# Close Act > close-act - Skill: `abetatos/close-act` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add abetatos/close-act` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/abetatos/close-act/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: abetatos (https://skillmd.com/u/abetatos) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/abetatos/close-act --- # close-act You are running the **close-act** skill. The act is finished. Your job is to close the conversation cleanly: compress the act's summaries, stabilize voice observations, write the handoff document, and tell the author it's safe (and recommended) to /clear before the next act. After this skill runs, the next session can rebuild everything from disk via `resume-act`. ## When to invoke - The author says "close act N" / "wrap up the session" / "cerramos el acto". - `update-canon` for the last chapter of an act has finished. The `update-canon` skill itself prints `Strongly recommended: run close-act then /clear` when this condition is met. ## Hard rules - **Seeds and shadow are NEVER compressed.** They are the source of truth for foreshadowing and the writer's hidden timeline. Closing the act does not touch them. - **Voice consolidation is stabilization, not invention.** You can only consolidate what voice.md actually says. Do not promote a one-time observation to a stable rule unless it appeared multiple times during the act. - **The handoff must be self-contained.** A reader (future you in a fresh session) should be able to pick up the next chapter armed with grimoire + plan + canon + handoff alone. No reliance on conversation memory. - **End with the explicit signal.** The last line of your final response must be: `✓ Act N closed. STANDARD: run /clear now, then resume-act for act N+1.` ## Steps ### 1. Run the helper ```bash python3 .claude/skills/close-act/scripts/close_act.py \ --series-slug --book-number --act ``` This: - Runs `prepare_act.py` (bundles the act's chapter summaries into `notes/_act-AA-bundle.md` + writes a skeleton at `summaries/act-AA.md` for you to fill). - Resets `notes/session-handoff.md` to a fresh skeleton dated today, with the four TODO sections you'll fill below. ### 2. Fill the act summary Read the bundle at `notes/_act-AA-bundle.md`. Fill `summaries/act-AA.md` to about 1500 words. Lose texture; keep facts. **Act-summary structure:** one or two paragraphs of *what happened* (plot, in order), then a short list of the durable consequences the later chapters depend on — promotions to canon, relationship shifts, locations established, seed plants/payoffs that occurred. Drop scene texture and dialogue; keep anything a future chapter must not contradict. ### 2b. (Re)build the book summary synthesis `update-canon` no longer rewrites `summaries/book-summary.md` every chapter (it only touches the `## What just happened` line). The full synthesis is built **here**, once per act — this is what makes the book summary effectively *incremental by act* instead of per-chapter. Open `summaries/book-summary.md` and (re)build it from the act summaries (`summaries/act-*.md`) plus the current canon state. Target ~2000 words, ruthless. Structure: ```markdown # — running summary ## State of the world right now > 4-6 bullets: political, magical, geographic state at the most recent act. ## State of principals right now > One line per principal: location, emotional state, goal, cost borne. ## Threads in motion > 3-8 lines: open subplots, unpaid seeds (by id, not content), debts. ## Reader's accumulated knowledge > 4-6 lines: what the reader now believes (may differ from shadow truth). ## What just happened > 2-3 sentences on the most recent chapter (carry over / refresh whatever > update-canon left here). ``` Source of truth is the **act summaries**, not the conversation. If it grows past ~2500 words, trim the oldest threads. This file is what becomes the previous-book context for the next book in the trilogy. ### 3. Consolidate voice.md (stabilization) Open `notes/voice.md`. Walk through the entries added during this act (date-stamps within the act window). For each POV section: - Group observations that say similar things. - Identify the rules that held across ≥ 2 chapters of the act. Those are **stable**. - Identify rules that were stated once and didn't reappear. Those are **provisional** — leave them in the per-entry log but do not promote. At the end of each `## POV: ` section, add or update a sub-section: ```markdown ### Stable rules (after act {act}) - (consolidated rule 1) - (consolidated rule 2) - ... ``` If a previous act already wrote a `Stable rules` block, **update it instead of duplicating**. Older rules stay unless contradicted by new ones — and contradictions go to `open-questions.md` for resolution. Then consolidate the **"Recurring patterns to watch / avoid"** list the same way — and keep it short, because the critique's 8d sweep must hunt every entry by eye, and an LLM's exhaustive-checklist reliability collapses past ~7 items: - A pattern that is **countable by regex** (a phrase form, a word, an opener shape) **graduates**: add it to `notes/prose-lint.toml` (as an `[[extra_patterns]]` entry, or `[[reserved]]` if it is a reserved word) so it is counted deterministically, and replace its `voice.md` entry with a single line: "→ graduated to prose-lint". This is the whole point of the prose auditor — move counting off the critic's eye. - **Judgment-only** patterns (ones no regex can catch — an aphoristic close, an erudite aside that leaks a reveal) stay in `voice.md`, **capped at 7**. If the list would exceed 7, merge overlapping entries or demote the weakest; a 12-item sweep silently checks none of them well. ### 3b. Fold style-rules.md into style.md `notes/style-rules.md` is a **capture buffer** — prose rules the author stated in chat that aren't yet in the book's style guide. Fold them now so there is one source of truth: - For each entry under `## Unfolded`, edit `style.md` to express the rule in the right section (prose register, reveal timing, dialogue…), updating an existing bullet rather than duplicating. - **Skip process rules** (word-count floor, expand-chapter discipline) — those belong to the `write-chapter` skill, not `style.md`. If the buffer contains one, just drop it (the skill already owns it). - After folding, reset `style-rules.md` to its empty template (the `## Unfolded` list back to `- (no rules declared yet)`). ### 3c. Consolidate decisions.md (prune what canon now enforces) `notes/decisions.md` accumulates book-level binding choices and is loaded into **every** chapter bundle, so it must not grow without bound. At each act close, walk it and prune entries that are now enforced elsewhere: - A decision whose substance is **already promoted to `canon/*` or `setup.md`** (a name, a worldbuilding fact, a magic cost) is redundant here — canon already enforces it on every chapter. Remove it from `decisions.md`. - A decision that is **still load-bearing but not yet in any canon file** (a reveal-timing rule, a craft constraint, an exposure-ladder choice) stays. - When in doubt, **keep it** — only prune what you can point to verbatim in a canon file. Never drop a decision you cannot confirm is enforced elsewhere. Also delete `notes/decisions-ch.md` files for chapters in this act **only if** their durable items were already appended to `decisions.md` (per plan-chapter's rule); otherwise leave them. This keeps the per-chapter gate files from piling up while preserving anything not yet consolidated. ### 3d. Curate voice exemplars `notes/voice-exemplars.md` holds the author-blessed prose the writer imitates — the only fixed in-voice sample in the write bundle (without it, the writer's only in-voice text is the previous chapter's tail, so a tic there photocopies forward). Refresh it from the act's best prose: - Scan this act's chapters for **2-3 candidate passages of 150-300 words** that best embody the book's voice — the natural pool is prose the chapter critiques praised in their `## What works` sections. Prefer passages that show the hard things (sensory texture that carries plot, emotion underplayed, a seed planted obliquely) over merely pretty ones. - Present the candidates to the author with **one `AskUserQuestion`** (per candidate: *keep / replace an existing exemplar / skip*). Only the author's confirmed passages go in. - Write the confirmed passages to `notes/voice-exemplars.md`, **capped at 5 total** — this is REPLACE, not accumulate: if adding would exceed 5, drop the weakest existing one. Quote verbatim; label each with what it demonstrates and its source chapter. ### 4. Write the session handoff Open `notes/session-handoff.md` (just reset by step 1). Fill the four TODO sections, in order: #### 4a. Voz consolidada The synthesis from step 3. 3-6 stable rules per POV, expressed as prescriptive sentences ("Bruno habla con frases cortas. Pausa antes de contestar. Verbos artesanales sobre verbos de pensamiento."). This becomes the **fast read** for the next session — the voice.md file is the long form, this is the executive summary. #### 4b. Hilos abiertos para el acto siguiente From `notes/open-questions.md` (`## Pendientes` section), copy the items that the next session must address. Prioritize: anything blocking the next chapter goes first. #### 4c. Decisiones de esta sesión List the decisions taken in chat during this act that affect future chapters. Be tight: one line each, with origin. Examples: - "(ch 4) Cambiamos el POV original de Bruno a Vela para que el plant de la Lectura no quede telegrafiado." - "(ch 6) Mentor reformista renombrado: 'Doral'." Only include decisions not already captured elsewhere (plot decisions should be in setup.md; name decisions should be in canon). #### 4d. Notas para resume-act What does the next session need to read FIRST, before opening the context bundle? If there's a critical gotcha for chapter N+1 (e.g., "chapter N+1's POV is Yedra, not Bruno — easy to forget"), put it here. If nothing critical, leave a one-liner: "No special notes; standard resume-act bundle suffices." ### 4e. Naive-reader calibration (measure telegraphing) The critique can't tell whether a reveal is telegraphed — it knows the whole shadow, so it can't feel what a first-time reader picks up (the curse of knowledge). A `naive-reader` subagent can: it reads only the prose and reports what it actually suspects. Ask the author with **one `AskUserQuestion`**: "Dispatch the naive reader for acts 1-N?" On yes: 1. Dispatch the `naive-reader` agent (Agent tool). In the prompt, **enumerate the exact chapter file paths** so far — `output//book-NN/chapters/01.md … NN.md` — as an explicit list, not a glob. The enumerated-paths-only rule is what keeps the reader plan-blind; never hand it a directory or a glob. 2. Write its returned report verbatim to `notes/reader-report-act.md` (committed — it is a record). 3. Then do the comparison the subagent structurally **cannot** (it never saw the plan). For each **high-confidence** suspicion or prediction, hold it against `plan/shadow.md`: find the truth it targets and its `Reveal cap` / current `Status`. Append a `## Telegraphing assessment (author-side)` section to the report — flag any truth the reader reached with high confidence while the shadow reserves it for far later (e.g. "predicted high-confidence at act 1 but `naturaleza-de-bruno` is capped `sensed` until ch 22 → telegraphed", quoting the reader's passages). Copy anything actionable into `notes/open-questions.md` for the next session. This step is optional per act (skippable when the author declines) and never edits the plan or prose — it only measures and reports. ### 5. Verify nothing critical was missed Before signaling done, check: - [ ] `summaries/act-NN.md` filled (~1500 words). - [ ] `summaries/book-summary.md` rebuilt (~2000 words) from the act summaries (step 2b). - [ ] `notes/voice.md` has a `Stable rules (after act N)` block per POV that appeared. - [ ] `notes/session-handoff.md` has all four TODO sections filled. - [ ] `notes/voice-exemplars.md` refreshed (≤5 author-confirmed passages). - [ ] `plan/seeds.md` and `plan/shadow.md` **untouched** (open them to verify if unsure). - [ ] `notes/open-questions.md` reviewed — pending items either copied to handoff or explicitly de-prioritized. ### 6. Report and signal Print: ``` ✓ Act N closed. - summaries/act-NN.md: - summaries/book-summary.md: rebuilt () - voice.md: stable rules consolidated for POVs: - voice-exemplars.md: author-blessed passages - session-handoff.md: , with N pendientes for next session Next session bootstrap: run `resume-act` (act N+1, chapter ). STANDARD: run /clear now, then resume-act for act N+1. ``` The **last line is the explicit signal**. Do not add anything after it. ## What this skill does NOT do - Does NOT touch `plan/seeds.md`, `plan/shadow.md`, `plan/outline.md`. - Does NOT delete chapter summaries (`summaries/ch-NN.md`) or chapter prose. They stay on disk for search and inspection. - Does NOT modify canon (canon is locked by `update-canon` per chapter). - Does NOT run `/clear` — that's a user command. This skill **signals** that /clear is safe and recommended; the author executes it.