Research-Digest/SETUP_GUIDE.md

📱 Syncthing + Daily arXiv Digest Setup Guide

🎯 What This Does

• Automatically runs your arXiv digest every morning at 7 AM
• Archives each day's report in arxiv_archive/
• Creates latest.html for quick access
• Generates index.html to browse all past reports
• Syncs everything to your phone via Syncthing

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⚙️ Step 1: Set Up Windows Task Scheduler

Option A: Quick Setup (Copy-Paste This)

1. Press Win + R, type taskschd.msc, press Enter
2. Click "Create Basic Task" in the right panel
3. Fill in:
   • Name: Research Digest Daily
   • Description: Fetches daily research papers and syncs to phone
4. Trigger: Select "Daily"
   • Start date: Today
   • Start time: 7:00 AM
   • Recur every: 1 days
5. Action: Select "Start a program"
   • Program/script: Browse to your run_digest.bat file
   • Start in: The folder containing the project (e.g., C:\Users\YourName\research-digest)
6. Check "Open the Properties dialog" at the end
7. In Properties:
   • Go to Conditions tab
   • ✅ Check "Start only if the following network connection is available" → Select "Any connection"
   • ❌ Uncheck "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power"
8. Click OK

Option B: Advanced Settings

If you want to run it at startup instead:

• Change Trigger to "At log on"
• Add a 2-minute delay: In Properties → Triggers → Edit → Delay task for: 2 minutes

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📂 Step 2: Set Up Syncthing

On Your PC:

1. Open Syncthing web UI (usually http://localhost:8384)
2. Click "Add Folder"
   • Folder Path: Your project directory (e.g., C:\Users\YourName\research-digest)
   • Folder Label: Research Digest
   • Folder ID: research-digest (auto-generated)
3. Go to "Sharing" tab
4. Click "Add Device" and enter your phone's Device ID

On Your Phone:

1. Install Syncthing from Play Store / App Store
2. Open app → Add Device → Scan QR code from PC
3. Accept the folder share request (Research Digest)
4. Set sync folder location (e.g., /storage/emulated/0/ResearchDigest/)

What Gets Synced:

research-digest/
├── latest.html          ← Most recent digest (quick access)
├── index.html           ← Browse all reports
├── tiktok_feed.html     ← Mobile-optimized feed
└── arxiv_archive/
    ├── arxiv_digest_20251101.html
    ├── arxiv_digest_20251102.html
    └── ... (daily backups)

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📱 Step 3: View on Your Phone

Method 1: Direct File Access

1. Open your phone's file manager
2. Navigate to the Syncthing folder (e.g., ResearchDigest/)
3. Open latest.html with any browser for desktop view
4. Open tiktok_feed.html for mobile-optimized scrolling
5. Open index.html to browse past reports

Method 2: Use a Local HTML Viewer App

Install "HTML Viewer" or "WebView Tester" from the app store:

• Point it to your Syncthing folder
• Bookmark latest.html for instant access

Method 3: Create a Home Screen Shortcut (Android)

1. Open tiktok_feed.html in Chrome (for mobile view)
2. Menu → "Add to Home screen"
3. Name it "Research Digest"
4. Now you have one-tap access!

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🧪 Testing Your Setup

Test the Batch Script:

# Double-click run_digest.bat or run in Command Prompt:
cd path\to\research-digest
run_digest.bat

Expected output:

Running arXiv digest...
🔍 Fetching papers for: Efficient ML / Edge AI
   → Found 5 papers
...
✨ HTML digest saved to arxiv_archive\arxiv_digest_20251101.html
📄 Latest digest saved to latest.html

Generating index page...
📑 Index page generated with 1 reports
Done! All files updated.

Test Syncthing Sync:

1. Create/edit any file in your project directory
2. Check your phone's Syncthing folder
3. File should appear within seconds

Test Task Scheduler:

1. Open Task Scheduler
2. Find "Research Digest Daily"
3. Right-click → "Run"
4. Watch it execute

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🎨 Customization Ideas

Change Run Time:

Edit the Task Scheduler trigger to your preferred time (e.g., 6 AM, 9 PM)

Change Number of Papers:

Edit main.py line 21:

PAPERS_PER_INTEREST = 10  # Fetch 10 instead of 5

Add More Interest Areas:

Edit main.py lines 13-19 and add more queries:

INTERESTS = {
    "Your Topic": 'abs:"your keywords" OR ti:"your topic"',
    # ... existing topics
}

Sync Only HTML Files (Save Space):

In Syncthing → Folder → Ignore Patterns, add:

!/arxiv_archive/*.html
!/latest.html
!/index.html
*

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🔧 Troubleshooting

Task Scheduler doesn't run:

• Check Windows Event Viewer: Win + X → Event Viewer → Task Scheduler logs
• Ensure "Run whether user is logged on or not" is selected
• Make sure network connection is available

Syncthing not syncing:

• Check both devices are connected to the same network (or internet)
• Verify Device IDs match
• Check folder status in Syncthing UI (should say "Up to Date")

Python script fails:

• Test manually: Navigate to project folder, run venv\Scripts\activate (Windows) or source venv/bin/activate (Linux/macOS), then python main.py
• Check arXiv API rate limits (3-second delays are built in)
• Ensure internet connection is active

Old reports taking up space:

Create a cleanup script to delete reports older than 30 days:

# cleanup_old.py
import os, glob, time
for f in glob.glob("arxiv_archive/*.html"):
    if os.path.getmtime(f) < time.time() - 30*86400:
        os.remove(f)

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🎉 You're All Set!

Every morning at 7 AM:

1. ✅ Script fetches latest papers
2. ✅ Generates beautiful HTML report
3. ✅ Archives it with date
4. ✅ Updates index page
5. ✅ Syncs to your phone
6. ✅ Read cutting-edge research over coffee!

Enjoy your automated research digest! 🚀