FAQ

What does nicheclock cost? The software is free under AGPL-3.0. You pay for your own server, if you use one, and for tokens if you bring a paid model. Without a model it needs no account and no key.

Does it send my data anywhere? It sends requests to the sources you enable, with your User-Agent and contact email. It sends nothing to us. A model provider, notification channels and Google (for Search Console) receive data only if you configure them, and Models lists exactly what goes to a model.

Do I need a model? No. The rule-based path collects, matches, clusters, scores and writes the calendar. A model adds a niche-fit score with a reason, merging of duplicate stories and angles for Search Console gaps.

Why does it ask for my contact email? Because every request names you. If your traffic bothers a site owner, they can write to you instead of blocking a whole address range. Wikimedia requires it explicitly. nicheclock refuses to fetch without it.

Why does a run take so long? One request per second per host, and ten seconds between GDELT requests. It is a polite client, not a fast one.

Why is my feed empty? Probably the relevance floor. See Troubleshooting.

Can I use it for several sites? Yes. init takes several URLs and makes one project per site, or one project with --project NAME. Reports are written per project.

What is publish_by? The date of an event minus the time it takes a new page on your site to show up in Google. That time is measured from Search Console when you connect it, otherwise default_lag_days (3).

Which languages and countries? English only for now: the interface, the reports, the bundled background corpus and the keyword extraction are English, and most sources are US-centred. regions: [US, GB, DE] reads several countries where a source can serve them (Regions); more per-country sources are planned. Translations of the interface and the docs are welcome later.

Is Google Trends allowed? nicheclock reads only the public trending RSS feed and attributes Google, as its terms page asks. It never calls the internal explore endpoints.

Can I add my own sources? Your own RSS, Atom and ICS feeds, yes (rss:, watch:, ics:). New built-in sources are modules with a terms link; see Contributing.

Is it safe to put the report on the internet? The report server has no login. Put it behind a reverse proxy with authentication, or keep it on localhost. See Docker.

Can Claude or ChatGPT use it? Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP clients can, through MCP. You can also use your Claude Code or Codex sign-in as the model, subject to your plan's terms (Models).

What is the license? AGPL-3.0-or-later. If you run a modified version as a network service, you must offer its source to the users of that service. Using it for your own sites has no such obligation.

How do I report a bug or a security problem? Open an issue with nicheclock doctor output. For a security problem, write privately to the maintainer listed on the repository instead of opening a public issue.