Newsletter Digest Skill

Process unread newsletters, extract actionable content for Second Brain, archive processed emails.

Gmail: See ../_GMAIL.md | Obsidian CLI: See ../_OBSIDIAN.md | Integration: See ../_SECOND_BRAIN.md

Newsletter Sources

All newsletters are processed - categorize by content, not by sender.

Common Platforms

bash

# Search for unread newsletters from common platforms
gog gmail search "is:unread (from:substack.com OR from:beehiiv.com OR from:convertkit.com OR from:mailchimp.com OR from:buttondown.email)" --account=maroffo@gmail.com --json --max=20

Known Newsletter Labels

Label	Description
`📰Newsletter/🔴 Substack`	Substack newsletters
`📰Newsletter`	General newsletters
`👨🏻‍💻work-related`	Work-related content (higher priority)

Key Newsletters by Category

Newsletter	Author	Category
ByteByteGo	Alex Xu	AI/Development
Turing Post	-	AI/Open Source
Artificial Ignorance	Charlie Guo	AI/Management
The Beautiful Mess	John Cutler	Engineering Management
Tidy First?	Kent Beck	Engineering/Design
Javarevisited	-	Development
[mini]marketing	Gianluca Diegoli	Marketing
Paul Krugman	Paul Krugman	Politics/Economics
Appunti	Stefano Feltri	Politics (IT)
270 by Youtrend	Youtrend	Politics (IT)
Il Mattinale Europeo	David Carretta	EU Politics
Il Post	-	News (IT)
Semafor	-	News (International)
Roberta Villa	Roberta Villa	Health/Science
Ellissi	-	Media/Culture
Sillabe	Elena Tosato	Literature

Processing Workflow

Step 1: Find Unread Newsletters

bash

gog gmail search "is:unread (from:substack.com OR from:beehiiv.com OR from:convertkit.com)" --account=maroffo@gmail.com --json --max=20

Step 2: For Each Newsletter

•Get full content:

bash

gog gmail thread get <threadId> --account=maroffo@gmail.com --json

•
Extract metadata:
- •Sender/publication name
- •Subject/title
- •Date
- •Body content (HTML → text)
•
Analyze content - identify:
- •Tools/libraries mentioned → Second Brain - Development/AI
- •Patterns/techniques → Second Brain appropriate section
- •News/opinions → Reference only (skip or brief note)
- •Tutorials/guides → Extract key steps
•
Categorize per ../_SECOND_BRAIN.md routing table
•
Extract & integrate via Obsidian CLI:

bash

obsidian append file="Second Brain - <Topic>" content="<extracted>"

•Update Timeline:

bash

obsidian append file="Second Brain - Timeline" content="- **YYYY-MM-DD** | [Topic] | Source: Newsletter | -> Second Brain - <File>.md"

•Archive email (see ../_GMAIL.md for archive command)

Output Format

After processing batch:

code

## Newsletter Digest - YYYY-MM-DD

### Processed (X newsletters)

1. **[Pragmatic Engineer]** - "Platform Teams Done Right"
   - Extracted: Platform team anti-patterns
   - → Second Brain - Engineering Management.md
   - ✓ Archived

2. **[ByteByteGo]** - "Rate Limiting Deep Dive"
   - Extracted: Token bucket algorithm summary
   - → Second Brain - Development.md
   - ✓ Archived

3. **[The Batch]** - "AI News Weekly"
   - Skipped: News only, no actionable content
   - ✓ Archived

### Summary
- Newsletters processed: X
- Second Brain entries added: Y
- Archived: X

Content Extraction Guidelines

Include in Second Brain:

•Tool/library announcements with clear use case
•Architecture patterns with examples
•Techniques you can apply
•Commands/configs worth remembering
•
Important news from news-focused newsletters (Il Post, Semafor, Appunti, Il Mattinale Europeo):
- •Geopolitical events with lasting impact
- •Policy changes (EU, IT, international)
- •Economic developments (trade, sanctions, markets)
- •Major political events (elections, government changes)
- •→ Add to Second Brain - Politics and Economics.md

Skip (archive only):

•Tech industry news/opinions (funding, hype cycles)
•Funding announcements
•Job postings
•Content you've already captured
•Ephemeral news (daily weather, minor events)

Ask user if unclear:

•Mixed content (some actionable, some not)
•Topics outside usual categories

Rules

See ../_SECOND_BRAIN.md for shared rules. Additional:

•Always archive - processed = archived, no exceptions
•Batch process - handle multiple newsletters in one session