Los Angeles Chargers Bot ⚡

A Twitter bot that automatically tweets out Los Angeles Chargers news from various RSS feeds.

Features

• 📰 Fetches news from multiple RSS sources (ESPN, NFL.com, The Athletic)
• 🤖 Automatically posts new Chargers-related articles to Twitter
• 🚫 Prevents duplicate posts by tracking previously posted articles
• ⏰ Runs on a schedule (configurable interval)
• 🔍 Filters articles by Chargers-related keywords
• 🤖 AI-Powered Threads: Generates detailed tweet threads about past heartbreaking Chargers losses using AI (Groq, Gemini, or OpenAI)

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Twitter Developer Account with API access
• Internet connection
• AI Provider API Key (for AI-powered threads): Groq (free), Google Gemini (free), or OpenAI (paid)

Setup Instructions

1. Get Twitter API Credentials

1. Go to Twitter Developer Portal
2. Create a new app or use an existing one
3. Navigate to "Keys and Tokens"
4. Generate the following credentials:
   • API Key and API Secret
   • Access Token and Access Token Secret
   • Bearer Token

2. Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure Environment Variables

1. Copy the example environment file:

   cp env.example .env

2. Edit .env and add your Twitter API credentials:

   TWITTER_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
   TWITTER_API_SECRET=your_api_secret_here
   TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token_here
   TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret_here
   TWITTER_BEARER_TOKEN=your_bearer_token_here
   

3. (Optional) Add AI Provider credentials for AI-powered threads:

   # For Groq (FREE - Recommended)
   AI_PROVIDER=groq
   GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key_here
   
   # OR for Google Gemini (FREE)
   AI_PROVIDER=gemini
   GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key_here
   
   # OR for OpenAI (Paid)
   AI_PROVIDER=openai
   OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key_here
   

   See FREE_AI_SETUP.md for detailed setup instructions.

4. Verify Configuration

python -c "from config import validate_config; validate_config(); print('Config valid!')"

Usage

Run Once

To fetch news and post once:

python bot.py

Dry Run (Preview Tweet)

To see what the bot would tweet without actually posting:

python bot.py --dry-run

Or use the dry run script:

python dry_run.py

This will:

• Find the most recent Chargers article from all sources
• Draft the tweet and display it
• Show article details (title, source, link, publish date)
• Display the full tweet text and character count
• Does NOT post to Twitter - perfect for testing!

Test Tweet (Actually Posts)

To test the bot by tweeting the most recent Chargers article (regardless of age or if already posted):

python bot.py --test

Or use the test script:

python test_tweet.py

This will:

• Find the most recent Chargers article from all sources
• Tweet it immediately (bypasses age and duplicate checks)
• Does NOT save it to the posted articles list (won't interfere with normal bot operation)

AI-Powered Heartbreaking Loss Thread

Generate and post a detailed tweet thread about a past heartbreaking Chargers loss using AI:

Preview (Dry Run):

python bot.py --heartbreak-dry-run

Post Live:

python bot.py --heartbreak

This feature:

• Uses AI to generate an 8-12 tweet thread telling the complete story of a game
• Includes context: teams, location, date, and what the game meant
• Fact-checks using Pro-Football-Reference.com for accuracy
• Tells the full story with key moments, scores, and turning points
• Posts as a proper Twitter thread (linked tweets)

Requirements:

• AI provider API key (Groq, Gemini, or OpenAI)
• See FREE_AI_SETUP.md for setup instructions

Schedule with GitHub Actions:

• Can be scheduled to run automatically (e.g., weekly)
• See GITHUB_ACTIONS_SETUP.md for setup

Run on Schedule

To run the bot continuously and check for news at regular intervals:

python scheduler.py

By default, it checks every 6 hours. You can change this in your .env file by setting CHECK_INTERVAL_HOURS.

Run in Background (Linux/Mac)

To run the scheduler in the background:

nohup python scheduler.py > bot.log 2>&1 &

Or use a process manager like systemd or supervisord for production.

How It Works

1. News Fetching: The bot checks RSS feeds from configured news sources
2. Filtering: Only articles containing Chargers-related keywords are kept
3. Duplicate Prevention: Article URLs are tracked in posted_articles.txt to avoid reposting
4. Tweet Formatting: Articles are formatted into tweets (max 280 characters) with title and link
5. Posting: New articles are posted to Twitter with rate limiting protection

Configuration

News Sources

Edit config.py to add or modify news sources. Each source should have:

• name: Display name
• url: RSS feed URL
• keywords: List of keywords to filter Chargers-related articles

Bot Settings

Edit .env to configure:

• CHECK_INTERVAL_HOURS: How often to check for news (default: 6)
• DEBUG: Enable debug logging (default: False)

AI Provider Settings

Edit .env to configure AI provider:

• AI_PROVIDER: Choose groq (default, free), gemini (free), or openai (paid)
• GROQ_API_KEY: Your Groq API key (if using Groq)
• GROQ_MODEL: Model to use (default: groq/compound)
• GEMINI_API_KEY: Your Gemini API key (if using Gemini)
• GEMINI_MODEL: Model to use (default: gemini-pro)
• OPENAI_API_KEY: Your OpenAI API key (if using OpenAI)
• OPENAI_MODEL: Model to use (default: gpt-3.5-turbo)

See FREE_AI_SETUP.md for detailed AI provider setup.

File Structure

chargers-bot/
├── bot.py                    # Main bot logic (includes AI thread generation)
├── scheduler.py              # Scheduler for periodic runs
├── dry_run.py                # Dry run script to draft tweets without posting
├── test_tweet.py             # Test script to tweet most recent article
├── test_bot.py               # Test script to preview what would be posted
├── config.py                 # Configuration settings
├── requirements.txt          # Python dependencies
├── env.example               # Example environment variables
├── .env                      # Your actual credentials (not in git)
├── .gitignore                # Git ignore rules
├── posted_articles.txt       # Track posted articles (auto-generated)
├── FREE_AI_SETUP.md          # AI provider setup guide
├── GITHUB_ACTIONS_SETUP.md   # GitHub Actions deployment guide
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── heartbreak-thread.yml  # GitHub Actions workflow for scheduled threads
└── README.md                 # This file

Troubleshooting

Twitter API Errors

• 401 Unauthorized: Check your API credentials in .env
• 403 Forbidden: Your app may not have write permissions. Check Twitter Developer Portal settings
• Rate Limits: The bot automatically handles rate limits with wait_on_rate_limit=True

RSS Feed Issues

• Some RSS feeds may require authentication or have rate limits
• Check feed URLs in config.py are still valid
• Enable DEBUG=True in .env to see detailed logs

Duplicate Posts

• The bot tracks posted articles in posted_articles.txt
• If you want to reset, delete this file (but you'll risk reposting old articles)

AI Provider Issues

• Model not found: Check that your API key is valid and you have access to the model
• Request too large: The prompt may be too long. Try a different model or reduce prompt size
• Inaccurate facts: The AI uses web search to fact-check, but may still have errors. Consider reviewing before posting
• API errors: Verify your API key is correct and has sufficient credits/quota
• See FREE_AI_SETUP.md for troubleshooting specific providers

Deployment

Want to deploy this bot for free? Check out GitHub Actions - it's completely free and perfect for this bot!

• 🎯 GitHub Actions (Recommended) - Completely free, runs on schedule
• 🚂 Railway - Free $5/month credit
• 🐍 PythonAnywhere - Free tier available
• ☁️ Render/Fly.io - Other free options

The easiest way is GitHub Actions - just push to GitHub and add your secrets!

Next Steps

• Set up AI provider for heartbreaking loss threads (see FREE_AI_SETUP.md)
• Deploy to GitHub Actions for scheduled threads (see GITHUB_ACTIONS_SETUP.md)
• Add more news sources
• Implement better article filtering
• Add retry logic for failed posts
• Set up monitoring/alerting

License

This project is open source and available for personal use.

Disclaimer

Make sure to comply with Twitter's API Terms of Service and rate limits. Use responsibly!