news: auto-tag headlines + market-aware cadence + filter UI

- Move news_job from hourly to 3x/hour (cron 10,30,50), with a CadencePolicy
  gate that throttles to active hours (07-21 UTC weekdays at 20 min), off-hours
  (3 h), weekends (6 h). Keeps the daytime feed fresh without spamming RSS
  sources overnight.
- Tag each headline on ingestion via DeepSeek (BATCH_SIZE=25, max_tokens=4000,
  json.JSONDecoder().raw_decode + per-row regex recovery for resilient parsing).
  Vocabulary: 16 tags including new EU / USA / AI / Conflict. NULL tags are
  picked up automatically on the next news_job run, so back-tagging is implicit
  rather than a separate migration step.
- Tag UI: pill bar above the feed with off → include → exclude cycle on click;
  shift-click jumps straight to exclude. State persists in localStorage and is
  injected into /api/news requests via htmx:configRequest. Per-row chips sit to
  the right of the headline (new 5-column grid: age | source | title | tags |
  UTC) so vertical density stays high.
- Strategic log header bug: model was hallucinating "(Updated 21:30 UTC)" in
  future tense. Bumped PROMPT_VERSION 6→7, added explicit ban on time-of-day
  clauses, and supply the actual current UTC time in the user prompt so the
  model has no need to invent one.

Migration 0012 adds headlines.tags (JSON, nullable). Tests cover vocabulary
integrity, validation/normalisation, and the JSON-recovery parser (17 tests).

alembic/versions/0012_headlines_tags.py

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+"""headlines.tags — AI-assigned content tags per headline
+
+Adds a JSON column to `headlines` for semantic tags (markets, geopolitics,
+tech, etc.) assigned at ingest time by `app/services/news_tagging.py`.
+NULL means "not yet tagged" — picked up automatically by the next
+news_job run.
+
+Revision ID: 0012
+Revises: 0011
+Create Date: 2026-05-18
+"""
+from typing import Sequence, Union
+
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+from alembic import op
+
+
+revision: str = "0012"
+down_revision: Union[str, None] = "0011"
+branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    op.add_column("headlines", sa.Column("tags", sa.JSON, nullable=True))
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    op.drop_column("headlines", "tags")

app/jobs/news_job.py

@@ -1,21 +1,36 @@
-"""Hourly news ingestion. Reads enabled feeds from the DB (not TOML — DB has
+"""News ingestion + AI tagging.
-the authoritative enabled/failure state). Per-ticker Yahoo news pulled for
+
-each symbol in the default portfolio group ('pie')."""
+Cron fires every 20 minutes. NEWS_POLICY gates the actual work:
+- Active window (07-21 UTC weekdays): always run (20-min gap)
+- Off-hours weekday: skip until 3h since last success
+- Weekend: skip until 6h since last success
+
+Each run does (a) fresh fetch of all enabled feeds + per-ticker Yahoo
+news, (b) bulk INSERT IGNORE into headlines, (c) batch-tags any rows
+still NULL via news_tagging. Untagged rows survive run failures and are
+retried automatically next cycle.
+"""
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import asyncio
 
 import httpx
-from sqlalchemy import desc, select
+from sqlalchemy import desc, func, select, update
 from sqlalchemy.dialects.mysql import insert as mysql_insert
 
 from app.db import utcnow
 from app.jobs._helpers import job_lifecycle, log
-from app.models import Feed, Headline, InstrumentMap, TickerUniverse
+from app.models import Feed, Headline, InstrumentMap, JobRun, TickerUniverse
+from app.services.cadence import NEWS_POLICY
 from app.services.news import dedupe, fetch_feed, fetch_yahoo_news
+from app.services.news_tagging import ToTag, tag_titles
 
 
 AUTO_DISABLE_AT = 5
+# Cap on how many untagged headlines a single run will tag. Stops a
+# backlog from blowing the cost ledger if the tagger has been failing
+# for a while.
+TAG_PER_RUN_LIMIT = 200
 
 
 async def _process_feed(client: httpx.AsyncClient, feed: Feed) -> tuple[Feed, list]:
@@ -38,6 +53,21 @@ async def run() -> None:
         if run.status == "skipped":
             return
 
+        # Market-aware cadence: skip this fire if too soon (off-hours /
+        # weekend). Active window still runs every 20 min.
+        last_success = (await session.execute(
+            select(func.max(JobRun.finished_at)).where(
+                JobRun.name == "news_job",
+                JobRun.status == "success",
+            )
+        )).scalar()
+        should_run, reason = NEWS_POLICY.should_run(last_success)
+        if not should_run:
+            log.info("news_job.cadence_skip", reason=reason)
+            run.status = "skipped"
+            run.error = reason
+            return
+
         feeds = (
             await session.execute(select(Feed).where(Feed.enabled == True))
         ).scalars().all()
@@ -91,8 +121,35 @@ async def run() -> None:
             await session.execute(stmt)
 
         await session.commit()
+
+        # Tag any headlines still NULL — fresh inserts from this run plus
+        # any that failed to tag on previous runs. Bounded by
+        # TAG_PER_RUN_LIMIT so a long outage doesn't blow the cost ledger.
+        untagged_rows = (await session.execute(
+            select(Headline.id, Headline.title)
+            .where(Headline.tags.is_(None))
+            .order_by(desc(Headline.published_at))
+            .limit(TAG_PER_RUN_LIMIT)
+        )).all()
+        tagged_count = 0
+        if untagged_rows:
+            items = [ToTag(id=int(r.id), title=r.title) for r in untagged_rows]
+            tags_by_id = await tag_titles(items)
+            for hid, tags in tags_by_id.items():
+                await session.execute(
+                    update(Headline)
+                    .where(Headline.id == hid)
+                    .values(tags=tags)
+                )
+            tagged_count = len(tags_by_id)
+            await session.commit()
+
         run.items_written = len(headlines)
-        log.info("news_job.done", fetched=len(all_headlines), kept=len(headlines))
+        log.info(
+            "news_job.done",
+            fetched=len(all_headlines), kept=len(headlines),
+            untagged_seen=len(untagged_rows), tagged=tagged_count,
+        )
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":

app/models.py

@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@ class Headline(Base):
     published_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True), nullable=False)
     fetched_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True), default=utcnow)
     fingerprint: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(40), nullable=False)  # sha1 of normalised title
+    # Semantic content tags from app.services.news_tagging. NULL = not yet
+    # tagged; the next news_job run picks it up. Each entry is one of the
+    # values in news_tagging.TAG_VOCABULARY.
+    tags: Mapped[list[str] | None] = mapped_column(JSON, nullable=True)
 
     __table_args__ = (
         UniqueConstraint("fingerprint", name="uq_headlines_fingerprint"),

app/routers/api.py

@@ -212,6 +212,13 @@ async def indicators(
 # --- News --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+def _split_tag_param(s: str | None) -> set[str]:
+    """Parse a comma-separated tags query param, lowercase + trim."""
+    if not s:
+        return set()
+    return {t.strip().lower() for t in s.split(",") if t.strip()}
+
+
 @router.get("/news")
 async def news_list(
     request: Request,
@@ -219,19 +226,39 @@ async def news_list(
     category: str | None = Query(None),
     since_hours: float = Query(24.0, ge=0.1, le=720.0),
     limit: int = Query(50, ge=1, le=500),
+    tags: str | None = Query(None, description="comma-separated include list"),
+    exclude_tags: str | None = Query(None, description="comma-separated exclude list"),
     as_: str | None = Query(default=None, alias="as"),
 ):
+    from app.services.news_tagging import TAG_LABELS, TAG_VOCABULARY
+
     cutoff = utcnow() - timedelta(hours=since_hours)
     stmt = select(Headline).where(Headline.published_at >= cutoff)
     if category:
         stmt = stmt.where(Headline.category == category)
-    stmt = stmt.order_by(desc(Headline.published_at)).limit(limit)
+    # Fetch a wider window than `limit` because we tag-filter client-of-DB.
+    # JSON column filters in MariaDB are doable but messy; in-Python is
+    # simple at our scale.
+    stmt = stmt.order_by(desc(Headline.published_at)).limit(max(limit * 3, 200))
     rows = (await session.execute(stmt)).scalars().all()
 
+    include = _split_tag_param(tags)
+    exclude = _split_tag_param(exclude_tags)
+
+    def _keep(h: Headline) -> bool:
+        ts = set(h.tags or [])
+        if include and not (ts & include):
+            return False
+        if exclude and (ts & exclude):
+            return False
+        return True
+
+    filtered = [h for h in rows if _keep(h)][:limit]
+
     if as_ == "html":
         now = utcnow()
         items = []
-        for h in rows:
+        for h in filtered:
             when = _as_utc(h.published_at) if h.published_at else None
             items.append({
                 "age": _fmt_age(now, h.published_at),
@@ -240,11 +267,17 @@ async def news_list(
                 "url": h.url,
                 "iso": when.isoformat() if when else None,
                 "utc_short": when.strftime("%d %b %H:%M") + "Z" if when else "",
+                "tags": h.tags or [],
             })
         return templates.TemplateResponse(
-            request, "partials/news.html", {"headlines": items},
+            request, "partials/news.html",
+            {"headlines": items,
+             "tag_vocabulary": TAG_VOCABULARY,
+             "tag_labels": TAG_LABELS,
+             "active_include": sorted(include),
+             "active_exclude": sorted(exclude)},
         )
-    return [HeadlineOut.model_validate(r, from_attributes=True) for r in rows]
+    return [HeadlineOut.model_validate(r, from_attributes=True) for r in filtered]
 
 
 # --- Strategic log -----------------------------------------------------------

app/scheduler_main.py

@@ -40,7 +40,11 @@ async def main() -> None:
 
     sched = AsyncIOScheduler(timezone="UTC")
     sched.add_job(market_job.run,    CronTrigger(minute=5),  name="market_job", id="market_job")
-    sched.add_job(news_job.run,      CronTrigger(minute=10), name="news_job", id="news_job")
+    # 3x/hour: cron fires at xx:10, xx:30, xx:50. NEWS_POLICY inside the
+    # job throttles off-hours / weekends so most fires no-op when the
+    # markets are closed.
+    sched.add_job(news_job.run,      CronTrigger(minute="10,30,50"),
+                  name="news_job", id="news_job")
     # portfolio_job removed in Phase G — server no longer holds holdings.
     sched.add_job(indicator_summary_job.run, CronTrigger(minute=7),  name="indicator_summary_job", id="indicator_summary_job")
     sched.add_job(ai_log_job.run,    CronTrigger(minute=20), name="ai_log_job", id="ai_log_job")

app/schemas.py

@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ class HeadlineOut(BaseModel):
     title: str
     url: str
     published_at: datetime
+    tags: list[str] | None = None   # populated by news_tagging; null = pending
 
 
 class JobStatus(BaseModel):

app/services/cadence.py

@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ class CadencePolicy:
         (7, 21),    # EU/US (LSE open through NYSE close)
         # (0, 8),   # Asia (Tokyo + HK/Shanghai) — uncomment to add
     )
+    # Minimum gap between successful runs DURING the active window. The
+    # cron may fire more frequently than this — we just skip until enough
+    # time has passed since the last success. Default 0 means "run on
+    # every cron fire" (the original AI-job behaviour).
+    active_gap_h: float = 0.0
     # Minimum gap between successful runs outside the active window.
     off_hours_gap_h: float = 4.0
     weekend_gap_h: float = 12.0
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@ class CadencePolicy:
         if now.weekday() >= 5:
             return self.weekend_gap_h
         if self.is_active_window(now):
-            return 0.0  # always run during the active window
+            return self.active_gap_h
         return self.off_hours_gap_h
 
     def should_run(
@@ -55,8 +60,6 @@ class CadencePolicy:
         """Returns (should_run, reason). The reason is human-readable for logs
         and the job_runs.error column when a run is skipped."""
         now = now or datetime.now(timezone.utc)
-        if self.is_active_window(now):
-            return True, "active window"
         min_gap = self.min_gap_hours(now)
         if last_success_at is None:
             return True, "no prior successful run"
@@ -64,9 +67,27 @@ class CadencePolicy:
         if last_success_at.tzinfo is None:
             last_success_at = last_success_at.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
         age_h = (now - last_success_at).total_seconds() / 3600.0
+        if min_gap <= 0 and self.is_active_window(now):
+            return True, "active window"
         if age_h >= min_gap:
-            return True, f"off-hours but last run {age_h:.1f}h ago (≥ {min_gap}h)"
+            band = "active" if self.is_active_window(now) else (
-        return False, f"off-hours throttled — last run {age_h:.1f}h ago (< {min_gap}h)"
+                "weekend" if now.weekday() >= 5 else "off-hours"
+            )
+            return True, f"{band}: last run {age_h:.2f}h ago (≥ {min_gap:.2f}h)"
+        band = "active" if self.is_active_window(now) else (
+            "weekend" if now.weekday() >= 5 else "off-hours"
+        )
+        return False, f"{band} throttled — last run {age_h:.2f}h ago (< {min_gap:.2f}h)"
 
 
+# AI jobs: run hot during the active window, throttle off-hours.
 DEFAULT_POLICY = CadencePolicy()
+
+# News + tagging: 3 runs/hour during the active window (20-min gap),
+# every 3h off-hours, every 6h on weekends. Cron fires every 20 min;
+# the policy gates whether each fire actually does work.
+NEWS_POLICY = CadencePolicy(
+    active_gap_h=1.0 / 3.0,    # 20 minutes
+    off_hours_gap_h=3.0,
+    weekend_gap_h=6.0,
+)

app/services/news_tagging.py

@@ -0,0 +1,290 @@
+"""AI-driven content tagging for headlines.
+
+Each headline gets 1-3 tags from a fixed vocabulary (markets, geopolitics,
+tech, etc.). Tagging happens at ingest time inside `news_job` — only
+rows whose `tags` column is still NULL are processed, so re-runs are
+idempotent and recover from prior failures naturally.
+
+Implementation notes:
+
+- Titles only (not body) — they're informative enough and keep the
+  prompt + cost small.
+- Batched: ~50 titles per LLM call. Returns JSON with one entry per
+  input id. Unknown / hallucinated tags are dropped against the
+  vocabulary; an empty tag list falls back to ["other"] so we can tell
+  "tagged but bland" from "not yet tagged" (NULL).
+- Uses the existing call_llm dispatcher → DeepSeek-direct primary,
+  OpenRouter fallback, per Phase G provider config.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import re
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+import httpx
+
+from app.logging import get_logger
+from app.services.openrouter import call_llm
+
+
+log = get_logger("news_tagging")
+
+
+# Frozen vocabulary. Keep ASCII-lowercase, hyphenated. If you add or
+# remove a tag, also update the system prompt below and the test fixture.
+TAG_VOCABULARY: tuple[str, ...] = (
+    "markets",
+    "monetary-policy",
+    "economy",
+    "geopolitics",
+    "conflict",       # wars, military actions, armed escalation
+    "energy",
+    "commodities",
+    "tech",
+    "ai",             # AI-specific: model releases, capex, regulation
+    "crypto",
+    "corporate",
+    "regulation",
+    # Geographic emphasis tags — overlap freely with thematic ones.
+    "usa",
+    "eu",
+    "china",
+    "other",
+)
+
+# Display labels for the toggle UI (Title Case + readable). Keys must
+# match TAG_VOCABULARY exactly.
+TAG_LABELS: dict[str, str] = {
+    "markets":         "Markets",
+    "monetary-policy": "Monetary policy",
+    "economy":         "Economy",
+    "geopolitics":     "Geopolitics",
+    "conflict":        "Conflict",
+    "energy":          "Energy",
+    "commodities":     "Commodities",
+    "tech":            "Tech",
+    "ai":              "AI",
+    "crypto":          "Crypto",
+    "corporate":       "Corporate",
+    "regulation":      "Regulation",
+    "usa":             "USA",
+    "eu":              "EU",
+    "china":           "China",
+    "other":           "Other",
+}
+
+_VOCAB_SET = frozenset(TAG_VOCABULARY)
+
+# Batch size for one LLM call. Small enough that one batch of output
+# (50 items × ~30 tokens each = ~1500 tokens) fits well under any
+# reasonable max_tokens, AND so a single batch failure only loses a
+# small number of rows to next-cycle retry.
+BATCH_SIZE = 25
+
+# Max tags per headline. Stories often touch multiple themes; we cap at
+# three so the UI chips don't blow up.
+MAX_TAGS_PER_HEADLINE = 3
+
+
+_SYSTEM_PROMPT = """\
+You tag financial / business news headlines with ONE to THREE content tags \
+from a fixed vocabulary. You receive a JSON array of headlines, each with \
+an `id` and a `title`. Return a JSON array of objects: `{"id": ..., \
+"tags": ["...", "..."]}`. Output nothing else — no prose, no markdown, no \
+preamble. The first character of your response must be `[`.
+
+# Vocabulary (use ONLY these values, lowercase, hyphens not spaces)
+## Thematic tags
+- markets         — direct market moves: stocks, bonds, FX, indices
+- monetary-policy — central banks, rate decisions, QE/QT, Fed/ECB/BOJ
+- economy         — macro data: CPI, GDP, jobs, PMI, retail sales
+- geopolitics     — sanctions, diplomacy, chokepoints, elections, trade
+- conflict        — active wars, military strikes, armed escalation
+                    (use ALONGSIDE geopolitics, not instead of)
+- energy          — oil, gas, OPEC, energy transition, utilities
+- commodities     — gold, copper, agri, industrial metals (non-energy)
+- tech            — Big Tech, chips, semiconductors, software, social media
+- ai              — AI-specific: model releases, AI capex, AI regulation
+                    (overlap with tech freely)
+- crypto          — bitcoin, ethereum, stablecoins, crypto regulation
+- corporate       — earnings, M&A, layoffs, single-company news without
+                    a clear sector fit above
+- regulation      — antitrust, securities regs, EU/SEC rulings, trade rules
+## Geographic tags (overlap freely with thematic ones)
+- usa             — US-specific news, US policy, US-driven stories
+- eu              — EU / Eurozone / individual EU member states
+- china           — China-specific news
+## Fallback
+- other           — last resort: entertainment, sport, weather, off-topic
+
+# Tagging discipline
+- 1 to 3 tags per headline. Prefer 1-2; use 3 only when the story \
+genuinely spans multiple themes.
+- Tags can OVERLAP. "China bans US chips" → ["china", "tech", "geopolitics"].
+- For armed conflict, combine: "Israel strikes Lebanon" → ["conflict", "geopolitics"].
+- For AI stories, prefer "ai" over generic "tech" if the headline is AI-centric.
+- Geographic tags are additive: a US-focused tech story → ["tech", "usa"].
+- "other" is a last resort. If a headline is entertainment, sport, weather, \
+or otherwise off-topic for a macro dashboard, tag it "other".
+- Order tags by relevance: most specific first.
+"""
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class _ToTag:
+    id: int
+    title: str
+
+
+def _validate_tags(raw: list) -> list[str]:
+    """Filter a model-returned tag list down to known vocabulary + cap."""
+    if not isinstance(raw, list):
+        return []
+    cleaned: list[str] = []
+    seen: set[str] = set()
+    for t in raw:
+        if not isinstance(t, str):
+            continue
+        # Normalise: lowercase, replace spaces with hyphens (common drift).
+        norm = t.strip().lower().replace(" ", "-")
+        if norm in _VOCAB_SET and norm not in seen:
+            cleaned.append(norm)
+            seen.add(norm)
+            if len(cleaned) >= MAX_TAGS_PER_HEADLINE:
+                break
+    return cleaned
+
+
+def _parse_batch_response(content: str, expected_ids: set[int]) -> dict[int, list[str]]:
+    """Parse the model's JSON output into {id: tags}.
+
+    Robust to leading prose / code fences / trailing notes — uses
+    ``json.JSONDecoder.raw_decode`` to parse the first complete JSON
+    value starting at the first ``[``. Anything after that array is
+    ignored. If the first parse fails, we fall back to extracting
+    well-formed ``{"id": ..., "tags": [...]}`` objects via regex so a
+    single corrupt item doesn't lose the whole batch.
+    """
+    out: dict[int, list[str]] = {}
+    if not content:
+        return out
+
+    # Trim common preambles + code fences.
+    stripped = content.strip()
+    # First-`[` to last-position parse via raw_decode.
+    start = stripped.find("[")
+    if start == -1:
+        log.warning("news_tagging.unparseable", preview=content[:120])
+        return out
+    try:
+        data, _end = json.JSONDecoder().raw_decode(stripped[start:])
+        if isinstance(data, list):
+            for item in data:
+                _absorb(item, expected_ids, out)
+            return out
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass   # fall through to per-item recovery
+
+    # Recovery path: scrape individual objects. Looks for shapes like
+    # `{"id": 123, "tags": ["a", "b"]}` and tolerates any garbage between.
+    matched = 0
+    for m in re.finditer(
+        r'\{\s*"id"\s*:\s*"?(\d+)"?\s*,\s*"tags"\s*:\s*(\[[^\]]*\])\s*\}',
+        stripped,
+    ):
+        try:
+            item = {"id": int(m.group(1)), "tags": json.loads(m.group(2))}
+        except (ValueError, json.JSONDecodeError):
+            continue
+        if _absorb(item, expected_ids, out):
+            matched += 1
+    if not out:
+        log.warning(
+            "news_tagging.json_error_unrecoverable",
+            preview=content[:200],
+        )
+    elif matched < len(expected_ids):
+        log.info(
+            "news_tagging.json_partial_recovery",
+            recovered=matched, expected=len(expected_ids),
+        )
+    return out
+
+
+def _absorb(item, expected_ids: set[int], out: dict[int, list[str]]) -> bool:
+    """Place one well-formed item into the output dict if it matches an
+    expected id. Returns True if it landed."""
+    if not isinstance(item, dict):
+        return False
+    try:
+        iid = int(item.get("id"))
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        return False
+    if iid not in expected_ids or iid in out:
+        return False
+    tags = _validate_tags(item.get("tags"))
+    # Empty post-validation = model picked nothing in vocabulary. Fall
+    # back to "other" so the row is marked tagged (distinguishes
+    # "tagged poorly" from "not yet tagged").
+    out[iid] = tags or ["other"]
+    return True
+
+
+async def tag_batch(
+    client: httpx.AsyncClient,
+    items: list[_ToTag],
+) -> dict[int, list[str]]:
+    """Tag one batch of (id, title) pairs. Returns {id: tags}. Items not
+    in the result remain untagged (NULL in the DB) and are retried on the
+    next news_job run."""
+    if not items:
+        return {}
+    user_msg = (
+        "# Headlines to tag\n```json\n"
+        + json.dumps(
+            [{"id": it.id, "title": it.title} for it in items],
+            ensure_ascii=False,
+        )
+        + "\n```"
+    )
+    try:
+        result = await call_llm(
+            client,
+            messages=[
+                {"role": "system", "content": _SYSTEM_PROMPT},
+                {"role": "user", "content": user_msg},
+            ],
+            # Generous ceiling: ~30 tokens/item × 25 items + reasoning
+            # overhead for thinking models. Hitting the cap returns empty
+            # content (finish_reason=length) and triggers the fallback.
+            max_tokens=4000,
+        )
+    except Exception as e:
+        log.warning("news_tagging.llm_failed", n=len(items), error=str(e)[:200])
+        return {}
+    return _parse_batch_response(result.content, {it.id for it in items})
+
+
+async def tag_titles(items: list[_ToTag]) -> dict[int, list[str]]:
+    """Tag a list of titles, splitting into BATCH_SIZE chunks. Returns
+    {id: tags}. Failed batches contribute nothing — their items stay
+    untagged for next time."""
+    if not items:
+        return {}
+    out: dict[int, list[str]] = {}
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient(follow_redirects=True, timeout=60) as client:
+        for i in range(0, len(items), BATCH_SIZE):
+            chunk = items[i:i + BATCH_SIZE]
+            batch_out = await tag_batch(client, chunk)
+            out.update(batch_out)
+    log.info(
+        "news_tagging.batch_complete",
+        requested=len(items), tagged=len(out),
+    )
+    return out
+
+
+# Public re-export for the news_job hook + callers that want to assemble
+# their own (id, title) tuples without importing the private dataclass.
+ToTag = _ToTag

app/services/openrouter.py

@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ OPENROUTER_URL = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions"
 # framing aimed at young investors entering the trading world. NOVICE retuned
 # to be pedagogical (defining terms, anti-pattern teach-backs); INTERMEDIATE
 # kept terse but with light-touch educational nudges. See tasks/todo.md.
-PROMPT_VERSION = 6
+# v7 (2026-05-18): Forbid "(Updated HH:MM UTC)" clauses in the date header —
+# the model was hallucinating future times. The user prompt now carries the
+# actual current UTC time so the model has accurate temporal context.
+PROMPT_VERSION = 7
 
 
 # --- Core: invariant across tone/analysis settings ----------------------------
@@ -49,7 +52,11 @@ cover the same event, read the gap in framing — that's the data.
 implications is filler.
 
 # Structure
-- One-line date header + any anchor framing (e.g. "Week 11 since Hormuz").
+- One-line date header containing ONLY the date (e.g. `2026-05-18`) and \
+optional anchor framing on the same line (e.g. "Week 11 since Hormuz"). \
+**Never include a time-of-day clause like "(Updated 21:30 UTC)"** — \
+generation time is recorded as metadata elsewhere. Inventing a future or \
+arbitrary time in the header confuses readers.
 - Immediately after the date header — with **nothing** in between — write a \
 TL;DR. Format it as:
 
@@ -423,7 +430,12 @@ def build_user_prompt(
     """Assemble the user message from already-fetched-and-persisted data.
     If `previous_log` is a StrategicLog from earlier today, it's included
     as 'Update mode' context — the model will revise rather than restart."""
-    parts = [f"# Strategic log request — {today.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}"]
+    parts = [
+        f"# Strategic log request — {today.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}",
+        # Explicit current time so the model doesn't hallucinate one. The
+        # date header it writes MUST stay date-only (per system prompt).
+        f"Current time: {today.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M UTC')}",
+    ]
     if anchor:
         parts.append(f"Anchor reference date: {anchor}")
     if reference_line:

app/static/css/cassandra.css

@@ -1143,15 +1143,17 @@ details[open] .pf-analysis__head-left::before { content: "▾ "; }
 .news-row {
   padding: 4px 12px;
   display: grid;
-  grid-template-columns: 50px 130px 1fr 110px;
+  /* age | source | title | tags-on-right | utc-time */
+  grid-template-columns: 50px 130px minmax(0, 1fr) minmax(0, auto) 110px;
   gap: 12px;
   font-size: 12px;
   border-bottom: 1px solid var(--surface-2);
-  align-items: baseline;
+  align-items: center;
 }
 @media (max-width: 720px) {
   .news-row { grid-template-columns: 50px 100px 1fr; }
-  .news-row .local { display: none; }
+  .news-row .local,
+  .news-row__tags { display: none; }
 }
 .news-row:hover { background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--accent) 5%, transparent); }
 .news-row .age { color: var(--dim); text-align: right; }
@@ -1166,6 +1168,61 @@ details[open] .pf-analysis__head-left::before { content: "▾ "; }
   white-space: nowrap;
 }
 
+/* News tag chips on each row + the top-bar pill toggles */
+.news-row__tags {
+  display: inline-flex;
+  flex-wrap: nowrap;
+  gap: 3px;
+  justify-content: flex-end;
+  overflow: hidden;
+  max-width: 100%;
+}
+.tag-chip {
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  font-size: 9px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.04em;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  padding: 0 4px;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  line-height: 1.5;
+}
+
+.news-tags {
+  display: flex;
+  flex-wrap: wrap;
+  gap: 4px;
+  padding: 8px 12px;
+  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+}
+.news-tag {
+  font-family: var(--font-mono);
+  font-size: 10.5px;
+  letter-spacing: 0.04em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: var(--muted);
+  background: transparent;
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  padding: 3px 8px;
+  cursor: pointer;
+}
+.news-tag:hover { color: var(--accent); border-color: var(--accent); }
+.news-tag[data-state="include"] {
+  background: var(--accent);
+  color: var(--bg);
+  border-color: var(--accent);
+}
+.news-tag[data-state="exclude"] {
+  color: var(--negative);
+  border-color: var(--negative);
+  text-decoration: line-through;
+}
+.news-tag--clear { color: var(--dim); border-style: dashed; }
+.news-tag--clear:hover { color: var(--negative); border-color: var(--negative); }
+
 /* --- Empty / loading state ------------------------------------------- */
 
 .empty {

app/templates/base.html

@@ -28,6 +28,69 @@
       }
       document.body.addEventListener('htmx:configRequest', function (evt) {
         evt.detail.parameters.tone = currentTone();
+        // News tag filters — only attach to /api/news requests.
+        if ((evt.detail.path || '').indexOf('/api/news') === 0) {
+          var inc = newsTags('include');
+          var exc = newsTags('exclude');
+          if (inc.length) evt.detail.parameters.tags = inc.join(',');
+          if (exc.length) evt.detail.parameters.exclude_tags = exc.join(',');
+        }
+      });
+
+      // News tag preference: include / exclude sets persisted in
+      // localStorage. Click cycles include → exclude → off;
+      // shift-click goes straight to exclude.
+      function newsTags(kind) {
+        try {
+          var raw = localStorage.getItem('cassandra.news.' + kind);
+          var arr = raw ? JSON.parse(raw) : [];
+          return Array.isArray(arr) ? arr : [];
+        } catch (e) { return []; }
+      }
+      function setNewsTags(kind, arr) {
+        try { localStorage.setItem('cassandra.news.' + kind, JSON.stringify(arr)); }
+        catch (e) {}
+      }
+      function refreshNewsPanels() {
+        document.querySelectorAll('[hx-get*="/api/news"]').forEach(function (el) {
+          if (window.htmx) window.htmx.trigger(el, 'tags-changed');
+        });
+      }
+      // Event delegation so HTMX-swapped pills work without rebinding.
+      document.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
+        var el = e.target.closest && e.target.closest('.news-tag');
+        if (!el) return;
+        e.preventDefault();
+        var tag = el.getAttribute('data-tag') || '';
+        if (el.classList.contains('news-tag--clear')) {
+          setNewsTags('include', []);
+          setNewsTags('exclude', []);
+          refreshNewsPanels();
+          return;
+        }
+        var inc = newsTags('include');
+        var exc = newsTags('exclude');
+        var inInc = inc.indexOf(tag);
+        var inExc = exc.indexOf(tag);
+        if (e.shiftKey) {
+          // Shift-click → toggle exclude membership; remove from include.
+          if (inInc >= 0) inc.splice(inInc, 1);
+          if (inExc >= 0) exc.splice(inExc, 1);
+          else exc.push(tag);
+        } else {
+          // Plain click → cycle: off → include → exclude → off.
+          if (inInc >= 0) {
+            inc.splice(inInc, 1);
+            exc.push(tag);
+          } else if (inExc >= 0) {
+            exc.splice(inExc, 1);
+          } else {
+            inc.push(tag);
+          }
+        }
+        setNewsTags('include', inc);
+        setNewsTags('exclude', exc);
+        refreshNewsPanels();
       });
       // Reflect the saved value in the toggle on load.
       var pill = document.getElementById('tone-toggle');

app/templates/dashboard.html

@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
   </div>
   <div class="panel-body panel-body--scroll"
        hx-get="/api/news?as=html&limit=40"
-       hx-trigger="load, every 60s"
+       hx-trigger="load, every 60s, tags-changed"
        hx-swap="innerHTML">
     <div class="empty">loading…</div>
   </div>

app/templates/news.html

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
   </div>
   <div class="panel-body panel-body--scroll"
        hx-get="/api/news?as=html&limit=200"
-       hx-trigger="load, every 60s"
+       hx-trigger="load, every 60s, tags-changed"
        hx-swap="innerHTML">
     <div class="empty">loading…</div>
   </div>

app/templates/partials/news.html

@@ -1,11 +1,30 @@
+{% if tag_vocabulary %}
+<div class="news-tags" data-include="{{ active_include|join(',') }}" data-exclude="{{ active_exclude|join(',') }}">
+  {% for tag in tag_vocabulary %}
+  <button type="button" class="news-tag"
+          data-tag="{{ tag }}"
+          {% if tag in active_include %}data-state="include"{% elif tag in active_exclude %}data-state="exclude"{% endif %}
+          title="{{ tag_labels.get(tag, tag) }} — click to include only, shift-click to exclude">
+    {{ tag_labels.get(tag, tag) }}
+  </button>
+  {% endfor %}
+  {% if active_include or active_exclude %}
+  <button type="button" class="news-tag news-tag--clear" data-tag="" title="Clear all filters">clear</button>
+  {% endif %}
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+
 {% if not headlines %}
-<div class="empty">no headlines in window</div>
+<div class="empty">no headlines in window{% if active_include or active_exclude %} (after tag filter){% endif %}</div>
 {% else %}
 {% for h in headlines %}
 <div class="news-row">
   <span class="age">{{ h.age }}</span>
   <span class="source">{{ h.source }}</span>
   <a class="title" href="{{ h.url }}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">{{ h.title }}</a>
+  <span class="news-row__tags">
+    {% for t in h.tags or [] %}<span class="tag-chip" data-tag="{{ t }}">{{ tag_labels.get(t, t) }}</span>{% endfor %}
+  </span>
   {% if h.iso %}
   <time class="local" datetime="{{ h.iso }}" title="{{ h.iso }}">{{ h.utc_short }}</time>
   {% else %}

tests/test_news_tagging.py

@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+"""Tests for the deterministic half of news_tagging: vocabulary filtering
+and JSON-response parsing. The LLM call itself isn't exercised."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+from app.services.news_tagging import (
+    MAX_TAGS_PER_HEADLINE,
+    TAG_LABELS,
+    TAG_VOCABULARY,
+    _parse_batch_response,
+    _validate_tags,
+)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Vocabulary integrity
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_every_vocab_tag_has_a_label():
+    """Display labels must cover every tag — missing keys would render
+    the raw machine-name in the UI."""
+    for t in TAG_VOCABULARY:
+        assert t in TAG_LABELS, f"missing label for {t}"
+
+
+def test_other_is_the_fallback_tag():
+    assert "other" in TAG_VOCABULARY
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# _validate_tags
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_validate_drops_unknown_tags():
+    out = _validate_tags(["markets", "wibble", "tech"])
+    assert out == ["markets", "tech"]
+
+
+def test_validate_normalises_spaces_to_hyphens():
+    """Common drift: model returns 'monetary policy' instead of
+    'monetary-policy'. We normalise."""
+    out = _validate_tags(["monetary policy"])
+    assert out == ["monetary-policy"]
+
+
+def test_validate_normalises_case():
+    out = _validate_tags(["MARKETS", "Geopolitics"])
+    assert out == ["markets", "geopolitics"]
+
+
+def test_validate_caps_at_max_tags():
+    out = _validate_tags(["markets", "tech", "china", "economy", "energy"])
+    assert len(out) == MAX_TAGS_PER_HEADLINE
+
+
+def test_validate_dedupes():
+    out = _validate_tags(["markets", "markets", "tech"])
+    assert out == ["markets", "tech"]
+
+
+def test_validate_rejects_non_list():
+    assert _validate_tags(None) == []
+    assert _validate_tags("markets") == []
+    assert _validate_tags({"tag": "markets"}) == []
+
+
+def test_validate_skips_non_string_entries():
+    out = _validate_tags(["markets", 42, None, "tech"])
+    assert out == ["markets", "tech"]
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# _parse_batch_response
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_parse_basic_json_array():
+    raw = '[{"id": 1, "tags": ["markets", "tech"]}, {"id": 2, "tags": ["china"]}]'
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1, 2})
+    assert out == {1: ["markets", "tech"], 2: ["china"]}
+
+
+def test_parse_strips_leading_prose():
+    """Models occasionally prepend 'Here is the output:' before the JSON."""
+    raw = 'Sure! Here are the tags:\n[{"id": 1, "tags": ["markets"]}]'
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1})
+    assert out == {1: ["markets"]}
+
+
+def test_parse_strips_markdown_fences():
+    raw = "```json\n[{\"id\": 1, \"tags\": [\"tech\"]}]\n```"
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1})
+    assert out == {1: ["tech"]}
+
+
+def test_parse_drops_unexpected_ids():
+    raw = '[{"id": 99, "tags": ["markets"]}, {"id": 1, "tags": ["tech"]}]'
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1, 2})
+    assert out == {1: ["tech"]}
+
+
+def test_parse_empty_tags_falls_back_to_other():
+    """An item whose tags list ends up empty after validation gets
+    tagged 'other' so the row is marked tagged, not left NULL."""
+    raw = '[{"id": 1, "tags": ["nonsense"]}]'
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1})
+    assert out == {1: ["other"]}
+
+
+def test_parse_unparseable_returns_empty():
+    """Garbage in → empty out. The caller leaves those rows untagged
+    so they get retried on the next run."""
+    assert _parse_batch_response("nope, no JSON here", {1}) == {}
+    assert _parse_batch_response("[invalid json", {1}) == {}
+
+
+def test_parse_ignores_non_dict_items():
+    raw = '[{"id": 1, "tags": ["markets"]}, "lol", null, {"id": 2, "tags": ["tech"]}]'
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1, 2})
+    assert out == {1: ["markets"], 2: ["tech"]}
+
+
+def test_parse_handles_string_id_coercion():
+    """Some models render the id as a string. We coerce."""
+    raw = '[{"id": "1", "tags": ["markets"]}]'
+    out = _parse_batch_response(raw, {1})
+    assert out == {1: ["markets"]}