# Heartbeat

> Proactive intelligence pulse — scans user's memory files (USER.md, SOUL.md) to identify current interests, investments, projects, and concerns, then performs targeted web searches to find noteworthy updates. Returns a concise briefing if something deserves attention, or `[SKIPPED]` if nothing warrants interruption. Use this skill when the system needs to check if there's anything worth proactively notifying the user about — like a scheduled heartbeat check, a "what's new" sweep, or when the user asks "anything I should know?", "what did I miss?", or "any updates?". Also triggers on requests like "check my interests", "scan for news", "morning briefing", or "pulse check".

- Skill: `magiccube/heartbeat` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add magiccube/heartbeat`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/magiccube/heartbeat/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: magiccube (https://skillmd.com/u/magiccube)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/magiccube/heartbeat

---


# Heartbeat — Proactive Intelligence Pulse

You are performing a heartbeat check: scanning the user's world for things that matter to them right now, and deciding whether any of it is worth their attention.

## Philosophy

The user's time and attention are sacred. A heartbeat that cries wolf is worse than no heartbeat at all. Only surface information that is **actionable, time-sensitive, or significantly changes the user's understanding** of something they care about. When in doubt, return `[SKIPPED]`.

## Step 1: Read Memory

Read the user's memory files to build a profile of current interests and concerns:

Extract a prioritized list of **watchlist topics**. Typical categories:

| Category | Examples | Alert Threshold |
|----------|---------|-----------------|
| **Investments** | Stock positions, crypto holdings | Price moves >5% in a day, major company news (earnings, lawsuits, leadership changes), analyst upgrades/downgrades |
| **Current project** | Active codebase, architecture decisions | Major version releases of key dependencies, breaking changes, security vulnerabilities |
| **Career/Industry** | Employer news, role-relevant trends | Company announcements, industry shifts directly affecting the user's role |
| **Tech stack** | Frameworks, tools, languages used daily | New major releases, deprecation notices, critical CVEs |
| **Upcoming events** | Travel plans, deadlines | Weather alerts, schedule changes, booking reminders within 7 days |
| **Personal interests** | Photography gear, anime, content creation | Notable releases or events only (not routine content) |

## Step 2: Read News

Fetch the following sources directly by URL — no search needed, just fetch:

| Source | URL | Notes |
|--------|-----|-------|
| Hacker News | https://hnrss.org/newest | RSS feed |
| **Product Hunt** | https://www.producthunt.com/feed | RSS feed — **high weight**: today's top launches often contain directly actionable tools or competitors |
| **GitHub Trending** | https://github.com/trending?since=daily | Daily trending — **high weight**: surfacing repos that match the user's stack or interests is high-value signal |
| Google News (CN) | https://news.google.com/rss?hl=zh-CN&gl=CN&ceid=CN:zh-Hans | RSS feed |

**Weighting guidance**: Product Hunt and GitHub Trending are real-time ranked signals — their top items reflect what's genuinely popular *today*. Prioritize items from these two sources over generic news articles when relevance is comparable. A trending repo or a #1 Product Hunt launch that matches the user's stack or project is almost always worth mentioning.

## Step 3: Search

For each high-priority watchlist topic (aim for 3-5 topics, no more than 8), perform a focused web search. Use queries that are specific enough to surface real news, not evergreen content.

Good search patterns:
- `"ByteDance" news March 3 2026` — catches employer news
- `小荷 AI health news March 3 2026` — catches project news
- `"BABA stock" March 3 2026` — catches daily movers
- `"LangChain" release 2026` — catches recent releases
- `"Claude" OR "Anthropic" announcement` — catches AI tooling updates

Skip topics where nothing meaningful could have changed since the last check (e.g., stable personal preferences, unchanging habits).

## Step 4: Evaluate — The "Worth Interrupting" Test

### Hard filter: Date verification (run this FIRST, before anything else)

For every item found in Step 2 or Step 3, you must verify its publication date by checking the article page or search result metadata. Record the date explicitly.

- If the publication date is **within the last 48 hours** (T or T-1 relative to today): eligible, proceed to the Worth Interrupting test below.
- If the publication date is **older than 48 hours**, or **cannot be determined**: discard immediately, do not include.

This is a hard gate — relevance does not override staleness. A perfectly relevant article from last week is still discarded. When in doubt about a date, discard.

### Worth Interrupting test (only for items that passed the date filter)

For each remaining finding, apply this filter:

1. **Is it genuinely new?** (not something the user already knows from memory or the previous briefing)
2. **Is it actionable or time-sensitive?** (the user should do something, or the window to act is closing)
3. **Does it meaningfully change the picture?** (not incremental noise, but a real shift)

A finding must pass at least 2 of 3 to be included.

### Examples of WORTH reporting:
- BABA drops 8% on earnings miss → actionable + time-sensitive
- LangChain 2.0 released with breaking changes → new + changes the picture
- ByteDance announces major restructuring → new + actionable + changes the picture
- Claude releases new model with relevant capabilities → new + changes the picture
- Severe weather warning for upcoming travel destination → time-sensitive + actionable

### Examples of NOT worth reporting:
- BABA moves 0.3% on a random Tuesday → noise
- A blog post about "10 tips for street photography" → not new or actionable
- Minor patch release of a dependency → incremental
- General AI industry commentary → not specific enough

## Step 5: Output

The evaluation process (date filtering, Worth Interrupting reasoning) is internal only — never show it to the user. Output starts directly with the briefing or `[SKIPPED]`, nothing else.

### If noteworthy findings exist:

Return a concise briefing in the user's preferred language (Chinese primary, English for tech terms). Format:

```
📡 Heartbeat | {date}

{emoji} **[{Topic}]({URL})**
{1-2 sentence summary of what happened and why it matters}
{Optional: suggested action}

{emoji} **[{Topic}]({URL})**
...

---
Sources: {URLs}
```

Keep it to 5 items max. Ruthlessly prioritize. The user should be able to read the entire briefing in under 60 seconds.

Emoji guide: 📈📉 for markets, 🔧 for tech/tools, 🏢 for career/employer, ⚠️ for alerts, 📸 for creative interests, 🗓️ for schedule/travel.

### If nothing noteworthy:

Return exactly (without "```"):

```
[SKIPPED]
```

No explanation, no "I checked and found nothing interesting." Just `[SKIPPED]`. The system calling this skill knows what that means.

## Important Notes

- This skill is designed to be called programmatically (e.g., by a scheduler, cron job, or another agent). Keep output machine-parseable: either a formatted briefing or `[SKIPPED]`. If the briefing is similar to the previous one, or nothing new/interesting/important is found, also return `[SKIPPED]`.
- Err heavily on the side of `[SKIPPED]`. A heartbeat that returns noise trains the user to ignore it.
- The search step should be fast — don't do deep research. Quick web searches only. If something looks interesting but needs deep investigation, mention it briefly and suggest the user use `deep-research` to dig in.
- Respect the user's time of day if known. Financial news matters more during market hours. Tech releases matter more during work hours.