Daily Devotional Auto Skill

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