Daily topic news digest: Google Sheet to Slack, every weekday

Every weekday at 8am in my timezone, run a topic-tracking news digest. The trigger is a cron schedule.

Inputs the workflow needs (collect as workflow variables): the Google Sheets spreadsheet ID and sheet/tab name for the tracking list, and the Slack channel ID where the digest should be posted.

Step 1. Use Google Sheets Get Values to read the tracking sheet. Treat the sheet as configuration: column A holds a topic or query string, and column B holds an optional domain filter (e.g. techcrunch.com). One row per topic. Skip the header row and skip any row where column A is empty.

Step 2. For each row, call Octen AI Search with the topic from column A as the query. Apply a 24-hour time filter so results are from the last day only. If column B has a value, apply it as a domain filter so results are limited to that site. Request 5 results per topic and enable highlights so each result returns a short snippet.

Step 3. Format the combined results as a single Slack mrkdwn message. Put the run date at the top (e.g. *Topic digest — Jun 18*, but without em dashes, use a colon or period). Then for each topic that returned results, render the topic as a bold section header followed by up to 5 bullet items. Each bullet should be the result title rendered as a Slack hyperlink to the source URL, with the Octen highlight snippet on the next line underneath. Skip any topic that returned zero results so the digest stays tight.

Step 4. Use Slack Send a Message to post the digest to the configured channel.

If every topic returns zero results, post a short message saying there is no fresh news today rather than skipping the post entirely.

Services to use: Google Sheets for the tracking list read, Octen AI for the per-topic web search with time and domain filters, Slack for the digest message. Workflow type is code with discrete deterministic nodes (sheet read, per-row Octen search loop, format, slack post). No branching agent reasoning required. Do not use em dashes anywhere in the message text.

Additional information

What does this prompt do?

Reads a Google Sheet where each row is one topic you want to follow, with an optional website to limit results to.
Pulls the last 24 hours of web search results for every topic, with a short snippet under each result.
Posts one Slack message grouped by topic, with a bolded section header and up to five linked items per topic.
Skips quiet topics and stamps the run date at the top, so the digest stays short and scannable.

What do I need to use this?

A Google Sheet with one topic per row. Column A holds the topic or search phrase, column B holds an optional website to limit results to.
An Octen AI account for the daily web search.
A Slack workspace and the channel where you want the digest posted.

How can I customize it?

Change the schedule, the run time, or the timezone to match when your team starts the day.
Edit the tracking sheet to add or remove topics any time, without touching the workflow.
Point the digest at a different Slack channel, a private channel, or a direct message to yourself.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add or remove topics?

Just edit your Google Sheet. Each row is one topic, and the workflow re-reads the sheet on every run, so changes show up the next morning.

Can I limit a topic to a specific site?

Yes. Add a domain like techcrunch.com to column B on that row and results for that topic will only come from that site. Leave it blank to search the open web.

What if a topic has no fresh news today?

That topic is dropped from the digest, so you never get an empty section. If every topic is quiet, you get a short message that says so.

How fresh are the results?

Each run pulls coverage from the last 24 hours, so the morning digest is genuinely overnight news for every topic on your list.

Can I send the digest somewhere other than Slack?

Yes. The final step is a single message post, so it is easy to swap for Microsoft Teams, an email, or a Notion page without changing the rest of the flow.