Time Rewind Tool¶
The Time Rewind Tool is one of the most innovative features of Neuron Daily Newsletter Automation. It allows you to "go back in time" and restore previously blacklisted links, making them available for reading again.
Perfect for Learning Experiments
Use the Time Rewind Tool to test how re-introducing content affects your learning retention, or to recover from accidental over-blacklisting.
How It Works¶
The Time Rewind Tool manipulates your local blacklist database to restore links that were blacklisted within a specified time period. When you "rewind" X days, all links blacklisted in the last X days become available again.
graph LR
A[Current State] --> B[Select Days]
B --> C[Preview Changes]
C --> D{Confirm?}
D -->|Yes| E[Update Database]
D -->|No| F[Cancel]
E --> G[Backup Created]
G --> H[Links Restored]
H --> I[Available for Reading]Quick Examples¶
Basic Rewind Commands¶
Viewing Recent Activity¶
# Show recently blacklisted content (last 10 items)
neuron-automation --recent-blacklisted 10
# Show blacklisted content from last 7 days
neuron-automation --recent-blacklisted 20 --days 7
# Export recent blacklist data
neuron-automation --recent-blacklisted --export blacklist_export.json
Use Cases¶
Learning Experiments¶
Test different content exposure patterns to optimize your learning:
# Week 1: Read normally, let blacklist build up
neuron-automation
# Week 2: Restore last week's content for reinforcement
neuron-automation --rewind 7
# Week 3: Compare retention with/without re-exposure
Content Review¶
Bring back important articles for deeper study:
# Find articles blacklisted in the last 3 days
neuron-automation --recent-blacklisted 10 --days 3
# Restore them for re-reading
neuron-automation --rewind 3
# Next automation run will include these articles again
Pattern Testing¶
Experiment with different blacklist cycles:
# Test 1-week cycle
neuron-automation --rewind 7
# Test 2-week cycle
neuron-automation --rewind 14
# Compare reading variety and retention
Recovery Operations¶
Recover from accidental over-blacklisting:
# Check what was blacklisted recently
neuron-automation --recent-blacklisted 20
# Restore everything from last 2 days if too aggressive
neuron-automation --rewind 2
# Create backup before major changes
neuron-automation --rewind 10 --backup
Advanced Features¶
Backup Management¶
The Time Rewind Tool includes comprehensive backup capabilities:
# Create manual backup before major changes
blacklist-rewind --backup
# List available backups
blacklist-rewind --list-backups
# Restore from specific backup
blacklist-rewind --restore-backup 2025-01-15_10-30-45
# Clean old backups (keep last 10)
blacklist-rewind --cleanup-backups 10
Analytics Integration¶
Track your rewind usage patterns:
# View rewind history and statistics
blacklist-rewind --stats
# Show impact of recent rewinds
blacklist-rewind --rewind-impact 7
# Export usage analytics
blacklist-rewind --export-analytics rewind_stats.json
Selective Rewind¶
Target specific types of content:
# Rewind only links from specific domains
blacklist-rewind --rewind 7 --domain "techcrunch.com"
# Rewind links matching patterns
blacklist-rewind --rewind 5 --pattern "*artificial-intelligence*"
# Rewind by blacklist reason
blacklist-rewind --rewind 7 --reason "duplicate"
Configuration Options¶
Global Settings¶
Configure rewind behavior in ~/.config/neuron-automation/config.py:
# Time Rewind Configuration
TIME_REWIND_CONFIG = {
'default_backup': True, # Always create backups
'backup_retention_days': 30, # Keep backups for 30 days
'max_rewind_days': 90, # Maximum rewind period
'confirmation_required': True, # Ask for confirmation
'verbose_output': False, # Detailed output by default
}
# Backup Configuration
BACKUP_CONFIG = {
'backup_directory': '~/.config/neuron-automation/backups/',
'backup_filename_format': 'backup_%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S.sqlite',
'auto_cleanup': True,
'max_backups': 20,
}
Command-Line Overrides¶
Override configuration via command-line options:
# Disable confirmation prompts
neuron-automation --rewind 5 --no-confirm
# Force backup even if disabled in config
neuron-automation --rewind 7 --force-backup
# Use custom backup location
neuron-automation --rewind 5 --backup-dir /custom/path/
Safety Features¶
Automatic Backups¶
By default, the Time Rewind Tool creates backups before making changes:
# Backup location: ~/.config/neuron-automation/backups/
# Filename format: rewind_backup_2025-01-15_10-30-45.sqlite
Confirmation Prompts¶
Interactive confirmation prevents accidental changes:
Time Rewind Preview for 7 days:
Links to be restored: 23 items
Date range: 2025-01-08 to 2025-01-15
Estimated impact: 23 additional links in next run
Are you sure you want to proceed? [y/N]:
Validation Checks¶
The tool validates all operations before execution:
- ✅ Database integrity checks
- ✅ Date range validation
- ✅ Backup space availability
- ✅ Permission verification
- ✅ Configuration validation
Database Schema¶
Understanding the underlying data structure:
-- Links table with blacklist tracking
CREATE TABLE links (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
url TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
url_hash TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
first_seen DATE NOT NULL,
last_seen DATE NOT NULL,
is_blacklisted BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
blacklisted_date DATE,
blacklist_reason TEXT,
times_opened INTEGER DEFAULT 0
);
-- Rewind operations log
CREATE TABLE rewind_history (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
rewind_date DATE NOT NULL,
days_rewound INTEGER NOT NULL,
links_affected INTEGER NOT NULL,
backup_created TEXT,
operation_type TEXT
);
Performance Considerations¶
Database Size Impact¶
| Links in Database | Rewind Time | Backup Time | Disk Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 links | <1 second | <1 second | ~50KB |
| 10,000 links | ~2 seconds | ~2 seconds | ~500KB |
| 100,000 links | ~5 seconds | ~5 seconds | ~5MB |
Optimization Tips¶
- Regular Cleanup: Use
--cleanup-oldto remove ancient entries - Selective Operations: Use filters to reduce operation scope
- Batch Processing: Group multiple rewind operations
- Monitor Size: Check database size with
--stats
Troubleshooting¶
Common Issues¶
Database Locked
If you get "database is locked" errors:
Backup Failed
If backup creation fails:
No Links to Restore
If no links match the time period:
Debug Mode¶
Enable detailed logging for troubleshooting:
# Enable debug output
neuron-automation --rewind 5 --debug
# Use standalone tool with verbose logging
blacklist-rewind --rewind 5 --verbose --debug
# Check log files
tail -f ~/.config/neuron-automation/logs/rewind.log
Complete Documentation¶
For comprehensive usage examples, advanced workflows, and best practices:
📖 Full Blacklist Rewind Usage Guide
Next Steps¶
- Configure Link Management to understand blacklist behavior
- Set up Analytics to track rewind effectiveness
- Explore Advanced Usage for power-user features
Neuron Daily Newsletter Automation¶
Why This Exists: Reading the Neuron Daily newsletter is a great way to start the day, but manually clicking through all the article links takes time. This automation opens everything at once, so you can spend your morning reading instead of clicking. Built collaboratively with Claude AI to solve a real daily workflow need.
If this saves you time too, give it a ⭐ and let us know how it works for you!
Cross-platform automation system that automatically opens the latest Neuron Daily newsletter with all article links in separate tabs every weekday morning.
Supported Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows