Blog Notifier

Emails you when either configured blog publishes a new essay.

How it works

  1. A cron run fetches each configured blog homepage and parses its configured section heading (for example Essays or Blog).
  2. It stores each latest essay ID in Val Town Blob Storage:
    • steve_krouse_latest_essay_v1
    • russel_power_latest_essay_v1
  3. It only sends an email when a blog's top essay changes.

Behavior notes

  • First run initializes state for each blog and does not send an email.
  • Subsequent runs send one email per newly detected essay per blog.
  • This val is cron-only (no manual HTTP trigger).
  • Optional env vars for separate recipients:
    • STEVE_KROUSE_NOTIFY_EMAIL
    • RUSSEL_POWER_NOTIFY_EMAIL
  • If a blog-specific recipient var is not set, Val Town emails the val owner by default.
  • Val Town free-tier note: custom to / cc / bcc recipients are not allowed. On free tier, emails are sent to the val owner address (the code falls back automatically).

Test mode (optional)

  • SEED_SECOND_LATEST_ONCE=true: one-time test helper. On the first run, it stores each blog's second-latest post in blob and exits. On the next run, latest posts should trigger notifications.
  • After testing, set this var to false or unset it.