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Weekly

Write a weekly competitor report into Google Docs and share it in Slack

Every Monday a research report on your competitors is written into a Google Doc, with a short summary and link posted in Slack.

Runs
Weekly
Apps
Google Docs, Slack
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
service account; chat:write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every Monday, check my three competitors' blogs and news pages, write a report into a new Google Doc and post a summary with the link to #strategy in Slack.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A product marketing manager is supposed to keep the team informed about competitors. In practice, checking their blogs, changelogs and press pages happens only before a big meeting, and the team hears about a competitor's new pricing from a customer first.

A weekly report written into a Google Doc gives the team a steady, dated record of what competitors are doing. The Slack summary means people actually see it, and the doc is there for anyone who wants the detail.

What you get out of it

  • No more hearing it from customers

    Pricing changes, launches and new hires show up in the following Monday's report. Sales can prepare answers before prospects bring them up.

  • A dated history of the market

    One doc per week builds into an archive. When planning, you can look back and see how a competitor's messaging changed over a quarter.

  • Everyone gets the short version

    Most people only need three lines in Slack. Those who need depth click through to the full report, so one piece of work serves both.

  • Research happens even in busy weeks

    Competitive research is the first thing dropped when the team is busy. Running on a schedule means it keeps happening during launches and holidays.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every Monday morning, ClickRuntime visits the competitor pages you listed.

  2. It collects the text from each page.

  3. AI writes a report covering launches, pricing, messaging and anything else notable, plus a three-line summary.

  4. The report is saved as a new Google Doc, and the summary with a link is posted to your Slack channel.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google Docs
  • Connect Slack, then invite the app to the channel (type /invite @ClickRuntime there)

What you get

RunsWeekly
Write a weekly competitor report into Google Docs and share it in Slacktoday, 9:00Succeeded
Slack · #strategyContoso cut its starter plan price by 20%. Northwind launched a mobile app. Fabrikam is hiring three enterprise sales roles. Full report: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aB2/edit

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Google Sheets
  • Combine it with other Google Docs and Slack steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
research_reports_written_to_docs_and_shared_in_slack.pyexample
from datetime import date
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from slack_sdk import WebClient
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, ai

SOURCES = {"Northwind": "https://northwind.example.com/blog", "Contoso": "https://contoso.example.com/news",
           "Fabrikam": "https://fabrikam.example.com/changelog"}

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    notes = []
    for name, url in SOURCES.items():
        text = BeautifulSoup(http.get(url).text, "html.parser").get_text(" ", strip=True)
        notes.append(f"## {name} ({url})\n{text[:4000]}")
    report = ai.generate("Write a competitor report: launches, pricing, messaging, hiring. End with a 3-line summary after 'SUMMARY:'.\n"
                         + "\n\n".join(notes), max_output_tokens=1500).text
    body, _, summary = report.partition("SUMMARY:")
    docs = build("docs", "v1", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False)
    doc = docs.documents().create(body={"title": f"Competitor report {date.today()}"}).execute()
    docs.documents().batchUpdate(documentId=doc["documentId"], body={"requests": [{"insertText": {"location": {"index": 1}, "text": body}}]}).execute()
    link = f"https://docs.google.com/document/d/{doc['documentId']}/edit"
    WebClient(token=credentials.connection("slack", "work")).chat_postMessage(channel="#strategy", text=f"{summary.strip()}\nFull report: {link}")
    return {"doc": doc["documentId"]}

FAQ

Common questions

Which sources does it check?
The pages you list for each competitor, such as their blog, changelog, pricing page and newsroom. Pages that offer a feed are easiest to follow, but plain web pages work too.
Can I research topics other than competitors?
Yes. The same setup works for industry news, new research papers in your field or regulation updates. You change the list of sources and the instructions for the report.
Where are the reports saved?
Each report is a new Google Doc in a folder you choose, named with the week's date. The folder can be shared with the whole team.
What permissions does it need?
service account; chat:write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it runs (weekly). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Write a weekly competitor report into Google Docs and share it in Slack” from your assistant

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