Work out the questions worth asking, then answer them

Give it a subject rather than a question, and every week the AI works out the handful of questions whose answers would actually change what you do about it. Each question is searched on the web, the first secure page found is read, and the AI answers from the text of that one page and nothing else.

You end up with a 'Questions and answers' tab that fills up a few questions at a time, one row per question: the date asked, the subject, the question, the answer, the page it came from and what happened. A question the page does not answer is left with an empty answer cell and a note saying so, never filled in from what the AI happens to know, and a question no page could be found for is recorded the same way. Questions already on the tab are skipped, so nothing is asked twice.

Before the first run you need a spreadsheet with a tab named 'Questions and answers' and a heading row in that column order; a missing tab is treated as empty and reported.

Run every 7 days.Run every 7 days.

Set sheetUrl to blank.Set sheetUrl to blank.

Set subject to blank.Set subject to blank.

Set answersTab to Questions and answers.Set answersTab to Questions and answers.

Set maxQuestions to 6.Set maxQuestions to 6.

Get today's date and save it as askedOn.Get today's date and save it as askedOn.

Start an empty list and save it as alreadyAsked.Start an empty list and save it as alreadyAsked.

If a step below fails, save the error as answersTabErrorIf a step below fails, save the error as answersTabError

Try

Google SheetsRead the rows of sheetUrl. Save it as done.Read the rows of sheetUrl. Save it as done.

For each doneRow in done.rows:For each doneRow in done.rows:

Trim doneRow.Question and save it as doneQuestion. Trim doneRow.Question and save it as doneQuestion.

If doneQuestion isn't empty If doneQuestion isn't empty

Yes

Add doneQuestion to the end of alreadyAsked and save it as alreadyAsked.Add doneQuestion to the end of alreadyAsked and save it as alreadyAsked.

No

No steps

On error

Show in the output: Could not read the 'Questions and answers' tab, so this run treated it as empty. If that tab does not exist yet, create it..Show in the output: Could not read the 'Questions and answers' tab, so this run treated it as empty. If that tab does not exist yet, create it..

Set planPrompt to You are choosing the questions worth answering about a subject, before anyone researches it.Set planPrompt to You are choosing the questions worth answering about a subject, before anyone researches it. Write each question on its own line, ending in a question mark. No numbering, no bullets, no preamble, no commentary - only the questions themselves. Ask the questions whose answers would actually change what someone does about this subject. Prefer questions a public source could settle with facts, figures or dates over questions only an opinion could answer. Subject: subject Write at most maxQuestions questions.

ClaudeAsk Claude: planPrompt. Save it as plan.Ask Claude: planPrompt. Save it as plan. Maximum response length: 500

Trim plan.response_text and save it as planText.Trim plan.response_text and save it as planText.

If planText is emptyIf planText is empty

Yes

Stop and report a problem: No questions were proposed for this subject, so nothing was recorded. Try describing the subject more fully in the 'subject' step.Stop and report a problem: No questions were proposed for this subject, so nothing was recorded. Try describing the subject more fully in the 'subject' step.

No

No steps

Split planText by a new line and save it as questions.Split planText by a new line and save it as questions.

Set answered to 0.Set answered to 0.

For each line in questions:For each line in questions:

If answered multiplied by 1 is greater than or equal to maxQuestions multiplied…If answered multiplied by 1 is greater than or equal to maxQuestions multiplied…

Yes

Stop repeating.Stop repeating.

No

No steps

Trim line and save it as question.Trim line and save it as question.

If question doesn't end with ?If question doesn't end with ?

Yes

Skip to the next item.Skip to the next item.

No

No steps

If the length of question is less than 12If the length of question is less than 12

Yes

Skip to the next item.Skip to the next item.

No

No steps

If alreadyAsked contains questionIf alreadyAsked contains question

Yes

Skip to the next item.Skip to the next item.

No

No steps

Add question to the end of alreadyAsked and save it as alreadyAsked.Add question to the end of alreadyAsked and save it as alreadyAsked.

Add 1 to answered.Add 1 to answered.

If a step below fails, save the error as questionErrorIf a step below fails, save the error as questionError

Try

SerperSearch Google for '@subject question'. Save it as found.Search Google for '@subject question'. Save it as found.

Set pageUrl to blank.Set pageUrl to blank.

For each result in found.results:For each result in found.results:

If pageUrl is empty If pageUrl is empty

Yes

Trim result.link and save it as link.Trim result.link and save it as link.

If link in lowercase starts with https://If link in lowercase starts with https://

Yes

Change pageUrl to link.Change pageUrl to link.

No

No steps

No

No steps

If pageUrl is emptyIf pageUrl is empty

Yes

Google SheetsAdd a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.Add a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.

No

Jina AIRead the page at pageUrl with Jina. Save it as page.Read the page at pageUrl with Jina. Save it as page.

Trim page.content and save it as pageText.Trim page.content and save it as pageText.

If the length of pageText is less than 200If the length of pageText is less than 200

Yes

Google SheetsAdd a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.Add a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.

No

Set pageSection to PAGE TEXT - this is the only material you may use:Set pageSection to PAGE TEXT - this is the only material you may use: pageText truncated to 12000 characters.

Set askSection to Question: question.Set askSection to Question: question.

Set prompt to You are answering one question using a single web page and nothing else.Set prompt to You are answering one question using a single web page and nothing else. Rules you must follow: - Answer only from the page text below. Do not use anything you already know about the subject, and do not fill a gap from memory. - If the page does not answer the question, reply with exactly NOT ANSWERED FROM THIS PAGE and nothing else. That is a correct answer; a plausible one from memory is not. - Otherwise answer in a few plain sentences, keeping any figures, names and dates exactly as the page gives them. askSection pageSection.

ClaudeAsk Claude: prompt. Save it as reply.Ask Claude: prompt. Save it as reply. Maximum response length: 600

Trim reply.response_text and save it as answer.Trim reply.response_text and save it as answer.

If answer is empty or answer contains NOT ANSWERED FROM THIS PAGE (ignoring…If answer is empty or answer contains NOT ANSWERED FROM THIS PAGE (ignoring…

Yes

Google SheetsAdd a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.Add a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.

No

Google SheetsAdd a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.Add a row to answersTab in sheetUrl.

On error

Show in the output: Nothing was recorded for the question question this time; it will be tried again on the next run.Show in the output: Nothing was recorded for the question question this time; it will be tried again on the next run.