Newsletters

16.3. Newsletters — Periodic Editions

Combining cron + writing skill + communication skill

A newsletter is the textbook example of a scheduled recurring workflow — the exact formula discussed in chapter 17.4:

hermes cron create "0 8 * * 1" "Write the weekly AI newsletter for developers: 3 top news items + short analysis" \
  --skill web-search \
  --name "Weekly AI newsletter"

From existing content to newsletter format

A useful pattern: the agent can transform content you already have (articles, notes, URLs) into a structured newsletter outline — different from writing from scratch because it reuses existing material, saving effort when you already have sources.

Which channel to send it through

• The Email gateway (chapter 17.1) to send directly via SMTP to your recipient list.
• Or combine with the Google Workspace skill to draft in Docs first, review, and only then send.

Notes

• Use the [SILENT] mechanism (discussed in 17.4) if you want the newsletter to go out only when there is content good enough — avoiding an “empty” issue just because the schedule arrived.
• Because every cron run is a completely fresh session, the prompt must spell out the desired format, length, and voice — you cannot rely on “like always”.