🗞️ Incrux | News-Flash

Automated daily news digests with AI. Fetch, summarize, and deliver in under 60 seconds.

🎯 Overview

Incrux bundles a CLI pipeline and a Flask web app to turn raw news into concise, actionable digests. It can run headless on a schedule or serve multiple users with per-topic dashboards backed by SQLite.

Pipeline steps:

1. Fetch the latest articles for a topic from NewsAPI
2. Summarize to exactly 3 crisp bullets via OpenAI GPT or Google Gemini (with local fallback)
3. Email an HTML digest with links (optional)

✨ Key Features

• Real-time NewsAPI fetching with topic + max-article control
• Dual AI providers (OpenAI or Gemini) with graceful local fallback
• Multi-user Flask web UI with sign-up/login and per-user topics
• HTML email digests plus plaintext, SMTP via Gmail
• CLI pipeline with switches for topic, recipient, max articles, and email toggle
• Scheduling-friendly (Task Scheduler/Cron); all secrets pulled from .env

🛠️ Tech Stack

Component	Technology
News source	NewsAPI
AI engine	OpenAI Chat Completions or Google Gemini
Web	Flask, Flask-Login, SQLAlchemy
Database	SQLite
Email	Gmail SMTP (TLS)
Language	Python 3.10+

📋 Project Structure

incrux/
├── main.py             # CLI entry: fetch → summarize → email
├── fetch_news.py       # NewsAPI integration
├── summarize.py        # AI summarization + fallback
├── emailer.py          # HTML/plaintext email sending
├── config.py           # Env-driven configuration and validation
├── requirements.txt
├── webapp/
│   ├── app.py          # Flask app (auth, topics, dashboards)
│   ├── migrate_db.py   # DB migration helper
│   ├── send_scheduled_emails.py
│   └── templates/      # UI templates (dashboard, login, news, etc.)
└── README.md

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ and git
• API keys: NewsAPI, plus OpenAI or Gemini
• Gmail account with an App Password for SMTP

1) Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/Lavu1807/Incrux.git
cd Incrux
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate        # PowerShell
pip install -r requirements.txt

2) Configure .env

Create .env in the repo root:

# NewsAPI
NEWS_API_KEY=your_newsapi_key

# AI provider (OPENAI or GEMINI)
AI_PROVIDER=OPENAI
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_key
OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-3.5-turbo
# GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_key
# GEMINI_MODEL=gemini-1.5-flash

# Email
[email protected]
EMAIL_PASSWORD=your_app_password
[email protected]

# Defaults
NEWS_TOPIC=Indian Startups
MAX_ARTICLES=10

# Flask (web app)
FLASK_SECRET_KEY=change-me-in-production

3) Run the CLI pipeline

python main.py                       # default topic + email
python main.py --topic "AI"          # custom topic
python main.py --max-articles 20
python main.py --no-email            # skip SMTP (test mode)
python main.py --recipient [email protected]

4) Run the web app

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:PORT=5050
python webapp/app.py

# macOS/Linux
PORT=5050 python webapp/app.py

# Then open http://localhost:5050 in your browser
# Sign up, log in, add topics, and view personalized news summaries

The first run creates newsflash.db automatically. Each user can manage their own topics and article limits.

Note: The app defaults to port 5000, but you can override it with the PORT environment variable if port 5000 is already in use.

📅 Scheduling

CLI Pipeline (main.py)

• Windows Task Scheduler: point to python main.py inside the repo directory.
• Cron (Linux/Mac): 0 8 * * * cd /path/to/Incrux && /usr/bin/python3 main.py.

Scheduled Web App Emails (send_scheduled_emails.py)

For automated email delivery to web app users at their preferred times:

Windows Task Scheduler (run as Administrator):

$python = "C:\Users\HP\Desktop\news_crux\.venv\Scripts\python.exe"
$script = "C:\Users\HP\Desktop\news_crux\incrux\webapp\send_scheduled_emails.py"
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $python -Argument $script
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Hourly
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName "NewsFlash-SendEmails" -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -RunLevel Highest

Cron (Linux/Mac):

# Run every hour
0 * * * * cd /path/to/Incrux/webapp && /usr/bin/python3 send_scheduled_emails.py

Make sure to set valid Gmail credentials in .env for email delivery to work.

🔒 Security Notes

• Keep .env out of version control (already in .gitignore).
• Use Gmail App Passwords (not your regular password) when SMTP auth is enabled.
• Set a strong FLASK_SECRET_KEY in production and switch Flask debug off for deployment.

🧠 Email Output Preview

Subject: 🗞️ News-Flash | Indian Startups

📌 KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
• Indian fintech startups raised $120M this week...
• Government announced new incentives for early-stage SaaS companies...
• Tech layoffs declined by 18% YoY...

📚 FULL ARTICLES:
- "India's Startup Funding Hits $15B in 2023..." - TechCrunch
- "GST incentives for SaaS startups..." - LiveMint
- "Tech Job Market Stabilizes..." - YourStory

🧭 Troubleshooting

Issue: "Configuration Error" or Missing API keys

Solution:

• Ensure all required keys exist in .env
• AI provider key must match AI_PROVIDER setting (OPENAI or GEMINI)
• For NewsAPI: Get key at newsapi.org
• For OpenAI: Get key at platform.openai.com
• For Gemini: Get key at aistudio.google.com

Issue: "Invalid API key" error

Solution:

• Verify you copied the key correctly (no extra spaces)
• Check that the key has not been revoked in the provider's dashboard
• For OpenAI/Gemini: Ensure you have an active payment method

Issue: Web app says "site cannot be reached" on port 5000

Solution:

• Another service may be using port 5000
• Run the app on an alternate port:

  $env:PORT=5050
  python webapp/app.py

• Then open http://127.0.0.1:5050

Issue: Email not sending from web app

Solution:

• Update .env with real Gmail credentials (currently has placeholders):

  EMAIL_SENDER=[email protected]
  EMAIL_PASSWORD=your_16_char_app_password
  EMAIL_RECIPIENT=[email protected]

• Ensure send_scheduled_emails.py is scheduled in Task Scheduler/Cron
• Test the script manually:

  cd "C:\Users\HP\Desktop\news_crux\incrux\webapp"
  python send_scheduled_emails.py

• Check that user has email enabled and preferred time is set in profile

Issue: Gemini model errors

Solution:

• The system automatically tries multiple Gemini models (latest first) and falls back to local summary if all fail
• If you see "404 models/... not found": this is normal, the script will retry with alternate models
• Consider using OpenAI instead by setting AI_PROVIDER=OPENAI in .env

Issue: No articles found

Solution:

• NewsAPI free tier has 100 requests/day limit. Check usage at newsapi.org/account
• Try a more common topic (e.g., "Technology", "Business")
• Increase --max-articles parameter
• Verify NewsAPI key is valid

Issue: Rate limit exceeded

Solution:

• OpenAI: Upgrade plan or reduce request frequency
• NewsAPI: Wait 24 hours or upgrade plan
• Gemini: Public API has quotas; check Google Cloud Console

---

🔄 Recent Updates (Dec 2025)

• Improved Gemini fallback: Automatically tries multiple Gemini model versions if the primary fails
• Configurable web app port: Use PORT environment variable to avoid conflicts
• Fixed scheduled email script: Now correctly finds database and initializes tables
• Better error handling: Graceful fallback to local summaries when APIs are unavailable or rate-limited

---

📈 Future Improvements

• Multi-topic support (fetch news on 3+ topics)
• Database storage (SQLite) for article history
• Web dashboard to view past digests
• Customizable summary length
• Topic-specific prompts (finance, tech, healthcare)
• Newsletter format with archives
• Slack/Teams integration
• Multiple recipient support
• Cloud deployment (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud)
• Advanced caching to reduce API costs

---

📝 License

MIT License - feel free to use this for your portfolio!

---

🙌 Credits

• NewsAPI - Real-time news data
• OpenAI - GPT-3.5-turbo API
• Python Community - Excellent libraries

---

📞 Support

Found a bug or have suggestions? Open an issue or contact me!

---

Made by Lavanya Verma

P.S. - This project went from zero to production in one afternoon. Imagine what we can build together. 🚀