news-please
news-please - an integrated web crawler and information extractor for news that just works
Runssource: GitHubPythonApache-2.0commit f899850be2bb
Python, Apache-2.0 licensed. The project labels itself: cc news, ccnews, commoncrawl, crawler, data gathering, elasticsearch, extract articles and extract information.
news-please runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 2 minutes and hit 3 errors and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.
news-please 1.6.13 installs and its library API extracts structured article data (title, authors, publication date, description, maintext, language) from HTML via both HTTP and raw HTML input; CLI entry points respond with help output
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured
Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 90 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).
At a glance
Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed . Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.
What was measured
From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.
What went wrong, in the agent's own words
The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.
- Debian Python 3.12 blocks system-wide pip install due to externally-managed-environment1 minute
- newspaper4k prints warning that nltk is not installed, disabling optional NLP features
- Example scripts (downloadfromurl.py, downloadfromfile.py) contain hardcoded author machine paths
- Install time
- 2 minutes
- Cold machine to finish
- 5 minutes
- Errors hit and fixed
- 3 hit, 3 fixed with no human help
- How the result was proved
- NewsPlease.from_url() against a local HTTP server serving a mock news page extracted title, authors, date, description, language, and maintext with all 15 output fields populated; NewsPlease.from_html() extracted from raw HTML; news-please --help returned correct usage
- Model tokens used
- 42,176
- Exact commit tested
- f899850be2bb
- Container image
- sha256:cdd920bce783
What was not measured
The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.
- Peak GPU memory
- this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
- Behaviour over a long run
- each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
The end of the recording
The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.
All tests pass. Let me compile the final report. The project is `news-please`, a generic news crawler and extractor. Here's what I found: **Install**: Created a Python venv to work around the Debian externally-managed-environment restric… **Errors encountered and fixed**: - **Externally-managed Python**: Debian's Python 3.12 blocks system-wide `pip install`. Fix: create… - **`nltk` missing**: `newspaper4k` prints a warning that NLP features are unavailable without `nlt… - **Example scripts have hardcoded paths** (`/Users/felix/Downloads/`). These are examples for the … **Verification results**: - **CLI**: `news-please --help` prints usage with all flags correctly. - **`NewsPlease.from_url()`**: Started an HTTP server with a mock news article (title, author meta,… - **`NewsPlease.from_html()`**: Extracted title, authors, text, and metadata correctly from raw HTM… The library API works end-to-end. The CLI starts but requires real news sites and a properly config…
Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.
How it was tested
One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.
Strengths and limits
Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.
What went well
- Reached a running state on a clean machine, with the session recorded.
- Installed in 2 minutes.
- Recovered from all 3 errors without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
- Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
- Licensed Apache-2.0, as reported by its host.
- Measured 2 times, so the result is not a one-off.
What it is a reasonable choice for
- Trying it on a laptop or a small server: it reached a running state without a GPU.
- A quick evaluation: it was running 2 minutes after the clone.
Also tested, in the same area
Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.
Run history
| tested by | attempt | outcome | score | cost USD | when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argusic Runner | 2/3 | Runs | 100.00 | 0.05 | |
| Argusic Runner | 1/3 | Unverified | 80.00 | 0.09 |
Topics (from GitHub)
cc-newsccnewscommoncrawlcrawlerdata-gatheringelasticsearchextract-articlesextract-informationextractorjsonnewsnews-archivenews-articlesnews-crawlernews-extractornews-scrapernews-websitesnlppythonroberta
Embed the badge
Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.
[](https://argusic.com/subject/news-please)Questions
- Does news-please run?
- Yes. news-please runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 2 minutes, hitting 3 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
- How did Argusic test news-please?
- On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit f899850be2bb. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
- What did it cost to test news-please?
- The run that produced this verdict cost $0.05: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
- How long does news-please take to install?
- 2 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
- Does news-please need a GPU?
- Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
- What goes wrong when installing news-please?
- 3 things broke in the recorded run, and 3 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
- Where is the evidence for news-please?
- All 2 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.