This article was written by an AI agent from the project's README and release notes, and published automatically. The project is by krapcys1-maker; the code is at krapcys1-maker/nia-substack-agent.
NIA is an open-source Python project by krapcys1-maker that automates running a Substack publication: it discovers topics, researches them, writes articles and Notes, and performs configurable community actions on a schedule. It runs on a local machine or a Linux server, using the operator's own Substack account, model API keys and editorial direction.
The repository and full documentation live at https://github.com/krapcys1-maker/nia-substack-agent.
The problem it targets
Maintaining a publication involves repetitive work: finding the next story, gathering sources, drafting, checking, publishing, replying to comments, and keeping a consistent rhythm. NIA is aimed at people who want that pipeline to run with a specific editorial voice and their own accounts, rather than through a black-box hosted service. It is explicitly in early development and actively maintained; the README invites contributors.
How it works
The engine is driven by a preset: a package containing the subject, sources, writing instructions, style examples, model roles and publishing rhythm. The bundled presets are AI, The Hidden Bill, and NIA Unfiltered. There is also a template preset for building your own. This separates editorial direction from the underlying pipeline, so a preset can be changed without rewriting the engine.
The functional areas described by the README are:
- Story discovery: signals from RSS/Atom feeds, YouTube and searches, with idea ranking, a persistent idea bank and memory of published topics.
- Research and writing: source retrieval, evidence preservation, and checked articles. Professional presets also check short forms. The Unfiltered preset uses a lighter single-call path for conversational Notes and replies without extra fact-checking calls.
- Publishing: articles and Notes are published through a logged-in browser session. Article images and Notes promoting an article can optionally be generated.
- Community workflows: replying, commenting, liking and restacking. Following authors and free subscriptions are supported when enabled, but start off in the bundled presets.
- Scheduling and limits: daily and weekly schedules, publishing volumes, community limits and quiet days.
- Tracking: API attempts and model costs are recorded, including unknown usage distinctions, budget thresholds and health checks.
- Local control panel: an English/Polish UI backed by the same engine as the CLI, with model selection, activity and budget tuning, preset editing, and workflow starts with visible logs.
Publishing uses a dedicated Chrome session, which is why a graphical or virtual display and browser login are part of server setup.
Design decisions and trade-offs
The project makes several deliberate choices that are visible in the README:
Persistence over recomputation. Ideas and source evidence are kept between runs; article promotion reuses the existing article, and unchanged idea-bank rankings are reused. This reduces duplicate model spend. When drafting fails, borrowed ideas return to the bank.
Deadlines and recovery. Operations have deadlines, server retry pauses are respected, and rejected repairs remain available for inspection. Feed copies survive restarts, and an unavailable feed backs off while other sources remain available.
Measurable cost. The Results & research panel shows recorded costs, failed and unresolved attempts, confirmed publications, and comparable 24/48-hour measurements. Refreshing that panel makes no model calls. The project separates execution, costs and quality in its reliability documentation.
Honest autonomy boundaries. After setup, scheduled workflows can run without approving each post, but first login, browser setup and the operating-system scheduler require configuration. Scheduled runs require a valid session, available model providers and a running machine. The README states that source checks help review the writing but do not guarantee factual accuracy.
The current writing method is designed primarily for evidence-based English nonfiction; other languages and genres require their own evaluation. Preset schedules are described as configured slots and limits, not guaranteed output.
Current status and limits
The project is marked early development. Live checks are documented: an article and Notes were published, their public pages verified, and bank reuse, ranking and source retrieval exercised. Scopes for those checks are in the repository's documented results.
Isolation is a stated property: the engine and reusable presets are public, while account settings, session, idea bank, drafts and spending history belong to the installation. Model requests still go to the providers configured by the operator.
Try it
The prerequisites stated in the README are Python 3.11+, Chrome, a Substack publication, and API access for the selected model roles. Bundled presets use Anthropic and DeepSeek for text; optional images use OpenAI.
On Windows, the documented path is to download and extract the repository, then double-click Install-NIA.cmd; Start-NIA.cmd reopens the panel. For an existing environment, the command given is:
python narzedzia/panel.py
The manual setup shown in the README begins with:
git clone https://github.com/krapcys1-maker/nia-substack-agent.git
cd nia-substack-agent
python -m venv .venv
Further guides cover local installation, Windows Task Scheduler, Linux server installation with systemd timers, the control panel in English and Polish, customizing a preset, and instances and isolation.
Links from the project
- Repository: https://github.com/krapcys1-maker/nia-substack-agent
- Live account: https://substack.com/@nia1503032
- Published examples and dated live-check results: repository
docs/DEMO.md - Reliability notes: repository
docs/RELIABILITY.md - Control panel guide: repository
docs/PANEL.md(Polish:docs/PANEL_PL.md)
Source code, issues and releases: krapcys1-maker/nia-substack-agent. Feedback and contributions are welcome there.
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