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SubstackBot – Setup Guide

This bot runs every morning at 10:00 AM, scrapes the latest AI news, writes a full Substack post using Claude, and saves a draft to dronagangarapu.substack.com automatically.

Step 1 – Install Python dependencies

Open Terminal and run:

pip3 install anthropic requests python-dotenv markdown

Step 2 – Set up your credentials

cd ~/SubstackBot
cp .env.template .env
open .env   # edit with any text editor

Fill in the three values:

A. Anthropic API Key

B. Substack Session Cookie

This lets the bot post on your behalf without needing a password.

  1. Open Chrome and go to dronagangarapu.substack.com
  2. Make sure you're logged in
  3. Press Cmd + Option + I to open DevTools
  4. Go to Application → Cookies → https://dronagangarapu.substack.com
  5. Find the cookie named connect.sid
  6. Copy its full value (starts with s%3A...)
  7. In .env, set: SUBSTACK_COOKIE=connect.sid=s%3A...

⚠️ This cookie expires periodically. If the bot stops posting, repeat this step.

C. Pexels API Key (optional, for cover images)

Step 3 – Test it manually

python3 ~/SubstackBot/daily_ai_post.py

Check your Substack dashboard for a new draft. Posts are saved as drafts — you review and publish them yourself.

Local backups of every post are saved in ~/SubstackBot/posts/.

Step 4 – Schedule it to run at 10 AM every day

cp ~/SubstackBot/com.drona.daily-ai-post.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.drona.daily-ai-post.plist

To verify it's scheduled:

launchctl list | grep drona

To check logs after it runs:

cat /tmp/daily_ai_post.log
cat /tmp/daily_ai_post_err.log

To stop / uninstall

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.drona.daily-ai-post.plist
rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.drona.daily-ai-post.plist

What the bot does each morning

  1. 🔍 Searches the web for AI, LLM, AI agents, and GenAI news from the last 24 hours
  2. ✍️ Uses Claude to write a polished newsletter with a title, subtitle, and full body
  3. 🖼️ Fetches a relevant cover image from Pexels
  4. 📬 Creates a draft on your Substack (you review before publishing)
  5. 💾 Saves a local Markdown backup in ~/SubstackBot/posts/