diff --git a/packages/api/package.json b/packages/api/package.json
index 554e99f45..8d4bad8d2 100644
--- a/packages/api/package.json
+++ b/packages/api/package.json
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     "@google-cloud/storage": "^7.0.1",
     "@google-cloud/tasks": "^4.0.0",
     "@graphql-tools/utils": "^9.1.1",
+    "@langchain/anthropic": "^0.1.16",
     "@langchain/openai": "^0.0.14",
     "@notionhq/client": "^2.2.14",
     "@omnivore/content-handler": "1.0.0",
diff --git a/packages/api/src/jobs/ai/create_digest.ts b/packages/api/src/jobs/ai/create_digest.ts
index a3be248a0..bd2c29497 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/jobs/ai/create_digest.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/jobs/ai/create_digest.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+import { ChatAnthropic } from '@langchain/anthropic'
 import { JsonOutputParser } from '@langchain/core/output_parsers'
-import { PromptTemplate } from '@langchain/core/prompts'
+import { ChatPromptTemplate, PromptTemplate } from '@langchain/core/prompts'
 import { OpenAI } from '@langchain/openai'
 import {
   htmlToSpeechFile,
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ import {
 } from '@omnivore/text-to-speech-handler'
 import axios from 'axios'
 import showdown from 'showdown'
+import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid'
 import yaml from 'yaml'
 import { LibraryItem } from '../../entity/library_item'
 import { TaskState } from '../../generated/graphql'
@@ -18,14 +20,15 @@ import {
   searchLibraryItems,
 } from '../../services/library_item'
 import { findDeviceTokensByUserId } from '../../services/user_device_tokens'
+import { wordsCount } from '../../utils/helpers'
 import { logger } from '../../utils/logger'
 import { htmlToMarkdown } from '../../utils/parser'
 import { sendMulticastPushNotifications } from '../../utils/sendNotification'
 
 export type CreateDigestJobSchedule = 'daily' | 'weekly'
 
-export interface CreateDigestJobData {
-  id: string
+export interface CreateDigestData {
+  id?: string
   userId: string
   voices?: string[]
   language?: string
@@ -113,18 +116,17 @@ const getPreferencesList = async (userId: string): Promise<LibraryItem[]> => {
   //   reason: "some older items that were interacted with"
 
   const preferences = await Promise.all(
-    digestDefinition.preferenceSelectors.map(async (selector) => {
-      // use the selector to fetch items
-      const results = await searchLibraryItems(
-        {
-          query: selector.query,
-          size: selector.count,
-        },
-        userId
-      )
-
-      return results.libraryItems
-    })
+    digestDefinition.preferenceSelectors.map(
+      async (selector) =>
+        // use the selector to fetch items
+        await searchLibraryItems(
+          {
+            query: selector.query,
+            size: selector.count,
+          },
+          userId
+        )
+    )
   )
 
   // deduplicate and flatten the items
@@ -137,11 +139,17 @@ const getPreferencesList = async (userId: string): Promise<LibraryItem[]> => {
   return dedupedPreferences
 }
 
+const randomSelectCandidates = (candidates: LibraryItem[]): LibraryItem[] => {
+  // randomly choose at most 25 candidates
+  return candidates.sort(() => 0.5 - Math.random()).slice(0, 25)
+}
+
 // Makes multiple DB queries and combines the results
 const getCandidatesList = async (
   userId: string,
   selectedLibraryItemIds?: string[]
 ): Promise<LibraryItem[]> => {
+  console.time('getCandidatesList')
   // use the queries from the digest definitions to lookup preferences
   // There should be a list of multiple queries we use. For now we can
   // hardcode these queries:
@@ -153,28 +161,28 @@ const getCandidatesList = async (
     return findLibraryItemsByIds(selectedLibraryItemIds, userId)
   }
 
-  // get the existing candidate ids from cache
-  const key = `digest:${userId}:existingCandidateIds`
-  const existingCandidateIds = await redisDataSource.redisClient?.get(key)
+  // // get the existing candidate ids from cache
+  // const key = `digest:${userId}:existingCandidateIds`
+  // const existingCandidateIds = await redisDataSource.redisClient?.get(key)
 
-  logger.info('existingCandidateIds: ', { existingCandidateIds })
+  // logger.info('existingCandidateIds: ', { existingCandidateIds })
 
   const candidates = await Promise.all(
-    digestDefinition.candidateSelectors.map(async (selector) => {
-      // use the selector to fetch items
-      const results = await searchLibraryItems(
-        {
-          includeContent: true,
-          query: existingCandidateIds
-            ? `(${selector.query}) -includes:${existingCandidateIds}` // exclude the existing candidates
-            : selector.query,
-          size: selector.count,
-        },
-        userId
-      )
-
-      return results.libraryItems
-    })
+    digestDefinition.candidateSelectors.map(
+      async (selector) =>
+        // use the selector to fetch items
+        await searchLibraryItems(
+          {
+            includeContent: true,
+            // query: existingCandidateIds
+            //   ? `(${selector.query}) -includes:${existingCandidateIds}` // exclude the existing candidates
+            //   : selector.query,
+            query: selector.query,
+            size: selector.count,
+          },
+          userId
+        )
+    )
   )
 
   // deduplicate and flatten the items
@@ -188,24 +196,38 @@ const getCandidatesList = async (
       readableContent: htmlToMarkdown(item.readableContent),
     })) // convert the html content to markdown
 
+  logger.info(
+    'dedupedCandidates: ',
+    dedupedCandidates.map((item) => item.title)
+  )
+
+  console.timeEnd('getCandidatesList')
+
   if (dedupedCandidates.length === 0) {
     logger.info('No new candidates found')
 
-    if (existingCandidateIds) {
-      // reuse the existing candidates
-      const existingIds = existingCandidateIds.split(',')
-      return findLibraryItemsByIds(existingIds, userId)
-    }
+    // if (existingCandidateIds) {
+    //   // reuse the existing candidates
+    //   const existingIds = existingCandidateIds.split(',')
+    //   return findLibraryItemsByIds(existingIds, userId)
+    // }
 
     // return empty array if no existing candidates
     return []
   }
 
-  // store the ids in cache
-  const candidateIds = dedupedCandidates.map((item) => item.id).join(',')
-  await redisDataSource.redisClient?.set(key, candidateIds)
+  const selectedCandidates = randomSelectCandidates(dedupedCandidates)
 
-  return dedupedCandidates
+  logger.info(
+    'selectedCandidates: ',
+    selectedCandidates.map((item) => item.title)
+  )
+
+  // // store the ids in cache
+  // const candidateIds = selectedCandidates.map((item) => item.id).join(',')
+  // await redisDataSource.redisClient?.set(key, candidateIds)
+
+  return selectedCandidates
 }
 
 // Takes a list of library items, and uses a prompt to generate
@@ -220,7 +242,7 @@ const createUserProfile = async (
     },
   })
 
-  const contextualTemplate = PromptTemplate.fromTemplate(
+  const contextualTemplate = ChatPromptTemplate.fromTemplate(
     digestDefinition.zeroShot.userPreferencesProfilePrompt
   )
 
@@ -347,31 +369,58 @@ const chooseRankedSelections = (rankedCandidates: RankedItem[]) => {
 const summarizeItems = async (
   rankedCandidates: RankedItem[]
 ): Promise<RankedItem[]> => {
-  const llm = new OpenAI({
-    modelName: 'gpt-4-0125-preview',
-    configuration: {
-      apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
-    },
+  console.time('summarizeItems')
+  // const llm = new OpenAI({
+  //   modelName: 'gpt-4-0125-preview',
+  //   configuration: {
+  //     apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
+  //   },
+  // })
+
+  const llm = new ChatAnthropic({
+    apiKey: process.env.CLAUDE_API_KEY,
+    model: 'claude-3-sonnet-20240229',
   })
 
-  const contextualTemplate = PromptTemplate.fromTemplate(
+  const contextualTemplate = ChatPromptTemplate.fromTemplate(
     digestDefinition.summaryPrompt
   )
-  const chain = contextualTemplate.pipe(llm)
 
-  // send all the ranked candidates to openAI at once in a batch
-  const summaries = await chain.batch(
-    rankedCandidates.map((item) => ({
-      title: item.libraryItem.title,
-      author: item.libraryItem.author ?? '',
-      content: item.libraryItem.readableContent, // markdown content
-    }))
+  // // send all the ranked candidates to openAI at once in a batch
+  // const summaries = await chain.batch(
+  //   rankedCandidates.map((item) => ({
+  //     title: item.libraryItem.title,
+  //     author: item.libraryItem.author ?? '',
+  //     content: item.libraryItem.readableContent, // markdown content
+  //   }))
+  // )
+
+  const prompts = await Promise.all(
+    rankedCandidates.map(async (item) => {
+      try {
+        return await contextualTemplate.format({
+          title: item.libraryItem.title,
+          author: item.libraryItem.author ?? '',
+          content: item.libraryItem.readableContent, // markdown content
+        })
+      } catch (error) {
+        logger.error('summarizeItems error', error)
+        return ''
+      }
+    })
   )
+  logger.info('prompts: ', prompts)
+
+  const summaries = await llm.batch(prompts)
+  logger.info('summaries: ', summaries)
 
   summaries.forEach(
-    (summary, index) => (rankedCandidates[index].summary = summary)
+    (summary, index) =>
+      (rankedCandidates[index].summary = summary.content.toString())
   )
 
+  console.timeEnd('summarizeItems')
+
   return rankedCandidates
 }
 
@@ -380,6 +429,7 @@ const generateSpeechFiles = (
   rankedItems: RankedItem[],
   options: SSMLOptions
 ): SpeechFile[] => {
+  console.time('generateSpeechFiles')
   // convert the summaries from markdown to HTML
   const converter = new showdown.Converter({
     backslashEscapesHTMLTags: true,
@@ -398,6 +448,8 @@ const generateSpeechFiles = (
     })
   })
 
+  console.timeEnd('generateSpeechFiles')
+
   return speechFiles
 }
 
@@ -405,7 +457,10 @@ const generateSpeechFiles = (
 // basic checks to make sure the summaries are good.
 const filterSummaries = (summaries: RankedItem[]): RankedItem[] => {
   return summaries.filter(
-    (item) => item.summary.length < item.libraryItem.readableContent.length
+    (item) =>
+      wordsCount(item.summary) > 100 &&
+      wordsCount(item.summary) < 1000 &&
+      item.summary.length < item.libraryItem.readableContent.length
   )
 }
 
@@ -434,7 +489,11 @@ const generateByline = (summaries: RankedItem[]): string =>
     .map((item) => item.libraryItem.author)
     .join(', ')
 
-export const createDigestJob = async (jobData: CreateDigestJobData) => {
+export const createDigest = async (jobData: CreateDigestData) => {
+  console.time('createDigestJob')
+
+  // generate a unique id for the digest if not provided for scheduled jobs
+  const digestId = jobData.id ?? uuid()
   try {
     digestDefinition = await fetchDigestDefinition()
 
@@ -445,18 +504,23 @@ export const createDigestJob = async (jobData: CreateDigestJobData) => {
     if (candidates.length === 0) {
       logger.info('No candidates found')
       return writeDigest(jobData.userId, {
-        id: jobData.id,
+        id: digestId,
         jobState: TaskState.Succeeded,
         title: 'No articles found',
       })
     }
 
-    const userProfile = await findOrCreateUserProfile(jobData.userId)
-    const rankedCandidates = await rankCandidates(candidates, userProfile)
-    const { finalSelections, rankedTopics } =
-      chooseRankedSelections(rankedCandidates)
+    // const userProfile = await findOrCreateUserProfile(jobData.userId)
+    // const rankedCandidates = await rankCandidates(candidates, userProfile)
+    // const { finalSelections, rankedTopics } =
+    //   chooseRankedSelections(rankedCandidates)
 
-    const summaries = await summarizeItems(finalSelections)
+    const selections = candidates.map((item) => ({
+      topic: '',
+      libraryItem: item,
+      summary: '',
+    }))
+    const summaries = await summarizeItems(selections)
 
     const filteredSummaries = filterSummaries(summaries)
 
@@ -467,7 +531,7 @@ export const createDigestJob = async (jobData: CreateDigestJobData) => {
     })
     const title = generateTitle(summaries)
     const digest: Digest = {
-      id: jobData.id,
+      id: digestId,
       title,
       content: generateContent(summaries),
       jobState: TaskState.Succeeded,
@@ -480,7 +544,8 @@ export const createDigestJob = async (jobData: CreateDigestJobData) => {
         wordCount: speechFiles[index].wordCount,
       })),
       createdAt: new Date(),
-      description: generateDescription(summaries, rankedTopics),
+      description: '',
+      // description: generateDescription(summaries, rankedTopics),
       byline: generateByline(summaries),
       urlsToAudio: [],
     }
@@ -490,7 +555,7 @@ export const createDigestJob = async (jobData: CreateDigestJobData) => {
     logger.error('createDigestJob error', error)
 
     await writeDigest(jobData.userId, {
-      id: jobData.id,
+      id: digestId,
       jobState: TaskState.Failed,
     })
   } finally {
@@ -507,5 +572,7 @@ export const createDigestJob = async (jobData: CreateDigestJobData) => {
 
       await sendMulticastPushNotifications(jobData.userId, message, 'reminder')
     }
+
+    console.timeEnd('createDigestJob')
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/api/src/jobs/trigger_rule.ts b/packages/api/src/jobs/trigger_rule.ts
index dcc1c902f..27b3a6a64 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/jobs/trigger_rule.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/jobs/trigger_rule.ts
@@ -243,14 +243,13 @@ const triggerActions = async (
     } catch (error) {
       if (error instanceof RequiresSearchQueryError) {
         logger.info('Failed to filter items by metadata, running search query')
-        const searchResult = await searchLibraryItems(
+        results = await searchLibraryItems(
           {
             query: `includes:${data.id} AND (${rule.filter})`,
             size: 1,
           },
           userId
         )
-        results = searchResult.libraryItems
       } else {
         logger.error('Error filtering item events', error)
         await markRuleAsFailed(rule.id, userId)
diff --git a/packages/api/src/queue-processor.ts b/packages/api/src/queue-processor.ts
index 89448b96f..2d0bf5881 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/queue-processor.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/queue-processor.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import { appDataSource } from './data_source'
 import { env } from './env'
 import { TaskState } from './generated/graphql'
 import { aiSummarize, AI_SUMMARIZE_JOB_NAME } from './jobs/ai-summarize'
-import { createDigestJob, CREATE_DIGEST_JOB } from './jobs/ai/create_digest'
+import { createDigest, CREATE_DIGEST_JOB } from './jobs/ai/create_digest'
 import { bulkAction, BULK_ACTION_JOB_NAME } from './jobs/bulk_action'
 import { callWebhook, CALL_WEBHOOK_JOB_NAME } from './jobs/call_webhook'
 import {
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ export const createWorker = (connection: ConnectionOptions) =>
         case FORWARD_EMAIL_JOB:
           return forwardEmailJob(job.data)
         case CREATE_DIGEST_JOB:
-          return createDigestJob(job.data)
+          return createDigest(job.data)
         default:
           logger.warning(`[queue-processor] unhandled job: ${job.name}`)
       }
diff --git a/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts b/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts
index 874d235da..660474c7b 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/resolvers/article/index.ts
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ import {
   countLibraryItems,
   createOrUpdateLibraryItem,
   findLibraryItemsByPrefix,
-  searchLibraryItems,
+  searchAndCountLibraryItems,
   softDeleteLibraryItem,
   sortParamsToSort,
   updateLibraryItem,
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ export const searchResolver = authorized<
     return { errorCodes: [SearchErrorCode.QueryTooLong] }
   }
 
-  const { libraryItems, count } = await searchLibraryItems(
+  const { libraryItems, count } = await searchAndCountLibraryItems(
     {
       from: Number(startCursor),
       size: first + 1, // fetch one more item to get next cursor
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ export const updatesSinceResolver = authorized<
     folder ? ' in:' + folder : ''
   } sort:${sort.by}-${sort.order}`
 
-  const { libraryItems, count } = await searchLibraryItems(
+  const { libraryItems, count } = await searchAndCountLibraryItems(
     {
       from: Number(startCursor),
       size: size + 1, // fetch one more item to get next cursor
diff --git a/packages/api/src/routers/digest_router.ts b/packages/api/src/routers/digest_router.ts
index 86f0a4636..6cbdd1e1d 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/routers/digest_router.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/routers/digest_router.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import cors from 'cors'
 import express from 'express'
-import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid'
 import { env } from '../env'
 import { TaskState } from '../generated/graphql'
 import { CreateDigestJobSchedule } from '../jobs/ai/create_digest'
@@ -66,12 +65,6 @@ export function digestRouter() {
     }
 
     try {
-      const user = await findActiveUser(userId)
-      if (!user) {
-        logger.info(`User not found: ${userId}`)
-        return res.sendStatus(401)
-      }
-
       const feature = await findGrantedFeatureByName(
         FeatureName.AIDigest,
         userId
@@ -95,9 +88,11 @@ export function digestRouter() {
       // enqueue job and return job id
       const result = await enqueueCreateDigest(
         {
-          id: uuid(), // generate job id
           userId,
-          ...data,
+          voices: data.voices,
+          language: data.language,
+          rate: data.rate,
+          libraryItemIds: data.libraryItemIds,
         },
         data.schedule
       )
@@ -131,12 +126,6 @@ export function digestRouter() {
     }
 
     try {
-      const user = await findActiveUser(userId)
-      if (!user) {
-        logger.info(`User not found: ${userId}`)
-        return res.sendStatus(401)
-      }
-
       const feature = await findGrantedFeatureByName(
         FeatureName.AIDigest,
         userId
diff --git a/packages/api/src/services/library_item.ts b/packages/api/src/services/library_item.ts
index 47ec7bba8..d91cfa10d 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/services/library_item.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/services/library_item.ts
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ import {
   EntityManager,
   FindOptionsWhere,
   ObjectLiteral,
-  SelectQueryBuilder,
 } from 'typeorm'
 import { QueryDeepPartialEntity } from 'typeorm/query-builder/QueryPartialEntity'
 import { ReadingProgressDataSource } from '../datasources/reading_progress_data_source'
+import { appDataSource } from '../data_source'
 import { EntityLabel } from '../entity/entity_label'
 import { Highlight } from '../entity/highlight'
 import { Label } from '../entity/label'
@@ -18,12 +18,7 @@ import { env } from '../env'
 import { BulkActionType, InputMaybe, SortParams } from '../generated/graphql'
 import { createPubSubClient, EntityEvent, EntityType } from '../pubsub'
 import { redisDataSource } from '../redis_data_source'
-import {
-  authTrx,
-  getColumns,
-  getRepository,
-  queryBuilderToRawSql,
-} from '../repository'
+import { authTrx, getColumns, queryBuilderToRawSql } from '../repository'
 import { libraryItemRepository } from '../repository/library_item'
 import { Merge, PickTuple } from '../util'
 import { deepDelete, setRecentlySavedItemInRedis } from '../utils/helpers'
@@ -619,11 +614,13 @@ export const buildQueryString = (
   return serialize(searchQuery)
 }
 
-export const buildQuery = (
-  queryBuilder: SelectQueryBuilder<LibraryItem>,
+export const createSearchQueryBuilder = (
   args: SearchArgs,
-  userId: string
+  userId: string,
+  em = appDataSource.manager
 ) => {
+  const queryBuilder = em.createQueryBuilder(LibraryItem, 'library_item')
+
   // select all columns except content
   const selects: Select[] = getColumns(libraryItemRepository)
     .filter(
@@ -688,44 +685,54 @@ export const buildQuery = (
   orders.forEach((order) => {
     queryBuilder.addOrderBy(order.by, order.order, order.nulls)
   })
+
+  return queryBuilder
 }
 
 export const countLibraryItems = async (args: SearchArgs, userId: string) => {
-  const queryBuilder =
-    getRepository(LibraryItem).createQueryBuilder('library_item')
-
-  buildQuery(queryBuilder, args, userId)
-
-  return queryBuilder.getCount()
+  return authTrx(
+    async (tx) => createSearchQueryBuilder(args, userId, tx).getCount(),
+    undefined,
+    userId
+  )
 }
 
 export const searchLibraryItems = async (
   args: SearchArgs,
   userId: string
-): Promise<{ libraryItems: LibraryItem[]; count: number }> => {
+): Promise<LibraryItem[]> => {
   const { from = 0, size = 10 } = args
 
+  if (size === 0) {
+    // return only count if size is 0 because limit 0 is not allowed in typeorm
+    return []
+  }
+
   return authTrx(
-    async (tx) => {
-      const queryBuilder = tx.createQueryBuilder(LibraryItem, 'library_item')
-      buildQuery(queryBuilder, args, userId)
-
-      const count = await queryBuilder.getCount()
-      if (size === 0) {
-        // return only count if size is 0 because limit 0 is not allowed in typeorm
-        return { libraryItems: [], count }
-      }
-
-      // add pagination
-      const libraryItems = await queryBuilder.skip(from).take(size).getMany()
-
-      return { libraryItems, count }
-    },
+    async (tx) =>
+      createSearchQueryBuilder(args, userId, tx)
+        .skip(from)
+        .take(size)
+        .getMany(),
     undefined,
     userId
   )
 }
 
+export const searchAndCountLibraryItems = async (
+  args: SearchArgs,
+  userId: string
+): Promise<{ libraryItems: LibraryItem[]; count: number }> => {
+  const count = await countLibraryItems(args, userId)
+  if (count === 0) {
+    return { libraryItems: [], count }
+  }
+
+  const libraryItems = await searchLibraryItems(args, userId)
+
+  return { libraryItems, count }
+}
+
 export const findRecentLibraryItems = async (
   userId: string,
   limit = 1000,
diff --git a/packages/api/src/utils/createTask.ts b/packages/api/src/utils/createTask.ts
index a8c6e2fb1..d74f2ae10 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/utils/createTask.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/utils/createTask.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import {
 } from '../generated/graphql'
 import { AISummarizeJobData, AI_SUMMARIZE_JOB_NAME } from '../jobs/ai-summarize'
 import {
-  CreateDigestJobData,
+  CreateDigestData,
   CreateDigestJobResponse,
   CreateDigestJobSchedule,
   CREATE_DIGEST_JOB,
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ export const enqueueSendEmail = async (jobData: SendEmailJobData) => {
 }
 
 export const enqueueCreateDigest = async (
-  data: CreateDigestJobData,
+  data: CreateDigestData,
   schedule?: CreateDigestJobSchedule
 ): Promise<CreateDigestJobResponse> => {
   const queue = await getBackendQueue()
@@ -864,6 +864,8 @@ export const enqueueCreateDigest = async (
     throw new Error('No queue found')
   }
 
+  // generate unique id for the digest
+  data.id = uuid()
   // enqueue create digest job immediately
   const jobId = `${CREATE_DIGEST_JOB}_${data.userId}`
   const job = await queue.add(CREATE_DIGEST_JOB, data, {
@@ -890,9 +892,9 @@ export const enqueueCreateDigest = async (
   await writeDigest(data.userId, digest)
 
   if (schedule) {
+    // remove existing repeated job if any
     await Promise.all(
       Object.keys(CRON_PATTERNS).map(async (key) => {
-        // remove existing repeated job if any
         const isDeleted = await queue.removeRepeatable(
           CREATE_DIGEST_JOB,
           {
@@ -909,6 +911,9 @@ export const enqueueCreateDigest = async (
     )
 
     // schedule repeated job
+    // delete the digest id to avoid duplication
+    delete data.id
+
     const job = await queue.add(CREATE_DIGEST_JOB, data, {
       attempts: 1,
       priority: getJobPriority(CREATE_DIGEST_JOB),
diff --git a/packages/api/test/routers/auth.test.ts b/packages/api/test/routers/auth.test.ts
index 32b438047..415231149 100644
--- a/packages/api/test/routers/auth.test.ts
+++ b/packages/api/test/routers/auth.test.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { userRepository } from '../../src/repository/user'
 import { isValidSignupRequest } from '../../src/routers/auth/auth_router'
 import { AuthProvider } from '../../src/routers/auth/auth_types'
 import { createPendingUserToken } from '../../src/routers/auth/jwt_helpers'
-import { searchLibraryItems } from '../../src/services/library_item'
+import { searchAndCountLibraryItems } from '../../src/services/library_item'
 import { deleteUser, updateUser } from '../../src/services/user'
 import {
   comparePassword,
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ describe('auth router', () => {
           'web'
         ).expect(200)
         const user = await userRepository.findOneByOrFail({ name })
-        const { count } = await searchLibraryItems(
+        const { count } = await searchAndCountLibraryItems(
           { query: 'in:inbox sort:read-desc is:reading' },
           user.id
         )
@@ -552,7 +552,10 @@ describe('auth router', () => {
           'ios'
         ).expect(200)
         const user = await userRepository.findOneByOrFail({ name })
-        const { count } = await searchLibraryItems({ query: 'in:all' }, user.id)
+        const { count } = await searchAndCountLibraryItems(
+          { query: 'in:all' },
+          user.id
+        )
 
         expect(count).to.eql(4)
       })
diff --git a/packages/text-to-speech/mocha-config.json b/packages/text-to-speech/mocha-config.json
index 5a2631f42..8e24eb08b 100644
--- a/packages/text-to-speech/mocha-config.json
+++ b/packages/text-to-speech/mocha-config.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
     "extension": ["ts"],
-    "spec": "test/**/*.test.ts"
+    "spec": "test/**/*.test.ts",
+    "timeout": 10000
   }
diff --git a/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts b/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts
index beebd4a71..e8e379a8b 100644
--- a/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts
+++ b/packages/text-to-speech/src/htmlToSsml.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import {
   SentenceTokenizerNew,
   WordPunctTokenizer,
 } from 'natural'
+import { isElement } from 'underscore'
 
 // this code needs to be kept in sync with the
 // frontend code in: useReadingProgressAnchor
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ const DEFAULT_LANGUAGE = 'en-US'
 const DEFAULT_VOICE = 'en-US-JennyNeural'
 const DEFAULT_SECONDARY_VOICE = 'en-US-GuyNeural'
 const DEFAULT_RATE = '1.1'
+const ELEMENT_INDEX_ATTRIBUTE = 'data-omnivore-anchor-idx'
 
 const ANCHOR_ELEMENTS_BLOCKED_ATTRIBUTES = [
   'omnivore-highlight-id',
@@ -74,6 +76,19 @@ const TOP_LEVEL_TAGS = [
   'LI',
 ]
 
+const SKIP_TAGS = [
+  'SCRIPT',
+  'STYLE',
+  'IMG',
+  'FIGURE',
+  'FIGCAPTION',
+  'IFRAME',
+  'CODE',
+]
+
+const getAnchorIndex = (element: Element): number =>
+  Number(element.getAttribute(ELEMENT_INDEX_ATTRIBUTE))
+
 function parseDomTree(pageNode: Element) {
   if (!pageNode || pageNode.childNodes.length == 0) {
     console.log('no child nodes found')
@@ -108,7 +123,7 @@ function parseDomTree(pageNode: Element) {
   visitedNodeList.forEach((node, index) => {
     // We start at index 3, because the frontend starts two nodes above us
     // on the #readability-page-1 element that wraps the entire content.
-    node.setAttribute('data-omnivore-anchor-idx', (index + 3).toString())
+    node.setAttribute(ELEMENT_INDEX_ATTRIBUTE, (index + 3).toString())
   })
   return visitedNodeList
 }
@@ -146,18 +161,8 @@ function emitElement(
   element: Element,
   isTopLevel: boolean
 ) {
-  const SKIP_TAGS = [
-    'SCRIPT',
-    'STYLE',
-    'IMG',
-    'FIGURE',
-    'FIGCAPTION',
-    'IFRAME',
-    'CODE',
-  ]
-
   const topLevelTags = ssmlTagsForTopLevelElement()
-  const idx = element.getAttribute('data-omnivore-anchor-idx')
+  const idx = getAnchorIndex(element)
   let maxVisitedIdx = Number(idx)
 
   if (isTopLevel) {
@@ -166,6 +171,11 @@ function emitElement(
 
   for (const child of Array.from(element.childNodes)) {
     if (SKIP_TAGS.indexOf(child.nodeName) >= 0) {
+      // Skip unwanted tags and update the index
+      if (isElement(child)) {
+        const childIdx = getAnchorIndex(child)
+        maxVisitedIdx = Math.max(maxVisitedIdx, childIdx)
+      }
       continue
     }
 
@@ -180,8 +190,8 @@ function emitElement(
       }
       emitTextNode(textItems, cleanedText, child)
     }
-    if (child.nodeType == 1 /* Node.ELEMENT_NODE */) {
-      maxVisitedIdx = emitElement(textItems, child as HTMLElement, false)
+    if (isElement(child)) {
+      maxVisitedIdx = emitElement(textItems, child, false)
       if (child.nodeName === 'LI') {
         // add a new line after each list item
         emit(textItems, '\n')
@@ -265,6 +275,11 @@ export const stripEmojis = (text: string): string => {
   return text.replace(emojiRegex, '').replace(/\s+/g, ' ')
 }
 
+const filterUtterances = (utterances: Utterance[]): Utterance[] => {
+  const punctuationOrSpaceOnly = /^[\s.,;:!?]+$/
+  return utterances.filter((u) => !punctuationOrSpaceOnly.test(u.text))
+}
+
 const textToUtterances = ({
   wordTokenizer,
   idx,
@@ -309,7 +324,10 @@ const textToUtterances = ({
     const sentenceTokenizer = new SentenceTokenizerNew()
     sentences = sentenceTokenizer.tokenize(text)
   } catch (err) {
-    console.debug('Unable to tokenize sentences')
+    console.log(
+      'Unable to tokenize sentences, falling back to old tokenizer',
+      text
+    )
     // fallback to old sentence tokenizer
     const sentenceTokenizer = new SentenceTokenizer()
     sentences = sentenceTokenizer.tokenize(text)
@@ -369,6 +387,18 @@ const replaceSmartQuotes = (text: string): string => {
   return text.replace(/[\u2018\u2019]/g, "'").replace(/[\u201C\u201D]/g, '"')
 }
 
+// get the max idx of the element and its children
+const getMaxVisitedIdx = (element: Element): number => {
+  let maxVisitedIdx = getAnchorIndex(element)
+  for (const child of Array.from(element.childNodes)) {
+    if (isElement(child)) {
+      maxVisitedIdx = Math.max(maxVisitedIdx, getMaxVisitedIdx(child))
+    }
+  }
+
+  return maxVisitedIdx
+}
+
 export const htmlToSpeechFile = (htmlInput: HtmlInput): SpeechFile => {
   const { title, content, options } = htmlInput
   console.log('creating speech file with options:', options)
@@ -421,6 +451,12 @@ export const htmlToSpeechFile = (htmlInput: HtmlInput): SpeechFile => {
     const textItems: string[] = []
     const node = parsedNodes[i - 3]
 
+    // skip unwanted tags and update the index
+    if (SKIP_TAGS.includes(node.nodeName)) {
+      i = getMaxVisitedIdx(node)
+      continue
+    }
+
     if (TOP_LEVEL_TAGS.includes(node.nodeName) || hasSignificantText(node)) {
       // use paragraph as anchor
       const idx = i.toString()
@@ -441,10 +477,12 @@ export const htmlToSpeechFile = (htmlInput: HtmlInput): SpeechFile => {
     }
   }
 
+  const filteredUtterances = filterUtterances(utterances)
+
   return {
     wordCount: wordOffset,
     language,
     defaultVoice,
-    utterances,
+    utterances: filteredUtterances,
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts b/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts
index 88c23d386..62063c3d2 100644
--- a/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts
+++ b/packages/text-to-speech/test/htmlToSsml.test.ts
@@ -350,6 +350,41 @@ describe('convert HTML to Speech file', () => {
       options: TEST_OPTIONS,
     })
     expect(speechFile.utterances).to.have.lengthOf(2)
-    expect(speechFile.utterances[1].text).to.eql('McMeekin makes an extended case that Stalin was preparing to attack Nazi Germany when Hitler attacked him, that the two dictators were basically in a race to see who could mobilize to betray the other first — and that the initial Soviet debacle in 1941 happened in part because Stalin was also pushing his military toward an offensive alignment, and they were caught in a "mid-mobilization limbo."')
+    expect(speechFile.utterances[1].text).to.eql(
+      'McMeekin makes an extended case that Stalin was preparing to attack Nazi Germany when Hitler attacked him, that the two dictators were basically in a race to see who could mobilize to betray the other first — and that the initial Soviet debacle in 1941 happened in part because Stalin was also pushing his military toward an offensive alignment, and they were caught in a "mid-mobilization limbo."'
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('skip unwanted elements', () => {
+    const html = `<div class="page" id="readability-page-1" data-omnivore-anchor-idx="1">
+      <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="2">This is a test.</p>
+      <script data-omnivore-anchor-idx="3">alert('hello');</script>
+      <style data-omnivore-anchor-idx="4">body { color: red; }</style>
+      <iframe data-omnivore-anchor-idx="6" src="https://example.com">test</iframe>
+      <figcaption data-omnivore-anchor-idx="7">test</figcaption>
+      </div>`
+
+    const speechFile = htmlToSpeechFile({
+      content: html,
+      options: TEST_OPTIONS,
+    })
+    expect(speechFile.utterances).to.have.lengthOf(1)
+    expect(speechFile.utterances[0].text).to.eql('This is a test.')
+  })
+
+  it('filters out utterances with only punctuation or whitespace', () => {
+    const html = `<div class="page" id="readability-page-1" data-omnivore-anchor-idx="1">
+      <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="2">This is a test.</p>
+      <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="3">.</p>
+      <p data-omnivore-anchor-idx="4"> </p>
+      </div>`
+
+    const speechFile = htmlToSpeechFile({
+      content: html,
+      options: TEST_OPTIONS,
+    })
+
+    expect(speechFile.utterances).to.have.lengthOf(1)
+    expect(speechFile.utterances[0].text).to.eql('This is a test.')
   })
 })
diff --git a/packages/text-to-speech/tsconfig.json b/packages/text-to-speech/tsconfig.json
index 5b6ea3e00..7634a8d53 100644
--- a/packages/text-to-speech/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/text-to-speech/tsconfig.json
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@
     // Generate d.ts files
     "declaration": true
   },
-  "include": ["src"]
+  "include": ["src", "test"]
 }
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 08b76b456..960c4280a 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -50,6 +50,20 @@
     lodash "^4.17.21"
     resize-observer-polyfill "^1.5.1"
 
+"@anthropic-ai/sdk@^0.20.1":
+  version "0.20.7"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@anthropic-ai/sdk/-/sdk-0.20.7.tgz#b19b0e66ba070f928bbf583c06d76e6efdd93d5e"
+  integrity sha512-uyc+3WGLpe8ur6mSIKSab7P9JdBerTdmqb7popc/yROYLLCW/Ykyw4ZfjmN/cLmxjnAKnv5YUngzbPM0BJuGjg==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/node" "^18.11.18"
+    "@types/node-fetch" "^2.6.4"
+    abort-controller "^3.0.0"
+    agentkeepalive "^4.2.1"
+    form-data-encoder "1.7.2"
+    formdata-node "^4.3.2"
+    node-fetch "^2.6.7"
+    web-streams-polyfill "^3.2.1"
+
 "@anthropic-ai/sdk@^0.9.1":
   version "0.9.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@anthropic-ai/sdk/-/sdk-0.9.1.tgz#b2d2b7bf05c90dce502c9a2e869066870f69ba88"
@@ -3774,6 +3788,17 @@
   dependencies:
     lodash "^4.17.21"
 
+"@langchain/anthropic@^0.1.16":
+  version "0.1.16"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@langchain/anthropic/-/anthropic-0.1.16.tgz#c2a9d3dd4e02df7118dd97cf2503c9bd1a4de5ad"
+  integrity sha512-vCbwkZ3pkMSKf67fBgNlslvuW9f3EZGBbO8Ic2etgX3xFl6L0WuMtfS26P1FCDpRwaKuC1BrCj2aLAeMzMq/Fg==
+  dependencies:
+    "@anthropic-ai/sdk" "^0.20.1"
+    "@langchain/core" "~0.1.56"
+    fast-xml-parser "^4.3.5"
+    zod "^3.22.4"
+    zod-to-json-schema "^3.22.4"
+
 "@langchain/community@~0.0.33":
   version "0.0.33"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@langchain/community/-/community-0.0.33.tgz#5568fe36b1e2f8947d49414d47e14a27da5b65c9"
@@ -3803,6 +3828,24 @@
     zod "^3.22.4"
     zod-to-json-schema "^3.22.3"
 
+"@langchain/core@~0.1.56":
+  version "0.1.61"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@langchain/core/-/core-0.1.61.tgz#9313363e04f1c6981a938b2909c44ce6fceb2736"
+  integrity sha512-C8OkAly+ugvXsL8TACCmFv9WTTcT4gvQaG6NbrXCOzibBCywfxxcTqEMOyg3zIKpxHEmR0DHqh0OiJRHocnsCg==
+  dependencies:
+    ansi-styles "^5.0.0"
+    camelcase "6"
+    decamelize "1.2.0"
+    js-tiktoken "^1.0.8"
+    langsmith "~0.1.7"
+    ml-distance "^4.0.0"
+    mustache "^4.2.0"
+    p-queue "^6.6.2"
+    p-retry "4"
+    uuid "^9.0.0"
+    zod "^3.22.4"
+    zod-to-json-schema "^3.22.3"
+
 "@langchain/openai@^0.0.14":
   version "0.0.14"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@langchain/openai/-/openai-0.0.14.tgz#27a6ba83f6b754391868b22f3b90cd440038acf0"
@@ -15694,7 +15737,7 @@ fast-xml-parser@^4.2.2, fast-xml-parser@^4.3.0:
   dependencies:
     strnum "^1.0.5"
 
-fast-xml-parser@^4.3.2:
+fast-xml-parser@^4.3.2, fast-xml-parser@^4.3.5:
   version "4.3.6"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/fast-xml-parser/-/fast-xml-parser-4.3.6.tgz#190f9d99097f0c8f2d3a0e681a10404afca052ff"
   integrity sha512-M2SovcRxD4+vC493Uc2GZVcZaj66CCJhWurC4viynVSTvrpErCShNcDz1lAho6n9REQKvL/ll4A4/fw6Y9z8nw==
@@ -22822,6 +22865,11 @@ multimatch@5.0.0:
     arrify "^2.0.1"
     minimatch "^3.0.4"
 
+mustache@^4.2.0:
+  version "4.2.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mustache/-/mustache-4.2.0.tgz#e5892324d60a12ec9c2a73359edca52972bf6f64"
+  integrity sha512-71ippSywq5Yb7/tVYyGbkBggbU8H3u5Rz56fH60jGFgr8uHwxs+aSKeqmluIVzM0m0kB7xQjKS6qPfd0b2ZoqQ==
+
 mute-stream@0.0.8, mute-stream@~0.0.4:
   version "0.0.8"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/mute-stream/-/mute-stream-0.0.8.tgz#1630c42b2251ff81e2a283de96a5497ea92e5e0d"
@@ -32217,6 +32265,11 @@ zod-to-json-schema@^3.22.3:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/zod-to-json-schema/-/zod-to-json-schema-3.22.4.tgz#f8cc691f6043e9084375e85fb1f76ebafe253d70"
   integrity sha512-2Ed5dJ+n/O3cU383xSY28cuVi0BCQhF8nYqWU5paEpl7fVdqdAmiLdqLyfblbNdfOFwFfi/mqU4O1pwc60iBhQ==
 
+zod-to-json-schema@^3.22.4:
+  version "3.23.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/zod-to-json-schema/-/zod-to-json-schema-3.23.0.tgz#4fc60e88d3c709eedbfaae3f92f8a7bf786469f2"
+  integrity sha512-az0uJ243PxsRIa2x1WmNE/pnuA05gUq/JB8Lwe1EDCCL/Fz9MgjYQ0fPlyc2Tcv6aF2ZA7WM5TWaRZVEFaAIag==
+
 zod@^3.22.3, zod@^3.22.4:
   version "3.22.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/zod/-/zod-3.22.4.tgz#f31c3a9386f61b1f228af56faa9255e845cf3fff"