Skip to main content
Use this guide when you want to discuss one Paperzilla project in Telegram and receive a weekday research brief there. This walkthrough uses OpenClaw for chat and scheduling, Telegram as the delivery surface, and the Paperzilla CLI (pz) as the Paperzilla data transport.

​
Before you start

  • Complete the CLI guide and OpenClaw guide.
  • Make sure pz project list works in the same environment where OpenClaw runs.
  • Make sure your Telegram channel is working in OpenClaw. See Telegram in OpenClaw.
  • Pick one Paperzilla project for this workflow.
  • Prepare one short sentence for “our work” if the agent does not already know it. Example: Our work is evaluation infrastructure for coding agents.

​
How this stack works

  • You ask for papers in Telegram.
  • OpenClaw reads your Paperzilla data through pz.
  • For the weekday brief, OpenClaw runs a cron job and sends the result back to Telegram.
  • Paperzilla still owns the project, feed, and relevance ranking. OpenClaw is the chat and delivery layer on top.

​
Use case 1: on-demand paper discussion

Start in a Telegram DM or group where your OpenClaw agent is already active. First ask for the latest papers from one project: 
Use my Paperzilla project `Agents evaluation`.
Our work: we build evaluation infrastructure for coding agents.

Pull the latest papers from this project and show the top 5.
For each one, include the title, date, source, and whether it looks Must Read or Related.
Then ask for metadata for one paper: 
Open the second paper and show the metadata only.
Include authors, publication date, source, URL, and the Paperzilla ID you used.
Then fetch markdown and connect it back to your team context: 
Fetch the markdown for that paper.
Summarize the contribution, method, results, and limits.
Then explain why it matters for our work.
Then keep the discussion going in the same Telegram chat: 
Given our current work, should we read this now, keep it as Related, or ignore it this week?
Defend the recommendation.
Good replies for this flow should:
  • keep the project name and “our work” context in view
  • separate metadata from interpretation
  • explain relevance in terms of your actual work, not generic importance
  • keep the paper discussion going instead of stopping at one summary
If markdown is still being prepared, ask again after a short wait.

​
Use case 2: weekday research brief in Telegram

This pattern sends one brief to Telegram every weekday. Use an OpenClaw cron job for the schedule and Telegram for delivery. OpenClaw’s cron docs use standard cron syntax, so 1-5 in the day-of-week field means weekdays. 
openclaw cron add \
  --name "Paperzilla weekday brief" \
  --cron "30 8 * * 1-5" \
  --tz "Europe/Athens" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Use my Paperzilla project <project-name>. Our work: <one-sentence team context>. Pull the newest papers from the feed. Return a Telegram-ready brief with: project name and date; newest papers checked; for each selected paper, one short summary and one sentence on why it is relevant to our work; if there are no new papers, say that explicitly. Keep it concise." \
  --announce \
  --channel telegram \
  --to "<telegram target>"
Replace these placeholders before you run it:
  • <project-name> with the Paperzilla project name you want to follow
  • <one-sentence team context> with your short “our work” description
  • Europe/Athens with your own timezone
  • <telegram target> with the Telegram target format you use in OpenClaw
The expected brief format is:
  • project name and date
  • how many new papers were checked
  • for each selected paper, one short summary and one sentence on why it is relevant to your work
  • a clear “no new papers today” line when nothing new qualifies
See OpenClaw cron jobs and OpenClaw message delivery for channel and target details.

​
Limits and troubleshooting

  • If pz does not work in OpenClaw, fix the CLI setup first with CLI guide and OpenClaw guide.
  • If the agent returns no papers, confirm the project is active and already has feed items.
  • If markdown is not ready yet, retry after a short wait instead of changing the prompt.
  • If the cron job does not fire, check that the OpenClaw Gateway is running continuously and that your timezone is correct.

​
Optional shortcut

If you want this workflow packaged as a reusable skill, see the paperzilla-monitor skill repo. Current install and distribution details live in that repo’s README.