repo-article

SKILL.md preview

---
name: repo-article
description: Thesis-driven article about a watched repo — falsifiable claim, cited evidence, self-edit quality gate
var: ""
tags: [dev, content]
---
> **${var}** — Angle or topic (e.g. "architecture", "recent progress", "roadmap"). If empty, phase 2 picks the angle with the strongest supporting evidence.

## Config

Reads repos from `memory/watched-repos.md`. If multiple repos are listed, pick the one with the most activity in the last 7 days.

---

<!-- autoresearch: variation B — editorial discipline: research → thesis → draft → self-edit, with a falsifiable claim and a quality gate -->

Read `memory/MEMORY.md` and the last 7 days of `memory/logs/` for context on recent activity.
Read `memory/watched-repos.md` for the repo to cover.

An article without a thesis is filler. This skill runs four phases and only advances when the current phase's gate passes.

## Phase 1 — Research (gather, don't write yet)

Run these in parallel where possible:

```bash
# Repo metadata
gh api repos/owner/repo --jq '{name, description, language, stargazers_count, forks_count, open_issues_count, topics, created_at, updated_at, pushed_at, default_branch}'

# Commits in last 7 days (paginated)
gh api repos/owner/repo/commits -X GET \
  -f since="$(date -u -d '7 days ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null || date -u -v-7d +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  --jq '.[] | {sha: .sha[0:7], msg: .commit.message | split("\n")[0], author: .commit.author.name, date: .commit.author.date, url: .html_url}' --paginate

# Merged PRs in last 7 days
gh api 'repos/owner/repo/pulls?state=closed&sort=updated&direction=desc&per_page=50' \
  --jq '[.[] | select(.merged_at and (.merged_at > (now - 86400*7 | todate))) | {number, title, user: .user.login, merged_at, additions, deletions, url: .html_url}]'

# Open PRs
gh api repos/owner/repo/pulls --jq '[.[] | {number, title, user: .user.login, created_at, draft, labels: [.labels[].name], url: .html_url}]'

# Issues opened/closed in last 7 days (exclude PRs)
gh api 'repos/owner/repo/issues?state=all&since='$(date -u -d '7 days ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'&per_page=100' --paginate \
  --jq '[.[] | select(.pull_request | not) | {number, title, state, created_at, closed_at, labels: [.labels[].name]}]'

# Last 3 releases
gh api repos/owner/repo/releases --jq '.[0:3] | .[] | {tag_name, name, published_at, body}'

# README (fallback: WebFetch raw URL if base64 decode fails)
gh api repos/owner/repo/readme --jq '.content' | base64 -d
```

From the commit list, find the most-frequently-touched files. Read the top 2-3 of those with `gh api repos/owner/repo/contents/<path>` plus any `CHANGELOG.md`, `ROADMAP.md`, or architecture docs.

**External context** — three distinct WebSearch queries:
1. `"owner/repo" site:news.ycombinator.com OR site:lobste.rs OR site:reddit.com`
2. `"owner/repo" twitter OR x.com` (or the project name if distinctive)
3. One query to anchor positioning against a comparable/competing project.

**Gate 1 — enough story?** If **all** of the following hold, abort and notify `REPO_ARTICLE_SKIPPED: insufficient activity` (log reason, write no article):
- <3 commits in the last 7 days, AND
- 0 merged PRs in the last 7 days, AND
- no release in the last 30 days, AND
- no external mentions surfaced in step 3.

**Quiet-repo exception**: if the repo has historical importance but is currently slow (e.g. only 1-2 commits this week, no release), do **not** skip — instead narrow the article's focus to the single most substantive recent change (a specific commit, a contested issue thread, a roadmap update) and write a shorter piece around *that*. Prefer publishing a tight 600-word piece on one real change over skipping.

## Phase 2 — Thesis

Write one **falsifiable claim** in ≤25 words. The claim must be disprovable by specific evidence — not a vibe.

- Good: "aaronjmars/aeon is pivoting from scheduled digests to reactive skill chains — 4 of 7 merged PRs this week added or consumed `.outputs/*.md` contracts."
- Bad: "Ae

…