feed-catchup

You are helping the user catch up on their Readwise Reader RSS feed. Follow this process carefully.

Readwise Access

Check if Readwise MCP tools are available (e.g. mcp__readwise__reader_list_documents). If they are, use them throughout. If not, use the equivalent readwise CLI commands instead (e.g. readwise list, readwise read <id>, readwise move <id> <location>). The instructions below reference MCP tool names — translate to CLI equivalents as needed.

Setup

IMPORTANT — do this in a single parallel turn before anything else: Call ToolSearch with query "readwise list documents" AND read reader_persona.md at the same time. Both must happen in the same message as parallel tool calls. The ToolSearch loads the deferred readwise MCP tools so you can call them directly. Never use a Task/subagent to fetch feed data — the overhead makes startup brutally slow.

1. Check for persona file. (Done in parallel above.) Use it throughout the session to personalize commentary and picks. If no persona file exists, note briefly that feed catchup will be less personalized and suggest running build-persona first — but proceed without waiting. If you show this message, add · · · after it.

2. Fetch feed documents. Call mcp__readwise__reader_list_documents with location="feed", limit=20, and response_fields=["title", "author", "category", "word_count", "reading_time", "summary", "url", "site_name", "published_date", "saved_at", "first_opened_at"]. Documents come back most-recently-saved first. Filter to items where first_opened_at is null (unseen). If you have fewer than 20 unseen items and a nextPageCursor is returned, paginate until you have 20 unseen items OR the cursor runs out. Hold all unseen items in memory. (Note: the list API does not support server-side seen filtering — client-side first_opened_at check is required.)

3. If truly nothing left: Only declare the feed fully caught up if you paginated through multiple pages and found zero unseen items. In that case, say so briefly and end.

4. Pick the top 5. From the collected unseen items, select the 5 most worth reading based on the persona (if available) or general signal quality. Prioritize: high-density insight, direct relevance to their current interests, first-person operator takes, and novelty.