---
title: "Autonomous Newsroom (Grok)"
description: "xAI Grok-powered article generation — web research, cited Markdown drafts, OG images, TTS, Telegram approval, and locale fan-out"
locale: "en"
---
# Autonomous Newsroom (xAI Grok)

One-message **autonomous newsroom**: Grok researches the web (`web_search` + `x_search`), writes a cited **Markdown** article (no raw HTML), picks category and tags, generates a featured image (`ImageConductor`), optional narration (`AudioConductor`), and saves a **draft** for one-tap Telegram approval. On approval, linked translations spawn for other supported locales (`en`, `uk`, `ru`). Bodies land in the same news CMS as [News module](/docs/features/news.md) (`contentFormat: markdown`).

## Architecture

```text
Telegram / MCP / Admin UI
  → generateNewsArticle()  (features/news/services/article-generator.ts)
    → TextConductor (Grok /v1/responses + web_search)
    → ImageConductor (featured 16:9)
    → AudioConductor (TTS mp3 → ring-filebase)
    → createNewsArticleForAuthor() → db.create('news', draft)
    → Telegram approval keyboard (optional)
  → approveMainPagePublication
    → generateArticleTranslations (other locales)
```

| Layer | Path |
|-------|------|
| Text | `lib/text/` — `TextConductor`, `providers/xai.provider.ts` |
| Audio | `lib/audio/` — `AudioConductor`, Grok `/v1/tts` |
| Orchestrator | `features/news/services/article-generator.ts` |
| Translations | `features/news/services/article-translation.ts` |
| Auth-free create | `createNewsArticleForAuthor()` in `news-service.ts` |
| Approval UI | `features/news/services/news-telegram-approval.ts` |

## Surfaces (universal)

All surfaces call the same `generateNewsArticle()` service.

| Surface | Entry |
|---------|--------|
| **Telegram admin bot** | Tool `generate_news_article` — `{ source, value, instruction? }` |
| **MCP** | `ring-news-generate` → `POST /api/mcp/v1/news/generate` |
| **Admin UI** | `GenerateArticleDialog` on news list + create editor |
| **Session API** | `POST /api/news/generate` (Auth.js admin) |

### Telegram flow

1. Admin sends a URL or topic (e.g. “write article about https://…”).
2. Claude routes to `generate_news_article`.
3. Draft created with `mainPageStatus: awaiting_admin_approval`.
4. Inline keyboard: **Approve** / **Reject** / **View** / **Counter**.
5. **Approve** → `approveMainPagePublication` → publish + translation fan-out.

`entity_crud` / `entity_report` in the decision tree alias to `ring_crud` / `ring_report` in the executor.

### MCP example

```
ring-news-generate source url value https://example.com/press-release instruction "neutral tone, platform-updates angle"
```

### Admin UI

- **News manager** → **Generate with AI**
- **Create article** → **Generate with AI** → redirects to edit draft

## Request body

```json
{
  "source": "url",
  "value": "https://example.com/article",
  "instruction": "Focus on platform impact for developers",
  "locale": "en",
  "enableAudio": true,
  "enableImage": true
}
```

| Field | Required | Values |
|-------|----------|--------|
| `source` | Yes | `url` \| `search` \| `text` |
| `value` | Yes | URL, search query, or raw source text |
| `instruction` | No | Editorial angle / tone |
| `locale` | No | Hint; Grok auto-detects `detectedLocale` |
| `enableAudio` | No | Default `true` (`NEWS_AUTOGEN_ENABLE_AUDIO`) |
| `enableImage` | No | Default `true` |

**Response (201):**

```json
{
  "success": true,
  "articleId": "uuid",
  "title": "…",
  "locale": "en",
  "featuredImage": "https://cdn…/generated/…",
  "audioUrl": "https://cdn…/generated/audio/…"
}
```

## Structured output schema

Grok returns JSON via `/v1/responses` + `json_schema`:

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `title` | Article headline |
| `content` | Markdown body (citations as Sources; schema forbids raw HTML tags) |
| `excerpt` | Plain text, ≤300 chars |
| `tags` | Semantic tag array |
| `category` | One of 11 `NewsCategory` values (invalid → `other`) |
| `detectedLocale` | `en`, `uk`, or `ru` |
| `summary` | One paragraph — used as image prompt |

Categories: `platform-updates`, `partnerships`, `community`, `industry-news`, `events`, `announcements`, `security`, `press-releases`, `tutorials`, `other`, `blogs`.

## Translation on approval

`generateArticleTranslations(articleId)` runs fire-and-forget after `approveMainPagePublication`:

- Loads source article and `translationGroupId`.
- For each locale in `SUPPORTED_LOCALES` except source: `TextConductor` translate (no web search).
- Creates linked sibling articles; updates `availableTranslations` on all group members.

## Environment

Reuses `XAI_API_KEY` and `XAI_API_BASE_URL` from [Generative images](/docs/development/generative-images.md).

```bash
# TextConductor (Grok /v1/responses)
TEXT_GEN_PROVIDER=xai
XAI_TEXT_MODEL=grok-4.3
XAI_TEXT_MAX_TOKENS=8000
XAI_TEXT_WEBSEARCH=true
XAI_TEXT_XSEARCH=true
TEXT_GEN_POLL_TIMEOUT_MS=180000

# AudioConductor (TTS)
TTS_PROVIDER=xai
XAI_TTS_ENABLED=true
XAI_TTS_VOICE=eve
AUDIO_STORAGE_PREFIX=generated/audio

# Article defaults
NEWS_AUTOGEN_DEFAULT_VISIBILITY=public
NEWS_AUTOGEN_ENABLE_AUDIO=true
```

Also requires [ImageConductor env](/docs/development/generative-images.md#environment) for featured images and ring-filebase for uploads.

## News article fields

| Field | Autogen value |
|-------|----------------|
| `status` | `draft` |
| `mainPageStatus` | `awaiting_admin_approval` |
| `promoteToMainPage` | `true` |
| `translationGroupId` | New UUID per generation |
| `audioUrl` | CDN URL when TTS succeeds |
| `featuredImage` / `seo.ogImage` | From ImageConductor |

## Programmatic usage

```typescript
import { generateNewsArticle } from '@/features/news/services/article-generator'

const result = await generateNewsArticle({
  source: 'search',
  value: 'Ring Platform open source release',
  author: { id: actorId, name: 'Editor' },
  enableAudio: true,
  enableImage: true,
})
```

## Verification

```bash
# MCP tool count (includes ring-news-generate)
node AI-RING/ring-mcp/ring-mcp-server.js --test
# → "tools": 57
```

Manual: Telegram URL → draft with Sources footer, category, tags, image, audio → Approve → published + `uk`/`ru` siblings share `translationGroupId`.

## Out of scope (future)

- `grok-build` code endpoint, streaming responses
- X-thread auto-posting
- Per-locale audio (source locale only today)
- Translated audio tracks

## Security

- Store `XAI_API_KEY` only in `.env.local` / k8s secrets — never commit or paste in chat.
- Rotate keys if exposed.
- Telegram bot uses PALADIN layers (webhook secret, whitelist, output validation).

---

*See also: [News module](/docs/features/news.md) · [Ring MCP](/docs/development/ring-mcp.md) · [Generative images](/docs/development/generative-images.md)*