Preferences
The three digest preferences, the AI reader profile with the prompt to seed it, and notifications
Preferences are set during Owl training and can be changed at any time under Settings.
The three digest preferences
| Preference | Options | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Short (about 3 min of reading), Standard (about 6 min), Thorough (about 10 min) | Standard |
| Language | English, Nederlands, Deutsch. This is the language of the digest; the app itself stays English | English |
| Summary style | Headlines only (just the links, no fuss), Just the facts (tight summaries, no opinions), With commentary (a wry note where earned) | Just the facts |
They are saved with Save profile on the Preference profile card.
The AI reader profile
The Preference profile is, in the app's words, the owl's briefing: it decides what counts as a must-read for you. It is a short text describing what you value, and it is used every time a digest is written: which items are called must-reads, which are skipped, and how each section is phrased.
You rarely need to write it yourself. Before every digest it is rewritten from your 👍 and 👎 ratings, folding in what you liked and disliked. Anything you type into the profile is kept as the base for the next rewrite, so your own words are never lost. How that works is on Summarization.
Ask your AI (optional)
The fastest way to a good profile is to let an assistant that already knows you write the first version. In Owl training, under Sharper still: ask your AI (optional), press Copy the prompt, ask ChatGPT or Claude, and paste the answer into the box. The prompt is:
I'm setting up Owly Post, an email digest with an AI reader that picks and summarizes articles for me. It works from a short reader profile written in my voice.
From everything you know about me, what I've been asking about, reading, and working on lately, write that profile. First person, plain text, under 150 words.
Cover: the topics I genuinely care about right now, as specific as you can make them / what kind of coverage to prioritize: deep dives, breaking news, practical guides, or opinion / what to skip / how I like things explained
Be honest and specific. No flattery, and no generic interests I haven't actually shown.The answer may be up to 2,000 characters. You can also just write it yourself, and edit it later in the Preference profile card.
Example profiles
Three examples of the kind of text that works well. They are illustrations, not templates.
I design software interfaces and care most about design systems, accessibility and how teams
ship. I want deep dives and practical write-ups over announcements; a case study with real
screenshots beats a trend piece. Skip funding news, crypto and anything about "the future of
work". Explain things concretely, with examples; I do not need the history of a topic.I run a small B2B SaaS company. Prioritise pricing, go-to-market, hiring and honest founder
stories with numbers. Breaking news about big tech only when it changes something for small
companies. Skip productivity hacks and motivational content. Keep it tight: tell me what happened,
what it means, and whether I should act.I work on climate models. I read for new results, methods and datasets, and for well-argued
policy analysis. Preprints and lab announcements are welcome; press releases without the paper
are not. Skip opinion columns and anything that restates last year's IPCC summary. Assume I know
the basics and get to the finding.Notifications
The Notifications card has one switch: Product news from Owly Post. It is off by default and covers occasional product updates by email; the digest itself is not affected. In the mobile app, push notifications for a new digest are a separate setting; see Mobile app.