Build a Personal Intelligence Network with OpenClaw — Monitor Any Website for Changes

Last week, a developer built a complete server monitoring tool with AI in 24 hours and hit the front page of Hacker News. The message was clear: people want lightweight monitoring that just works, without enterprise complexity or vendor lock-in.

Meanwhile, the creator of Selenium just launched Vibium, a new browser automation tool that scored 443 points and 124 comments. Browser automation is having a moment — and for good reason. The web is still where most valuable information lives, but keeping track of changes across dozens of sites is manual, tedious work.

Today, I'm sharing a free OpenClaw skill that turns this problem into a solved one.

The Problem: Information Asymmetry

If you're a founder, investor, or operator, you need to know:

• When competitors change pricing
• When target companies post new jobs
• When products you depend on release updates
• When industry regulations shift

The traditional approach? Bookmark 47 pages and check them manually. Or pay for expensive monitoring tools that are overkill for simple "tell me when this changes" needs.

There's a better way.

The Skill: Site Watch

👉 Download free: github.com/thenatechambers/openclaw-skills-repo/tree/main/skills/site-watch

Site Watch is your personal intelligence network. It monitors any website for changes and alerts you instantly via Slack, Discord, or email. Track competitors, watch job boards, monitor documentation, or keep tabs on any content that matters.

Here's what a typical alert looks like:

🔍 Site Watch Alert: Competitor Pricing

URL: https://competitor.com/pricing
Detected: 2026-03-02 14:32 UTC

📊 CHANGES DETECTED:

--- Previous (2026-03-01 20:32 UTC)
+++ Current (2026-03-02 14:32 UTC)

- $49/month
+ $59/month

📝 CONTEXT:
Selector: .pricing-card .price
Text changed by: +$10.00 (20% increase)

No noise. No fluff. Just the signal.

How to Use It

1. Install the Skill

cd ~/.openclaw/skills
git clone https://github.com/thenatechambers/openclaw-skills-repo.git cortex-skills
cp -r cortex-skills/skills/site-watch ./site-watch

2. Configure Your Watches

Copy the example config and define what to monitor:

cp site-watch/config.example.json site-watch/config.json

Example configuration:

{
  "watches": [
    {
      "name": "Competitor Pricing",
      "url": "https://competitor.com/pricing",
      "selector": ".pricing-card .price",
      "schedule": "0 */6 * * *",
      "alert_channels": ["slack"]
    },
    {
      "name": "YC Jobs - Engineering",
      "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs",
      "selector": ".job-listing",
      "schedule": "0 9 * * *",
      "alert_channels": ["email", "slack"]
    }
  ]
}

3. Find Your CSS Selectors

The skill needs to know which part of the page to watch. Use your browser's DevTools:

1. Right-click the element you want to monitor
2. Select "Inspect"
3. Right-click the highlighted HTML
4. Copy → Copy selector

Or use the built-in helper:

cortex skill site-watch --selector-helper https://example.com/page

4. Schedule It

Add to your OpenClaw crontab:

# Check all watches every hour
0 * * * * cortex skill site-watch --run

Or run manually for testing:

cortex skill site-watch --watch "Competitor Pricing"

The Recommendation

Use CSS selectors for surgical precision, not page scraping.

The most common mistake in website monitoring is watching entire pages. Pages change constantly — timestamps load, ads rotate, user-specific content appears. You get false positives and start ignoring alerts.

The Site Watch skill works because it uses CSS selectors to target specific elements. Instead of watching the whole pricing page, you watch just the price element. Instead of watching the entire jobs board, you watch just the job listings container.

This approach gives you:

1. Zero false positives — Only alerts when your target element changes
2. Clean diffs — Shows exactly what changed, not the entire page
3. Respectful scraping — Makes fewer requests, respects rate limits
4. Faster checks — Extracting one element is faster than parsing entire DOMs

Selector Examples

| What you're tracking | Selector | |---------------------|----------| | Price | .pricing-tier.pro .price | | Job count | .jobs-list .job-posting | | Latest changelog | .changelog-entry:first-child h2 | | Stock status | .product-details .availability | | Blog post titles | .blog-list article h2 |

Real-World Use Cases

Competitive Intelligence

Monitor competitor pricing and positioning:

{
  "name": "Acme Corp Pricing",
  "url": "https://acme.com/pricing",
  "selector": ".pricing-tier.pro .price",
  "schedule": "0 9,17 * * *"
}

When they change prices, you know immediately. When they update messaging, you see it.

Job Market Intelligence

Track specific companies or roles:

{
  "name": "YC Engineering Jobs",
  "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs/engineer",
  "selector": ".job",
  "schedule": "0 9 * * 1-5",
  "condition": { "type": "count_change" }
}

Get alerted when new positions open. Spot hiring patterns that signal growth or pivots.

Product Updates

Never miss a changelog:

{
  "name": "OpenClaw Releases",
  "url": "https://openclaw.ai/changelog",
  "selector": ".changelog-entry:first-child",
  "schedule": "0 10 * * *"
}

Stay current on tools you depend on. Be the first to know about new features or breaking changes.

Deal Hunting

Track price drops:

{
  "name": "Product Price Drop",
  "url": "https://store.com/product",
  "selector": ".current-price",
  "condition": { "type": "price_drop", "threshold": 10 },
  "schedule": "0 */4 * * *"
}

Only get alerted when prices drop by 10% or more.

Why This Matters for Cortex Users

This skill exemplifies the Cortex philosophy: proactive automation that runs without constant attention.

Most people use AI reactively — they open ChatGPT when they need something. But the real power is in ambient intelligence — systems that watch, learn, and alert you to what matters without being asked.

Site Watch demonstrates:

• Cron-based automation — Runs on your schedule, reliably
• Structured data extraction — Precise targeting with CSS selectors
• Multi-channel delivery — Alerts where you already work
• Change detection — Intelligence, not just notifications

That's the difference between an AI tool and an AI agent. Tools respond to prompts. Agents work continuously on your behalf.

Advanced Tips

Avoid False Positives

Use ignore_selectors to exclude dynamic content:

{
  "selector": ".content",
  "ignore_selectors": [".timestamp", ".ad-banner", ".user-specific"]
}

Conditional Alerts

Only alert on meaningful changes:

{
  "condition": {
    "type": "contains",
    "text": "hiring"
  }
}

Backup Your Configuration

cortex skill site-watch --export > site-watch-backup.json

Your watches are valuable intelligence — back them up.

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Want to deploy your own AI agent that runs skills like this automatically? Sign up for Cortex →

Questions about Site Watch? Open an issue on the GitHub repo or reach out — we use this skill internally and actively maintain it.