# News-to-Article Workflow Reference

Full workflow for taking news items / content ideas from a digest and writing in-depth articles.

## Article Directory Structure

```
~/vault/60_Articles/
├── YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>/
│   ├── article.md       # Full article with frontmatter (title, description, date, category, tags, status: draft)
│   ├── brief.md         # Optional: research notes, source summaries, angles considered
│   └── images/          # Featured + inline images
│       └── featured.png
└── YYYY-MM-DD-<slug2>/
    ...
```

## Article Frontmatter Template

```yaml
---
title: "Hook-driven title (≤ 60 chars, Thai)"
description: "SEO meta description (120-160 chars)"
slug: "yyyy-mm-dd-kebab-case-slug"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
category: SEO | AI | Marketing | Research
author: Macky
tags: [Tag1, Tag2, Tag3, Tag4]
status: draft
---
```

## Research Phase (do this first, before writing)

### Step 1: Identify source articles
From the digest's news items, find the original source URLs. Never write from the digest summary alone — always read the originals.

### Step 2: Read each source article
Use this curl technique for most sites:

```bash
curl -sL --max-time 20 "<URL>" | python3 -c "
import sys, re
html = sys.stdin.read()
# Strip scripts and styles
html = re.sub(r'<script[^>]*>.*?</script>', '', html, flags=re.DOTALL)
html = re.sub(r'<style[^>]*>.*?</style>', '', html, flags=re.DOTALL)
# Try to get <article> content first
match = re.search(r'<article[^>]*>(.*?)</article>', html, re.DOTALL)
if match:
    text = re.sub(r'<[^>]+>', ' ', match.group(1))
else:
    text = re.sub(r'<[^>]+>', ' ', html)
text = re.sub(r'\s+', ' ', text).strip()
print(text[:15000])
"
```

For Cloudflare-protected sites (e.g. VentureBeat):
- Fall back to `browser_navigate` → `browser_snapshot(full=true)` → `browser_scroll` as needed

### Step 3: Extract key data per source
For each source, extract:
- **Numbers** — all specific metrics, percentages, dollar amounts
- **Quotes** — direct statements from researchers/executives
- **Mechanisms** — how something works (the causal chain)
- **Contrasts** — before/after, old/new, claimed vs actual

### Step 4: Synthesize across sources
Organize findings into a coherent narrative:
1. What's the core insight/problem each article describes?
2. How do the sources overlap, complement, or contradict each other?
3. What's the single actionable takeaway that readers can use today?

## Writing Phase

### Thai Content Structure (per article)

```
# [Hook-driven title]

> [Hook paragraph — 1-2 sentences, breaks reader expectation]

## 📚 สารบัญ
- [Section 1]
- [Section 2]
- ...

## [Section 1 — Core insight]
[Data table with comparison columns]
[Explanation paragraph — 2-4 sentences]
📌 [Topic] Takeaway: [Actionable insight in 1-2 sentences]

## [Section 2 — Mechanism]
[Data table with before/after]
[Explanation]
📌 [Topic] Takeaway: [...]

...

## สรุป Actionable Takeaways
| สิ่งที่ต้องทำ | เหตุผล |
|:---|:---|
| ✅ [Action] | [Why — bulletproof reasoning] |
| ❌ [Avoid] | [Why — the trap to dodge] |

---

**ที่มา:**
- [Author], "[Title]" — [Publication], [Date]
```

### Thai Writing Conventions

| Element | Convention |
|:---|:---|
| **Title** | Hook-driven ≤ 60 chars. Curiosity gap or contrarian claim. Include target keyword naturally |
| **Opening** | Break expectation — "ถ้าคุณคิดว่า X — คุณคิดผิด" / "ไม่ใช่แค่ X — มันคือ Y" |
| **Section labels** | 📌 "GEO Takeaway" / "Content Strategy Takeaway" / "Business Takeaway" |
| **Tables** | Comparison columns with emoji indicators (✅ ❌ 🟢 🟡 🔴 🏆) |
| **Code/terms** | Use backticks for English technical terms (`result_source`, `turn_use_case`) |
| **Numbers** | Bold the headline number — "เร่งความเร็วได้ **85%**" |
| **Sources footer** | "**ที่มา:**" section listing all source articles as markdown links |

### Avoid
- Generic openings: "ในโลกดิจิทัลวันนี้", "ด้วยความก้าวหน้าของเทคโนโลยี"
- Artificial FAQ sections — don't add them unless the content genuinely raises questions
- Keyword stuffing — use Thai synonyms naturally
- Over-explaining — trust the reader to connect simple dots

## Pitfalls

1. **web_extract / web_search may not be configured** — always have curl+browser fallback ready. Script/security warnings from pipe-to-python are a real risk; get auto-approval or use inline parsing.
2. **Majority of articles are in the 60_Articles/<slug>/article.md format** — check existing structure before saving. Never invent a new format.
3. **Source article may be behind paywall or bot-block** — curl can't read everything. Browser tools handle Cloudflare/Vercel. YouTube and social platforms need different approaches.
4. **Content date ≠ publish date** — use the source research date or the article's original publication date, not today's date, for the article slug and frontmatter.
5. **Multiple articles from one digest session** — batch them in parallel via delegate_task if independent; write sequentially if they share data.
6. **arXiv API returns Atom XML, not RSS** — parse `<entry>` elements specifically; the `head -300` approach in the newsletter skill truncates at a fixed line count, so use `python3 -c` for proper XML parsing.