• AI-powered devotional content generation
• Custom voice narration (ElevenLabs TTS)
• Video creation with visualizers
• Automatic YouTube upload and playlist management
• Comment monitoring for user topic suggestions
• Daily scheduling via cron

Features

📰 News-Based Content

• Fetches current national and international news
• Generates devotionals contextually tied to real events
• Selects spiritually relevant stories
• Maintains appropriate tone for faith-based content

💬 User Suggestions

• Monitors YouTube comments for topic requests
• Keywords detected: "suggest", "topic", "pray for", "devotional about", "question about", "help with", "request"
• Prioritizes viewer suggestions in content generation
• Credits users in video descriptions when their suggestion is used

🎙️ Your Voice

• Uses your ElevenLabs custom voice for all narrations
• Pre-configured with your voice ID
• Professional-quality audio output
• Consistent voice across all videos

🎬 Auto Video Creation

• Generates video titles with devotional themes
• Creates audio visualizers (blue waveforms)
• Includes scripture references and date
• Adds viewer suggestion credits
• Optimized for YouTube playback

📤 Auto Upload

• Uploads to YouTube with proper metadata
• Sets videos as public
• Automatically adds to your devotional playlist
• Includes proper descriptions with scripture and context
• Schedules publishing time (optional)

⏰ Daily Scheduling

• Runs automatically at 9:00 AM MST (configurable)
• Uses system cron for reliability
• Logs all activity for debugging
• Error notifications via optional webhook

Setup

1. Prerequisites

# Ensure youtube-studio is installed and configured
cd ~/clawd/skills/youtube-studio
npm install
# Run auth once for YouTube access
node scripts/auth-handler.js

2. Install Dependencies

cd ~/clawd/skills/daily-devotional-auto
npm install

3. Environment Configuration

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials:

Required Variables:

• NEWS_API_KEY - Get from https://newsapi.org (free tier available)
• ELEVENLABS_API_KEY - Get from https://elevenlabs.io
• YOUTUBE_CHANNEL_ID - Your YouTube channel ID (format: UCxxxxxxxxxx)
• VOICE_ID - Your ElevenLabs custom voice ID (provided during setup)

Optional Variables:

• DEVOTIONAL_PLAYLIST_ID - Specific playlist for devotionals (auto-creates if not set)
• WEBHOOK_URL - Slack/Discord webhook for error notifications
• LOG_LEVEL - debug, info, warn, error (default: info)

4. Set Up Cron Scheduling

# Edit crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run daily at 9:00 AM MST
0 9 * * * ~/clawd/skills/daily-devotional-auto/run-daily.sh

# Or using local time (replace TZ as needed)
TZ=America/Denver 0 9 * * * ~/clawd/skills/daily-devotional-auto/run-daily.sh

5. Verify Setup

# Test manually (generates one devotional)
npm start

# Check logs
tail -f ~/.openclaw-devotional/logs/devotional.log

Commands

Generate Devotional (Manual)

npm start
# Generates, creates video, and uploads one devotional

Check Comments for Suggestions

node scripts/check-comments.js
# Scans recent comments for user topic suggestions
# Prioritizes suggestions for next run

Generate Content Only (No Upload)

DRY_RUN=true npm start
# Creates files but doesn't upload to YouTube

Debug Mode

DEBUG=* npm start
# Verbose logging for troubleshooting

Video Output Format

Each generated video includes:

Title: Daily Devotional - [Theme] ([Date])
Duration: ~3-5 minutes
Content:
  - Title card with date
  - News hook / context
  - Devotional message
  - Scripture reference(s)
  - Viewer suggestion credit (if applicable)
  - Call to action
Audio: Your custom ElevenLabs voice
Visual: Blue waveform visualizer

Example filename: devotional-2024-02-05.mp4

AI Generation Details

Prompt Structure

1. Context: Current news/events
2. Theme: Faith-based perspective on news
3. Scripture: Relevant biblical passages
4. Application: Practical spiritual guidance
5. Call to Action: Encouragement for viewers

Generation Options (in .env)

• DEVOTIONAL_TONE - serious, encouraging, reflective, instructional
• DEVOTIONAL_LENGTH - short (1-2 min), medium (3-4 min), long (5+ min)
• TARGET_AUDIENCE - general, families, young-adults, professionals

YouTube Integration

Playlist Management

• Auto-creates "Daily Devotionals" playlist if not found
• Adds each generated video to playlist
• Maintains chronological order
• Handles playlist quota limits

Comment Monitoring

// Check for suggestion keywords
const suggestionKeywords = [
  'suggest', 'topic', 'pray for',
  'devotional about', 'question about',
  'help with', 'request'
];

Metadata

• Description includes:
  • News context
  • Scripture references
  • Viewer suggestions (if used)
  • Engagement prompt
  • Link to channel

Error Handling

File Structure

daily-devotional-auto/
├── SKILL.md                               # This file
├── README.md                              # User guide
├── .env.example                           # Configuration template
├── package.json                           # Dependencies
├── LICENSE                                # MIT license
├── .gitignore                             # Exclude secrets
├── run-daily.sh                           # Cron script
├── scripts/
│   ├── daily-devotional.js                # Main automation
│   ├── check-comments.js                  # Comment scanner
│   └── devotional-generator.js            # Content generation
└── config/
    └── prompts.json                       # AI prompt templates

Configuration Examples

Short Morning Devotionals

DEVOTIONAL_LENGTH=short
DEVOTIONAL_TONE=encouraging
DEVOTIONAL_TIME=06:00  # 6 AM

Longer Evening Reflections

DEVOTIONAL_LENGTH=long
DEVOTIONAL_TONE=reflective
DEVOTIONAL_TIME=18:00  # 6 PM

News-Independent Inspiration

USE_NEWS_CONTEXT=false
# Uses preset inspirational themes instead

Performance & Quota

YouTube API Quota

• Video upload: ~1,600 units per video
• Comment retrieval: 1 unit
• Playlist operations: 1-3 units per operation
• Daily allocation: 1,000,000 units (sufficient for 600+ videos/day)

Processing Time

• News fetch: ~2 seconds
• Content generation: ~10-30 seconds (depends on AI model)
• Video creation: ~30-60 seconds
• Upload: ~1-5 minutes (depends on file size and connection)
• Total per video: ~2-6 minutes

Storage Requirements

• Per video: ~50-200 MB (temporary, deleted after upload)
• Logs: ~1 MB per week
• Config: <1 MB

Troubleshooting

"No news found"

# Check NEWS_API_KEY is valid
# Verify API subscription tier allows requests
# Check internet connection
# Enable DEBUG mode for details

Video upload hangs

# Check YouTube quota: youtube-studio quota-status
# Verify YOUTUBE_CHANNEL_ID is correct
# Check network connectivity
# Try smaller video (reduce LENGTH setting)

Comments not detected

# Verify YOUTUBE_CHANNEL_ID matches owner account
# Check channel comment settings allow comments
# Run: node scripts/check-comments.js --verbose
# Ensure channel has public videos with comments

Cron not executing

# Test crontab: crontab -l
# Check system time: date
# Verify script permissions: chmod +x run-daily.sh
# Check cron logs: log stream --predicate 'eventMessage contains "cron"'
# Test manually: ~/clawd/skills/daily-devotional-auto/run-daily.sh

Poor video quality

# Increase resolution in video-generator
# Check voice quality settings in .env
# Verify ffmpeg is installed: which ffmpeg
# Try different tone/length combinations

API References

News API (newsapi.org)

• Free tier: 100 requests/day
• Premium tier: unlimited
• Countries supported: 60+
• Languages: 30+

ElevenLabs TTS

• Custom voices: requires voice cloning
• Standard voices: pre-built options
• Quality levels: high (24kHz), ultra (48kHz)

YouTube Data API v3

• Quota: 1,000,000 units/day
• Rate limits: 1,000 QPS per project
• Video limits: <256 GB file size

Advanced Usage

Batch Generation (Weekly)

for i in {1..7}; do
  npm start
  sleep 300  # 5 minute delay between videos
done

Custom Schedule

# Instead of 9 AM daily, run on specific days:
# Run Monday through Friday at 8 AM
0 8 * * 1-5 ~/clawd/skills/daily-devotional-auto/run-daily.sh

Backup Before Upload

DRY_RUN=true npm start
# Review generated videos in output folder
# Manually verify quality
npm start  # Upload after verification

Future Enhancements

• Multi-language support
• Multiple voice options
• Thumbnail AI generation
• Analytics integration
• Viewer engagement metrics
• Content calendar management
• Batch scheduling interface
• Cloud storage integration

License

MIT - Use freely within OpenClaw ecosystem

Support

For issues:

1. Check .env configuration is correct
2. Review logs in ~/.openclaw-devotional/logs/
3. Test components individually (news API, TTS, etc.)
4. Run with DEBUG mode enabled for details
5. Check GitHub issues: https://github.com/Snail3D/daily-devotional-auto/issues