Vibecoded: Automating Instapaper → Beeminder with Playwright (Daily, Headless, Reliable)

Akrasia
1

What this script does: looks at the number of unread items on your instapaper queue and then sends it to beeminder

Use cases:

  • (mine) people like me who want to whittle down their backlog (172 at the moment, thanks for asking)
  • people who want to beemind net articles per day (probably a way to vibe code something to work out how many articles you read each day too)
  • others???

***

Okay so I struggled with the instapaper/pocket backlog counting stuff and I decided to vibecode it, and it seems to have turned out REALLY well so thought I’d share it here. I don’t really understand anything I did, but it took a lot of time (because, obviously, vibecoding is tricky and a previous version recently stopped working because instapaper changed their interface).

I enhanced it this time to automatically upload the results to beeminder (requires your API token).

I haven’t tested the automation, but I figure I’ll forget to post this if I wait for it to successfully automate, so… (the test run worked fine though).

Anyway see below for the robot’s explanation of what it did and how to set it up - I can vouch for this procedure seeming to include all the steps of the iteration that actually worked.

This post was written by Microsoft Copilot at my request:

Copilot's post

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a complete, step‑by‑step guide for automatically sending your Instapaper unread count to Beeminder every day. This setup uses Playwright (a browser automation tool), a persistent Firefox profile so you only log in once, and Windows Task Scheduler to run it daily in headless mode.

If you want a “track my Instapaper backlog automatically” goal, this is a fully working solution.

What this setup does

  • Opens Instapaper in a headless browser

  • Reads the unread count directly from the sidebar

  • Uploads that number to Beeminder

  • Runs automatically every day

  • Requires no manual login after the first run

  • Works even with Instapaper’s new React interface

Prerequisites

You’ll need:

  • Windows

  • Python 3

  • Playwright

  • A Beeminder goal

  • Your Beeminder auth token

1. Install Playwright

Open PowerShell and run:

Code

pip install playwright
playwright install

This installs the Python bindings and the Firefox browser Playwright uses.

2. Create the Python script

Create a file named:

Code

count_unread_playwright.py

Paste this entire script into it:

python

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
import os
import requests
import time
import json

PROFILE_DIR = "instapaper_profile"
SESSION_FILE = "instapaper_sessionstorage.json"

# ---- Beeminder settings ----
BEEMINDER_USER = "YOUR BEEMINDER USERNAME"
BEEMINDER_TOKEN = "YOUR BEEMINDER TOKEN"
BEEMINDER_GOAL = "YOUR BEEMINDER GOAL SLUG"
# ----------------------------

def beeminder_upload(value):
    payload = {
        "auth_token": BEEMINDER_TOKEN,
        "value": value,
        "measured_at": int(time.time()),
        "comment": "Instapaper unread count"
    }

    url = f"https://www.beeminder.com/api/v1/users/{BEEMINDER_USER}/goals/{BEEMINDER_GOAL}/datapoints.json"
    r = requests.post(url, data=payload)

    if r.status_code == 200:
        print(f"[BEEMINDER] Uploaded {value}")
    else:
        print(f"[BEEMINDER] Error {r.status_code}: {r.text}")


def save_sessionstorage(page):
    data = page.evaluate("JSON.stringify(sessionStorage)")
    with open(SESSION_FILE, "w") as f:
        f.write(data)
    print("[DEBUG] Saved sessionStorage")


def restore_sessionstorage(page):
    if os.path.exists(SESSION_FILE):
        with open(SESSION_FILE, "r") as f:
            data = f.read()
        page.evaluate(f"""
            const obj = JSON.parse('{data}');
            for (const key in obj) {{
                sessionStorage.setItem(key, obj[key]);
            }}
        """)
        print("[DEBUG] Restored sessionStorage")


def get_unread_count(page):
    print("[DEBUG] Waiting for unread count element…")
    page.wait_for_selector("span.side-nav-count", timeout=15000)

    count_text = page.inner_text("span.side-nav-count")
    count = int(count_text.strip())

    print(f"[DEBUG] Unread count: {count}")
    return count


with sync_playwright() as p:
    if not os.path.exists(PROFILE_DIR):
        os.makedirs(PROFILE_DIR)

    browser = p.firefox.launch_persistent_context(PROFILE_DIR, headless=True)

    page = browser.pages[0]

    print("Opening Instapaper…")
    page.goto("https://www.instapaper.com/u")

    restore_sessionstorage(page)
    page.reload()

    if "login" in page.url.lower():
        print("\nYou are not logged in yet.")
        print("Log in manually in the browser window.")
        input("Press Enter here once you're fully logged in…")
        save_sessionstorage(page)
    else:
        print("\nSession detected — already logged in.")

    total = get_unread_count(page)
    print(f"\nTotal unread count: {total}")

    beeminder_upload(total)

    browser.close()

What this script does

  • Loads Instapaper using a persistent Firefox profile

  • Restores sessionStorage so you stay logged in

  • Reads the unread count from the sidebar (span.side-nav-count)

  • Uploads it to Beeminder

  • Runs headlessly (no visible browser window)

3. Run the script once manually

Run:

Code

python count_unread_playwright.py

If it asks you to log in:

  • A Firefox window will appear

  • Log into Instapaper normally

  • Press Enter in the terminal

  • Your session will be saved permanently

After that, the script will run headless and won’t ask again.

4. Create a .bat launcher for automation

Create:

Code

run_instapaper.bat

Put this inside:

Code

cd /d C:\Users\<YOUR USERNAME>\[YOUR SAVE DIRECTORY]
python count_unread_playwright.py

Adjust the path if your script lives somewhere else.

5. Schedule it daily with Windows Task Scheduler

  1. Open Task Scheduler

  2. Click Create Task…

  3. General tab

    • Name: Instapaper → Beeminder

    • Run whether user is logged on or not

    • Run with highest privileges

  4. Triggers tab

    • New → Daily → choose a time

  5. Actions tab

    • New → Start a program

    • Program: run_instapaper.bat

  6. Settings tab

    • Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed

Click OK, enter your password, and you’re done.

6. Confirm it works

Right‑click the task → Run.

You should see:

  • The script runs silently

  • The unread count prints in the Task Scheduler history

  • A datapoint appears in Beeminder

After that, it will run automatically every day.

Final Notes

  • This setup is robust against Instapaper UI changes because it reads the sidebar count directly.

  • You only log in once; sessionStorage keeps you authenticated.

  • Playwright’s persistent Firefox profile makes the whole thing stable and low‑maintenance.

Hope this helps someone else automate their reading backlog!

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Simple Instapaper Integration