/no-cap

Extract signal from noise. Pulls your recent X/Twitter bookmarks, filters out marketing/spam/engagement bait, and extracts actionable intelligence. Dual output: structured markdown for agents, HTML email digest for humans.

Commands

• /no-cap — Process new bookmarks (main loop)
• /no-cap setup — Configure ingestion method, auth, output directory
• /no-cap auto-login — Extract X cookies from Chrome (recommended, one-time)
• /no-cap status — Show stats and last run info
• /no-cap update-cookies — Update X session cookies when they expire (without re-running full setup)

Setup Flow (/no-cap setup)

Guide the user through configuration:

1. Sign into X — Detect the user's platform and guide accordingly:

   macOS users — Run the auto-login command:

   cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts auto-login
   

   This extracts X cookies from Chrome automatically. macOS will prompt for Keychain access — click Allow.

   Windows / Linux users — Auto-login is macOS only. Guide them through the manual method:

   1. Open Chrome → go to x.com
   2. Press F12 (DevTools) → Application tab → Cookies → https://x.com
   3. Copy the values for auth_token and ct0
   4. Run:

   cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts update-cookies <auth_token> <ct0>
   

   Note: cookies expire roughly every 30 days. When the user sees an auth error, guide them to repeat these steps.

2. Output directory — Ask where to save signals (default: ~/no-cap-signals/)

3. Interests & sections — Ask: "What topics or projects are you tracking? These become sections in your digest."

   • Let the user list topics freeform (e.g., "AI agents", "fine-tuning LLMs", "marketing", "Claude Code")
   • Also ask if they have active projects they want signals routed to (e.g., "my-app — AI dashboard", "trading bot")
   • Save these as interests and projects arrays in config
   • These guide how signals get categorized and routed — they're not hard filters, just lenses

4. Email digest — Ask if they want an HTML email digest after each run. If yes:

   • Ask for their email address
   • Ask for their Resend API key (free at https://resend.com — 100 emails/day on free tier)
   • No MCP plugins or heavy dependencies needed

5. Write config to ~/.no-cap/config.json using the Write tool. Set file permissions to 600 (owner-only read/write) since it contains session credentials. Make sure repoPath is set in the config to the directory where no-cap is installed.

6. Test run — Do a test fetch to verify credentials work:

   cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts fetch
   

   Where {repoPath} is the repoPath field from ~/.no-cap/config.json. If it errors on auth, guide the user to re-check their cookies.

Main Loop (/no-cap)

First, read the no-cap config to get the repo path:

• Read ~/.no-cap/config.json and extract the repoPath field
• Use this path in all CLI commands below (shown as {repoPath})

Step 1: Fetch new bookmarks

Run the CLI to get new bookmarks:

cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts fetch

This returns JSON with new bookmarks (already diffed against state). If "No new bookmarks" — tell the user and stop.

Step 2: Noise Filter (3 layers)

For each bookmark, evaluate through three layers. Be aggressive — most content is noise.

Layer 1 — Account-level:

• Is this a marketing/promo account? (constant CTAs, course selling, affiliate patterns)
• Is the author repeating the same pitch across multiple bookmarks?
• Did the account recently pivot to whatever's trending? (carpet-bagging)
• Output: PASS or FILTERED with reason

Layer 2 — Post-level:

• Contains affiliate/referral links? → NOISE
• "Link in bio" / "DM me for" patterns? → NOISE
• Engagement bait structure? (rage bait, false urgency, vague boasts) → NOISE
• Is this an ad or sponsored content? → NOISE
• Is this just a meme or joke with no insight? → NOISE (unless genuinely clever insight underneath)
• Bare link to an X article (x.com/i/article/...)? The link-follower now automatically fetches article title + preview text via the X API. If the bookmark text starts with [Article: ...], the article content was successfully enriched — evaluate it through the normal noise filter using that content. If enrichment failed and the text is still just a bare URL, pass it through as a learning signal with the article link so the user can click through — do NOT auto-filter it as noise.
• Output: PASS or FILTERED with reason

Layer 3 — Content-level:

• Is there an extractable idea, technique, pattern, or insight?
• Is it novel, or common knowledge repackaged?
• Is it specific (concrete details, examples, code) or vague platitudes?
• Would this change how someone builds, thinks, or decides?
• Strong opinions from indie creators with genuine experience ARE signal — don't filter opinions that come from real expertise
• Output: PASS (with signal preview) or FILTERED with reason

Important: Signal-in-the-noise. A post can be mostly noise but still contain a real idea buried inside the hype. For example, a Polymarket trading post might be 80% marketing fluff but contain a genuinely novel arbitrage mechanism. A course seller might drop a real technique in their pitch thread. When you filter a post as noise, always check: is there a kernel worth extracting? If yes, classify it as partial_signal — extract the idea but note what's noise around it. These go in a separate "Signal in the Noise" section, not the main signals.

Step 3: Classify bookmark intent

Before extracting signals, classify WHY the user bookmarked this. People bookmark for different reasons:

Do NOT filter out action items as noise. A post about "how to pass the Claude Code architect exam" is not marketing — it's something the user wants to be reminded to do. Same for events, courses, tutorials, deadlines.

Step 4: Extract signals and action items

For each bookmark that passed noise filtering, extract based on its intent:

For signals and project_signals:

Title: One-sentence summary of the core idea
Type: technical_insight | market_signal | workflow | tool | trend | opinion
Intent: signal | project_signal
Project: [which project, if project_signal — match against config projects]
Actionability: immediate | near_term | reference
Tags: [freeform topic tags — try to match user's configured interests]
Source: @handle, URL, date
Context: Why this matters — 2-3 sentences. Strip narrative, isolate the mechanism.

For action items:

Title: What to do — imperative form ("Take Claude Code architect exam", "Try Resend for email")
Intent: action_item
Priority: high | medium | low
Source: @handle, URL, date
Context: Why this is worth doing — 1-2 sentences

For learning resources:

Title: What this teaches
Intent: learning
Tags: [topic tags]
Source: @handle, URL, date
Context: What you'll learn — 1-2 sentences

If the bookmark has a quoted tweet or linked post (from link propagation), include that context in the analysis.

Step 5: Write agent output

Session file — Write to {signalDir}/{YYYY-MM-DD}/session-{N}.md:

# YYYY-MM-DD — Session N

## Signals

**[Theme Name]**
- [Signal 1] — [2-3 sentence context with the mechanism, why it matters, and source] (@handle)
- [Signal 2] — [context] (@handle, @handle2)

**[Theme Name 2]**
- [Signal] — [context] (@handle)

## Project Signals
[Only if user has projects configured]

**[Project Name]:**
- [Signal] — [why it matters for this project] (@handle)

## Action Items
- [ ] [What to do] — [brief context] (@handle) — Priority: high/medium/low

## Signal in the Noise
- [Extracted idea] — [context]. Source is noisy because [reason]. (@handle)

## Noise
- [What the post was about] — Filtered because: [specific reason] (@handle)

## Stats
- Processed: X | Signals: Y | Actions: Z | Noise: N

Determine session number by counting existing session files in today's directory.

Master file — Read {signalDir}/MASTER.md, then rewrite to reflect cumulative state. This file is YOUR primary reference — write it so you (Claude) can load it next session and immediately understand what's happening, what matters, and what to do.

Structure:

# No Cap — Signal Master

_Last updated: YYYY-MM-DD_
_Sessions: N total | Latest: YYYY-MM-DD_

## New Since Last Session
[Quick diff — what changed this run. 2-3 sentences max. Remove this section when the next session runs.]

## Project Signals
[Grouped by the user's configured projects. Each signal has enough context to act on without reading the source.]

### [Project Name]

**[Signal title]**
[2-3 sentences: what it is, why it matters for this project, what the mechanism/technique is. Include enough detail that you could reason about it or suggest actions without going back to the tweet.]
Source: @handle · YYYY-MM-DD · actionability
Connects to: [what existing project work this relates to]

### Unrouted
[Signals that don't map to any configured project but are still actionable]

## Action Items
- [ ] [Action] — [context] (source, date) — Priority: high/medium/low

## Noise Patterns
[Recurring noise patterns across sessions — accounts/topics to auto-filter. This section compounds over time.]
- @handle — [pattern] (seen N times)

## Historical
[Signals that have been acted on or are >30 days stale. Compressed to one-liners.]

Writing principles for MASTER.md:

• Write for yourself (Claude). This is agent context, not human docs. Include the mechanism, not just the name.
• Map to projects first, topics second. The user configured their projects for a reason — route signals there.
• Include enough detail to act. "FlashCompact exists" is useless. "FlashCompact: purpose-built context compaction model, 33K tok/s, 200K→50K in 1.5s, not the usual LLM+vectorDB pattern — relevant to No Cap's context window problem" is actionable.
• Compound noise patterns. If @IndieGameJoe shows up as noise 3 sessions in a row, note the pattern so future runs auto-filter.
• Keep it under 200 lines. Compress old signals to historical when they're stale or acted on.

Step 6: Generate and send email digest (if configured)

Generate the email digest HTML using the EXACT template structure below. Do NOT improvise the layout — use this template and fill in the content. The template has been tested across email clients and renders correctly.

How to use the template:

1. Copy the template below
2. Replace {date}, {theme_count}, {action_count} in the header
3. Replace {tldr} with 2-3 sentence TL;DR
4. For each action item: copy the action card block, fill in icon emoji, title, description, and source link
5. For each signal theme: copy the signal card block, fill in icon emoji, heading, prose paragraph, and source handles
6. For secondary/reference signals (lower priority): use the two-column card block
7. For project signals (if configured): use the project card block
8. For noise: fill in the noise entries
9. Write the completed HTML to {signalDir}/{YYYY-MM-DD}/digest-{N}.html

IMPORTANT: Use valign="top" on all icon <td> elements. Set icon <div> with text-align:center;line-height:36px (or 40px for signal icons). This keeps icons centered in their squares.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>No Cap — {date}</title>
  <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Instrument+Serif:ital@0;1&family=DM+Sans:wght@400;500;600;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
</head>
<body style="margin:0;padding:0;background-color:#ffffff;font-family:'DM Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased;">
<table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background-color:#ffffff;">
<tr><td align="center" style="padding:0;">
<table role="presentation" width="640" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="max-width:640px;width:100%;">

  <!-- HEADER -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#faf9f5;padding:40px 36px 24px;">
    <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>
          <p style="margin:0;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:28px;font-weight:400;color:#262624;letter-spacing:-0.01em;">no cap</p>
          <p style="margin:4px 0 0;font-size:12px;color:#87867f;">Signal from noise &middot; {date}</p>
        </td>
        <td style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;">
          <p style="margin:0;font-size:12px;color:#87867f;">{theme_count} themes &middot; {action_count} actions</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td></tr>

  <!-- TL;DR -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#faf9f5;padding:8px 36px 32px;">
    <p style="margin:0;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:19px;font-style:italic;color:#4a4540;line-height:1.55;">{tldr}</p>
  </td></tr>

  <!-- DIVIDER -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#faf9f5;padding:0 36px;"><div style="height:1px;background:#e5e0db;"></div></td></tr>

  <!-- TO DO SECTION HEADER -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#faf9f5;padding:28px 36px 16px;">
    <p style="margin:0;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;color:#262624;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.12em;">To Do</p>
  </td></tr>

  <!-- ACTION CARD (repeat for each action item) -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#faf9f5;padding:0 36px 10px;">
    <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background:#f0eee6;border-radius:16px;">
      <tr>
        <td width="56" valign="top" style="padding:20px 0 20px 20px;">
          <div style="width:36px;height:36px;background:#d97757;border-radius:10px;text-align:center;line-height:36px;">
            <span style="color:#ffffff;font-size:18px;">{action_icon}</span>
          </div>
        </td>
        <td style="padding:20px 24px 20px 12px;">
          <p style="margin:0 0 4px;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;color:#262624;">{action_title}</p>
          <p style="margin:0;font-size:13px;color:#6b6157;line-height:1.5;">{action_description} — <a href="{action_url}" style="color:#87867f;text-decoration:underline;">{action_source}</a></p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td></tr>
  <!-- END ACTION CARD -->

  <!-- SPACER before signals -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#faf9f5;height:24px;"></td></tr>

  <!-- SIGNALS SECTION HEADER -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#f0eee6;padding:28px 36px 20px;">
    <p style="margin:0;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:24px;font-weight:400;color:#262624;">Signals</p>
  </td></tr>

  <!-- SIGNAL CARD (repeat for each primary signal theme) -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#f0eee6;padding:0 36px 12px;">
    <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background:#faf9f5;border-radius:16px;">
      <tr>
        <td width="56" valign="top" style="padding:24px 0 24px 20px;">
          <div style="width:40px;height:40px;background:#262624;border-radius:12px;text-align:center;line-height:40px;">
            <span style="color:#faf9f5;font-size:20px;">{signal_icon}</span>
          </div>
        </td>
        <td style="padding:24px 24px 24px 14px;">
          <p style="margin:0 0 6px;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400;color:#262624;line-height:1.3;">{signal_heading}</p>
          <p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:13px;color:#6b6157;line-height:1.6;">{signal_prose}</p>
          <p style="margin:0;font-size:12px;color:#b0aea5;">{signal_sources}</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td></tr>
  <!-- END SIGNAL CARD -->

  <!-- TWO-COLUMN CARDS (for secondary/reference signals, optional) -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#f0eee6;padding:0 36px 12px;">
    <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
      <tr>
        <td width="50%" valign="top" style="padding-right:6px;">
          <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background:#faf9f5;border-radius:16px;">
            <tr><td style="padding:20px;">
              <div style="width:36px;height:36px;background:#262624;border-radius:10px;text-align:center;line-height:36px;margin-bottom:12px;">
                <span style="color:#faf9f5;font-size:16px;">{col1_icon}</span>
              </div>
              <p style="margin:0 0 6px;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;color:#262624;">{col1_heading}</p>
              <p style="margin:0 0 8px;font-size:12px;color:#6b6157;line-height:1.5;">{col1_prose}</p>
              <p style="margin:0;font-size:11px;color:#b0aea5;">{col1_note}</p>
            </td></tr>
          </table>
        </td>
        <td width="50%" valign="top" style="padding-left:6px;">
          <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background:#faf9f5;border-radius:16px;">
            <tr><td style="padding:20px;">
              <div style="width:36px;height:36px;background:#262624;border-radius:10px;text-align:center;line-height:36px;margin-bottom:12px;">
                <span style="color:#faf9f5;font-size:16px;">{col2_icon}</span>
              </div>
              <p style="margin:0 0 6px;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;color:#262624;">{col2_heading}</p>
              <p style="margin:0 0 8px;font-size:12px;color:#6b6157;line-height:1.5;">{col2_prose}</p>
              <p style="margin:0;font-size:11px;color:#b0aea5;">{col2_note}</p>
            </td></tr>
          </table>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td></tr>
  <!-- END TWO-COLUMN CARDS -->

  <!-- PROJECT CARD (only if user has projects configured, repeat per project) -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#f0eee6;padding:0 36px 12px;">
    <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="background:#faf9f5;border:1px solid #d97757;border-radius:16px;">
      <tr>
        <td width="56" valign="top" style="padding:20px 0 20px 20px;">
          <div style="width:36px;height:36px;background:#d97757;border-radius:10px;text-align:center;line-height:36px;">
            <span style="color:#ffffff;font-size:16px;">{project_icon}</span>
          </div>
        </td>
        <td style="padding:20px 24px 20px 12px;">
          <p style="margin:0 0 2px;font-size:10px;font-weight:700;color:#d97757;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.1em;">{project_name}</p>
          <p style="margin:0;font-size:13px;color:#6b6157;line-height:1.5;">{project_signals_prose}</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td></tr>
  <!-- END PROJECT CARD -->

  <!-- NOISE SECTION -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#f0eee6;padding:12px 36px 32px;">
    <p style="margin:0 0 8px;font-size:10px;font-weight:700;color:#b0aea5;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.12em;">Filtered &middot; {noise_count}</p>
    <!-- Repeat for each noise entry: -->
    <p style="margin:0 0 3px;font-size:12px;color:#b0aea5;">{noise_entry}</p>
  </td></tr>

  <!-- DARK FOOTER -->
  <tr><td style="background-color:#141413;padding:32px 36px;">
    <table role="presentation" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
      <tr>
        <td>
          <p style="margin:0;font-family:'Instrument Serif',Georgia,serif;font-size:18px;color:#faf9f5;">no cap</p>
          <p style="margin:6px 0 0;font-size:12px;color:#87867f;">Signal from noise &middot; Built with Claude Code</p>
        </td>
        <td style="text-align:right;vertical-align:top;">
          <p style="margin:0;font-size:12px;color:#87867f;">Powered by No Cap skill</p>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </td></tr>

</table>
</td></tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Rules for using the template:

• Do NOT change any styles, padding, colors, or border-radius values
• Do NOT invent new card layouts or section types — use only the blocks above
• Omit sections that don't apply (e.g., skip To Do if no action items, skip Project Card if no projects)
• For the two-column layout: only use when you have exactly 2 secondary/reference signals. Otherwise use full-width signal cards.
• Pick a relevant emoji for each icon. Keep it simple — one emoji per icon square.
• Noise entries should say what the post was about AND why it was filtered.
• EVERY @handle in the ENTIRE email MUST be a clickable link to the original tweet. This applies to ALL sections: action cards, signal cards, two-column cards, project cards, noise entries — no exceptions. Use <a href="{tweet_url}" style="color:#b0aea5;text-decoration:underline;">@handle</a> for signal/noise source lines and <a href="{tweet_url}" style="color:#87867f;text-decoration:underline;">@handle</a> for action card sources. For quoted tweet authors, link to the quoted tweet URL. The tweet URL comes from the bookmark data (url field, or quotedTweet.url for QT authors) — never link to just the profile page. Plain text @handle with no <a> tag is a bug.

Save the HTML to {signalDir}/{YYYY-MM-DD}/digest-{N}.html.

If email is configured, send it:

cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts send-email "No Cap — {N} signals from {date}" "{signalDir}/{YYYY-MM-DD}/digest-{N}.html"

First run only (no {signalDir}/state.json existed before this run): After sending the email, print this warning:

⚠️  FIRST-RUN NOTICE: CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER
Emails from No Cap are sent via Resend (from onboarding@resend.dev).
Your email provider may flag the first one as spam.
If you don't see it in your inbox, check spam/junk and mark it as "Not Spam"
so future digests land in your inbox.

Step 7: Update state

After successful processing, mark the newest bookmark as processed:

cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts mark-done {newestBookmarkId}

Step 8: Print summary

After processing, print:

No Cap — {date}
Processed: {X} bookmarks
Signals: {Y} | Action items: {Z} | Learning: {W}
Noise filtered: {N}
Saved to: {signalDir}/{date}/session-{N}.md
Master updated: {signalDir}/MASTER.md
{Email sent to: address | Email digest saved to: path}

Status (/no-cap status)

cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts status

Show the output to the user.

Update Cookies (/no-cap update-cookies)

When the user's X cookies expire (usually every ~30 days), they'll see an auth error. Instead of re-running full setup:

1. Guide them to get fresh cookies: open X in browser → Dev Tools (F12) → Application → Cookies → x.com → copy auth_token and ct0
2. Run the update command:

cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts update-cookies <auth_token> <ct0>

3. The command updates the config and runs a test fetch to verify.

This preserves all other settings (output dir, interests, email config).

Troubleshooting

"Not logged into X" or "Missing auth_token"

• Run: cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts auto-login
• macOS will prompt for Keychain access — click Allow
• If auto-login fails, manually copy cookies from Chrome DevTools and run update-cookies

"X API returned 400" or "X authentication failed"

• The CLI auto-retries with fresh query IDs on 400/404 errors
• If it still fails, run: cd {repoPath} && npx tsx src/cli.ts discover
• If discover doesn't help, cookies may be expired — run /no-cap update-cookies

"No new bookmarks" when you know you have new ones

• The high-water mark may be set to a bookmark you deleted
• Fix: delete {signalDir}/state.json to reset, then run /no-cap again

Principles

• Assume noise until proven signal. Most bookmarked content is still mostly noise.
• Strong opinions from practitioners are signal. An indie dev with real experience sharing a genuine opinion — even a hot take — is not noise. Marketing is noise.
• Not everything is a signal — some things are action items. "Take this exam", "try this tool", "attend this event" are not signals to extract — they're things to DO. Classify them as action items with clear next steps.
• Extract the mechanism, not the story. Strip narrative, isolate what's actually useful.
• Use configured interests as lenses, not filters. The user's topics and projects guide categorization, but don't filter out things that don't match — unexpected signals are often the most valuable.
• Route, don't hoard. Every signal should end up somewhere useful — a project, an action item, or a learning resource.