NIA: An Autonomous Substack Agent You Can Self-Host

Description and use

NIA is an autonomous Substack agent that automates topic discovery, research, writing, publishing, and community engagement, enabling users to maintain control over their account and editorial voice.

Problem

Maintaining a Substack publication requires repetitive tasks—finding stories, gathering sources, drafting, publishing, replying to comments, and sustaining a rhythm—making it labor‑intensive for individual editors.

Outcome

NIA demonstrates a fully self‑hosted Substack automation pipeline that reduces manual workload, preserves editorial voice, and tracks costs and reliability metrics.

Workflow

• Configure a preset with subject, sources, style, and publishing rhythm
• Set up local environment with Python 3.11+, Chrome, and model API keys
• Run the control panel or CLI to start scheduled workflows
• NIA discovers topics via RSS/Atom, YouTube, and searches
• Retrieves sources and preserves evidence
• Generates drafts using configured model roles
• Publishes articles and Notes through a logged‑in Chrome session
• Performs community actions (reply, comment, like, restack) as per preset
• Logs costs, attempts, and health metrics in the tracking panel

Evidence

NIA is an open‑source Python project that automates the entire Substack workflow while allowing the operator to use their own account, model APIs, and editorial voice.

Source

The project makes several deliberate choices that are visible in the README: Persistence over recomputation, Deadlines and recovery, Measurable cost, Honest autonomy boundaries.

Source

The prerequisites stated in the README are Python 3.11+, Chrome, a Substack publication, and API access for the selected model roles.

Source