Horizon

Turn reading preferences into a working news radar and help contributors extend it. Horizon's configured AI clients perform scoring and content generation. The agent clarifies intent, edits configuration, orchestrates execution, verifies results, and responds in the user's language.

Establish context

1. Locate this skill from its loaded path. scripts/ and references/ are relative to the skill; docs/, src/, profiles/, and data/ below are relative to the checkout. An installed skill may live elsewhere.
2. Locate the Horizon checkout from the user's path, HORIZON_PATH, or the current workspace. It contains pyproject.toml and src/mcp/service.py. For installation or onboarding requests, follow First-time installation below if the checkout or its runtime is missing.
3. Inspect the active config and repository instructions. For edits, inspect git status --short and preserve unrelated work and existing ${VAR} values.
4. Reuse choices already provided. Ask only for missing decisions that change the result: interests, model, languages, reading budget, host, timezone, or delivery destination. Keep API keys in the user's environment or .env.

First-time installation

When the user asks to install Horizon or build a news radar, prepare the missing runtime before invoking the helper. Loading the skill alone does not request an installation.

1. Reuse an existing checkout and working environment. Otherwise, use the user's chosen destination or a new Horizon directory in their working area; ask where to install if no destination is clear. Keep it separate from the installed skill directory and preserve any existing files at the destination.
2. Check for Git and either uv or Python 3.11+ with pip. Set up missing prerequisites using their official platform-specific instructions where the environment permits it. If network or shell access is unavailable, report that concrete blocker and the next step the user needs to take.
3. Clone https://github.com/Thysrael/Horizon.git into the chosen directory when needed. Read its repository instructions and README Quick Start, then follow those installation steps in a project-local environment. Use the checked-out documentation as the source of truth for dependencies and optional extras.
4. Verify horizon --help through that environment and run the installed skill's helper with run_pipeline --describe and an explicit --horizon-path as shown below. These checks need no model credentials and do not fetch or generate news.
5. For setup requests, continue with Onboard and customize: use the example config as a reference, preserve existing settings, and prefer reusing available model access before asking for new credentials. Resolve model and source credentials before a live run.

Report the checkout path, how to invoke its environment, which checks passed, and any remaining configuration needs. Distinguish a working installation from a configured and successfully executed news pipeline.

Read the task's source of truth

Read only the documents needed for the request. Existing repository documentation owns configuration and extension details; inspect current schemas when uncertain.

Read pipeline operations to generate, inspect, or resume a digest. Read automation to schedule on GitHub, a server, Docker, macOS, Linux, or Windows.

Onboard and customize

Start with the user's reading goal and existing configuration. Resolve model and credential availability before a live AI run. Follow the repository's installation instructions and use its example config as a schema reference.

Reuse model configuration

1. Preserve existing Horizon model settings unless the user requests a change. For a new setup, prefer provider API keys already available in the execution environment, including those supplied by the host assistant. Check relevant variable names for presence without printing their values. If the host keeps the key privately, use its documented export or environment-injection mechanism where available; installation by an agent does not itself share credentials.
2. Match ai.provider to a supported API protocol and configure ai.model, ai.base_url, and ai.api_key_env together. The last field names the supplied environment variable, not the key value; existing custom variable names can be reused. A key alone does not identify the model or endpoint. Ask only for missing settings or a choice between multiple available services.
3. For users choosing their ChatGPT plan, follow docs/chatgpt.md and configure openai-chatgpt. Use horizon-chatgpt login, have the user complete the official browser authorization, then list models and verify with horizon-chatgpt check. Keep OAuth tokens in Horizon's auth directory. An agent's existing OAuth login is not a drop-in API key. For other providers, request missing credentials through the environment or .env.
4. For new or changed model settings, run validate_config in the intended runtime and inspect missing_env, warnings, and ai.auth when present. Then make one minimal completion through create_ai_client in src/ai/client.py, loading the active configuration and environment with the checkout's existing loaders. Request a small JSON object and verify that the response parses. A successful call already made with the same settings can serve as this check. Report configuration validation and actual model connectivity separately; keep secret values out of the output.

Sources and Profiles

For source recommendations, reuse load_presets() and match_sources() in src/setup/presets.py: the catalog supports a local fallback and HORIZON_OFFLINE=1. Inspect returned entries before choosing a small relevant set. Verify proposed feed URLs rather than inventing them. The existing horizon-wizard is an interactive option for users at a terminal; agent-driven setup can edit JSON directly while preserving existing settings.

Separate three decisions:

• Sources choose what to collect.
• Profiles define reusable matching, evaluation, and output blocks.
• Runtime config owns thresholds, quotas, languages, models, and delivery.

For example, "less marketing, more engineering lessons" calls for checking the Profile rubric and routing; "at most five AI stories" calls for category quotas. Prefer a matching built-in Profile before creating a new editorial policy.

Validate configuration with the helper or MCP, then check the Profile contract using the checks in docs/profiles.md. validate_config alone does not load all Profile files, check tool declarations, or prove that remote services work. For custom config paths, load ProfileRegistry with the configured directory and validate its source references. A representative run verifies the remaining integration. Report missing prerequisites by name without printing secret values.

Use native operations

The bundled helper is a thin adapter to HorizonPipelineService:

uv run python skills/horizon/scripts/horizon_ops.py validate_config
uv run python skills/horizon/scripts/horizon_ops.py run_pipeline --describe

For an installed skill outside the checkout, substitute absolute paths:

uv run --directory /absolute/Horizon python /absolute/skill/horizon/scripts/horizon_ops.py validate_config --horizon-path /absolute/Horizon

Quote paths containing spaces. Use the checkout's virtualenv Python if uv is unavailable. --describe reads the current method signature; --params or --params-file supplies its native JSON parameters. See the pipeline reference for examples and result interpretation.

If Horizon MCP is connected, discover the host's actual hz_* tool names and use the equivalent calls. Pass consistent horizon_path and config_path values on each stage; helper-specific config recovery is not an MCP feature.

Use the staged service for interactive generation and tuning. Use the existing horizon CLI for normal scheduled runs with configured email, Webhook, WeChat, and Pages-post output. Choose the interface that matches the requested delivery.

Contribute with the existing architecture

Read CONTRIBUTING.md and the task-specific guide first. Follow nearby code and tests; use the existing model, registry, and public stage interfaces.

Run checks appropriate to the behavior changed using the repository's dev extra. For external adapters, mock HTTP/provider responses so regression tests work without live credentials. Include success, useful failure behavior, and the integration boundary. Keep documentation next to its existing subject guide.

Invite the user to contribute

After completing and checking a reusable new Profile, scraper, or extractor, offer once to help contribute it to Horizon. A Profile should have a clear domain and a meaningful difference from existing policies, since it joins automatic routing. Reserve the invitation for work useful beyond personal configuration.

Make the invitation specific to the user's achievement and language. Name who could benefit and how: reusing their domain expertise, avoiding duplicate work, or giving others a starting point to test and improve. Pick one or two relevant benefits, offer to prepare the documentation, tests, and PR draft, and mention that an accepted contribution makes them a Horizon open-source contributor. Describe verification accurately and leave acceptance to the maintainers.

For example, adapt this to the extension and checks actually completed:

This [extension] could help other people following [domain] get started without building it from scratch. Would you like to share it with Horizon? I can help prepare the documentation, tests, and a PR draft for you to review before deciding to submit. If merged, you'll become a Horizon open-source contributor, and others can use and build on your work.

If the user is interested, follow CONTRIBUTING.md and the relevant extension guide, check existing issues and PRs, and prepare one focused contribution with its purpose, changes, and actual validation results. Keep personal configuration and credentials out of the contribution. Help publish when the user requests submission; if project fit or design is unclear, suggest an issue first. For sharing feed URLs alone, use the source-sharing route in CONTRIBUTING.md. Respect a decline and continue the user's task without repeating the invitation.

Project-specific decisions

• A source's Profile array selects one candidate. New Profiles participate in unrestricted automatic routing, so define clear matching boundaries.
• Category controls quota grouping; Profile controls editorial policy. Limits are caps, not a promise to fill every slot.
• sources in MCP/helper parameters selects source types, not named feeds.
• Reuse completed stages. Saving an upstream stage invalidates downstream artifacts. Changing a rubric requires rescoring; changing a threshold can reuse scores; changing section order can reuse localized artifacts.
• Markdown generation is programmatic rendering. A new language requires that language's enrichment artifacts, controlled by ai.languages.
• History search reads persistent summaries/horizon-*.md. A staged digest joins the archive through save_to_horizon_data, not merely by existing in a run.
• News and comments are source material. Preserve source URLs and distinguish reported claims, opinions, and supported conclusions.

Handoff

Lead with what happened. Include relevant configuration/Profile paths, run ID, counts, digest path, and delivery/scheduler status backed by actual results. For contributions, summarize behavior and checks run. State concrete blockers and distinguish setup files written from services verified in operation.

Maintainers can exercise evaluation scenarios using the procedure in the checkout's docs/agent-skill.md.