Overheard is Lenny Rachitsky's official Marketplace template for watching Reddit, Hacker News, news sites, and X for third-party mentions of your name, brand, and URLs, then sending a short weekday digest when something clears the bar. This review covers its stated workflow, setup steps, and boundaries.
Last checked: November 6, 2026 How we review: based on the official listing and its published instructions; we don't install bots or connect accounts.
Open the official Overheard listing.
What it does
The listing gives the template one job: find real third-party mentions of the names, brands, and URLs on your watch list, then deliver a short weekday digest in chat. It stays quiet on dead days, never invents hits, and is not positioned as a general research assistant or a social poster.
Each hit needs a real URL and a one-line gist. The bar is notable third-party mentions. The instructions say to skip your own posts, your own URLs, spam, bots, and duplicate syndication. On a dead day it stays quiet with one quiet line at most, and it should not send a "no mentions today" note.
Working state includes a dated ledger at /workspace/overheard-YYYY-MM-DD.md for each sweep. Skills cover the core mention workflow and a first-run watch-list interview, which you can rerun when you want to change names, brands, URLs, or sources.
On first run, the instructions say it introduces itself in one line and goes straight to that interview, without greeting you by a creator's personal name.
Who it is for
It is a reasonable fit for founders and operators who want a short weekday read of what other people said about their name or brand, without living in every feed. It is useful when you can name the exact strings and URLs worth watching.
It is not a fit if you need a 30-day topic study, a competitor product teardown, or a bot that posts replies on your behalf.
Integrations and inputs
Default sources are Reddit, Hacker News, news, and X. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are opt-in. The instructions say not to add LinkedIn unless you ask.
Named integrations are optional: X, to search posts and read accounts and improve X coverage over live web search, and Slack, to deliver the weekday digest to a channel you approve. The listing also says no niche social APIs are required, and that live web search and the computer's browser remain available.
The page does not publish permission scopes or a setup duration. Connect the narrowest destination you need after you have reviewed one manual digest.
Routines
One routine is listed: Daily mention monitor. It is a paused weekday-morning mention sweep, created after the watch-list interview, with a default hour of 8:30 local. The listing says to enable it only when you say so. Digests of third-party hits go to chat, and dead days stay quiet.
Ask your copy for the trigger, watch list, sources, and destination before turning it on.
Safety check
Safety: Overheard searches public sources for the names, brands, and URLs you add and may send digests to Slack if you approve that destination; it says it drafts in chat by default, never posts on your behalf, and never sends externally unless you ask, so check the watch list, optional X and Slack connections, source opt-ins, and the paused Daily mention monitor in the Add preview.
The risk is mostly about what it searches and where a digest can go. A watch list can include unreleased product names or private URLs. Share only strings you are comfortable having searched in public sources.
The no-invention and real-URL rules are useful instructions, but they do not independently verify that every gist is complete or correctly attributed. These are the template's stated boundaries, not proof of platform-enforced restrictions.
Step-by-step installation
- Open the official listing and confirm the creator is Lenny Rachitsky.
- Choose the install action. The template page shows Import Bot; Marketplace cards show Add, and the official guide uses Add to Grok Bot.
- Review the context and integrations in the app preview. Confirm the optional X and Slack connections match what you want watched or notified.
- Choose Add Bot only after that review. The official guide describes a separate bot copy, not a clone of the creator's environment.
- Reinstall any plugins your copy needs, then complete the watch-list interview with the names, brands, and URLs you actually want watched.
- Ask for one manual sweep first. Leave Daily mention monitor off until you have read a digest and confirmed the destination.
The listing does not give an installation-time estimate.
Three example tasks
- Set the watch list: "Watch these names, brand strings, and URLs. Keep default sources on, leave LinkedIn off, and show me how you will write each hit."
- Run a one-off sweep: "Run a mention sweep now, save the ledger, and return only hits with a real URL and a one-line gist."
- Review the routine: "Show me the Daily mention monitor trigger, hour, sources, and destination before I decide whether to enable it."
Limitations and when not to use it
Do not use it as a general research desk, a competitor teardown tool, or a poster. Do not expect a recap on days with nothing notable. If you need what people said about a topic rather than mentions of your own name, last30days is a closer match.
The public page does not document permission scopes or a complete opt-in setup duration. Confirm those details in your copy if your workflow depends on them.
Alternative templates
- last30days fits when the question is what people said about a topic in the last 30 days.
- Stalk Bot fits when you want named competitors watched across product, mail, pricing, and jobs.
- X Brief fits when you only need a short daily brief of accounts and topics you pick on X.
FAQ
Does Overheard post or send mentions for me?
No. The listing says digests stay in this chat by default, it never posts on your behalf, and Slack delivery needs your yes first.
Does the Daily mention monitor start as soon as I add it?
No. The routine is created after the watch-list interview as a paused weekday-morning sweep and should be enabled only when you say so.
Which sources does it watch by default?
Reddit, Hacker News, news, and X are on by default. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are opt-in. LinkedIn is added only if you ask.
Compare the competitive research templates, or return to the Grok Bot templates hub.