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Install in OpenClaw
/install topic-monitor
Description
Monitor topics of interest and proactively alert when important developments occur. Use when the user wants automated monitoring of specific subjects like pr...
Usage Guidance
Install only if you want recurring monitoring. Review every configured query, feed, GitHub repo, alert channel, and generated cron job before enabling automation. Do not use sensitive watchlists unless you are comfortable sending them to search providers or feed/GitHub hosts, and set WEB_SEARCH_PLUS_PATH only to a trusted local web-search-plus script.
Capability Analysis
Type: OpenClaw Skill
Name: topic-monitor
Version: 1.5.2
The topic-monitor skill is a well-structured tool for automated web and RSS monitoring that follows several security best practices. Notable safety features include the use of a strict environment variable allowlist in monitor.py when executing search subprocesses to prevent credential leakage, and an architecture that avoids direct outbound HTTP calls for alerting by using a local JSON queue for the OpenClaw agent to process. The inclusion of vendored libraries like feedparser and sgmllib appears legitimate for portability, and the instructions in SKILL.md are entirely consistent with the stated purpose of the tool.
Capability Assessment
Purpose & Capability
The advertised purpose is automated topic, RSS/Atom, GitHub release, digest, and alert monitoring; the scripts implement those capabilities without unrelated destructive or deceptive behavior.
Instruction Scope
The documentation discloses scheduled monitoring, web search, feeds, GitHub releases, and agent-delivered alerts, though the privacy wording understates that feed/GitHub polling are also outbound network activity.
Install Mechanism
Setup creates or edits local config files, and setup_cron.py outputs cron job JSON for the agent rather than directly modifying crontab; no hidden installer or privileged setup path was found.
Credentials
The monitor may call web-search-plus via a configurable local path and forwards only an allowlist of search-provider environment variables, which is proportionate but depends on the referenced script being trusted.
Persistence & Privilege
Persistence is limited to user-configured scheduled runs and local .data state, findings, and alert-queue files; no privilege escalation, background daemon installation, or broad local indexing was found.
How to Use
- Make sure OpenClaw is installed (local or Docker)
- Run the install command in chat:
/install topic-monitor - After installation, invoke the skill by name or use
/topic-monitor - Provide required inputs per the skill's parameter spec and get structured output
Version History
v1.5.2
- Bump version to 1.5.2.
- Documentation updates in SKILL.md and CHANGELOG.md.
- No functional changes; package and skill metadata updated for release.
v1.5.1
topic-monitor v1.5.1
- Minor update with documentation and metadata improvements.
- Updated SKILL.md and package metadata to reflect new version.
- No functional changes to code logic.
v1.5.0
v1.5.0 adds feed and GitHub release monitoring, advanced filters, and sentiment tracking.
- Added first-class support for monitoring RSS/Atom feeds and GitHub releases as sources per topic
- New options: required_keywords and exclude_keywords for advanced boolean result filtering
- Sentiment analysis now applied to all findings; supports sentiment shift alerts
- Feed auto-discovery and OPML import simplify subscribing to many feeds
- All sources (web, feed, GitHub) now unified in one scoring and alerting pipeline
v1.3.5
b70db6d chore: release v1.3.5 1248efa Sync version with ClawHub (v1.3.4) dd4580b security: remove crontab manipulation, sanitize subprocess query input
v1.3.4
Security: setup_cron outputs JSON (no crontab manipulation), query input sanitized.
v1.3.3
Security: sanitized subprocess env (allowlist only), removed direct Discord webhook HTTP calls.
v1.3.2
Fix: SKILL.md metadata updated to openclaw format. Env vars declared as optional.
v1.3.1
Security: removed hardcoded paths (/root/), hardcoded Telegram ID, hardcoded web-search-plus path. All now configurable via env vars or use safe defaults.
v1.3.0
Implemented real alerting (was stub). State files moved to memory/monitors/. Switched to web-search-plus for searches.
v1.2.1
- Added CHANGELOG.md file for improved documentation of changes.
- Updated version to 1.2.1 in SKILL.md and package.json.
- Minor documentation or metadata updates; no functional changes to core logic.
v1.2.0
**Quick setup for single-topic monitoring added in v1.2.0:**
- Introduced `quick.py` for instant, one-command topic monitoring with sensible defaults.
- Added "Quick Start" instructions and comparison table to documentation.
- No changes to existing setup or core monitoring processes.
- Improvements to SKILL.md for clarity and ease of onboarding.
v1.1.2
Add ClawHub runtime requirements metadata (SKILL.md frontmatter)
v1.1.1
Add runtime requirements metadata for ClawHub discovery
v1.1.0
Version 1.1.0
- Added interactive setup wizard (`scripts/setup.py`) for first-time configuration.
- Included `skill.json` to define skill metadata.
- Updated documentation to guide users through the new setup wizard and quick start methods.
- Streamlined onboarding by prompting new users to configure topics and preferences interactively.
- No changes to core monitoring logic or alerting features.
v1.0.1
- Renamed the skill from "proactive-research" to "topic-monitor" throughout documentation.
- Updated all branding and references in commands, examples, file paths, and cron setup to reflect the new skill name.
- No changes to features or functionality—documentation updates only.
- All usage instructions and configuration samples remain unchanged except for the updated name.
v1.0.0
Automated topic monitoring with AI importance scoring
Metadata
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Topic Monitor?
Monitor topics of interest and proactively alert when important developments occur. Use when the user wants automated monitoring of specific subjects like pr... It is an AI Agent Skill for Claude Code / OpenClaw, with 9543 downloads so far.
How do I install Topic Monitor?
Run "/install topic-monitor" in the OpenClaw or Claude Code chat to install it in one step — no extra setup required.
Is Topic Monitor free?
Yes, Topic Monitor is completely free, licensed under MIT-0. You can download, install and use it at no cost.
Which platforms does Topic Monitor support?
Topic Monitor is cross-platform and runs anywhere OpenClaw / Claude Code is available (cross-platform).
Who created Topic Monitor?
It is built and maintained by Robby (@robbyczgw-cla); the current version is v1.5.2.
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