Create

Story arc four-beat: Problem → Journey → Insight → Action.

NOT for: implementation, code gen, README writing (use foundry:doc-scribe), structured ref docs (FAQs, comparison tables — use foundry:doc-scribe).

• $ARGUMENTS: optional — topic or goal, any form; one sentence enough. Format hints accepted ("a blog post about…", "talk abstract for…").

Task hygiene: Call TaskList; mark clearly-done tasks completed, orphaned tasks deleted, genuinely-continuing tasks in_progress.

Task tracking: TaskCreate all steps before any tool calls.

Step 1 — Parse topic and out-of-scope detection

• If $ARGUMENTS provided: extract topic; note embedded format hint.
• If no $ARGUMENTS: AskUserQuestion — "What are you trying to write about, and for whom?" (free text). After receiving the answer, re-check against out-of-scope conditions: if answer describes FAQs, comparison tables, feature matrices, README content, or docstrings — stop. Respond: "This format doesn't fit a narrative arc — use foundry:doc-scribe for structured reference content." No further steps.
• Out-of-scope gate (when $ARGUMENTS provided): if brief describes FAQs, comparison tables, feature matrices, or ref docs — stop. Respond: "This format doesn't fit a narrative arc — use foundry:doc-scribe for structured reference content." No further steps.

Step 2 — Format and audience (1 AskUserQuestion call — 2 questions)

Format + audience (single AskUserQuestion call with 2 questions):

• Q1 "What content format?": (a) blog post · (b) conference / meetup talk with Marp slide deck ★ · (c) social thread (X/LinkedIn) · (d) talk abstract (CFP submission) · (e) lightning talk (5–10 min)
• Q2 "Who is the audience?": (a) beginners — new to problem space ★ · (b) intermediate — familiar with basics, seeking depth · (c) expert — know landscape, want novel insight · (d) describe your own profile

After answer: restate one sentence covering format + audience ("Got it — a [format] for [audience description].").

Step 3 — Arc construction and conflict check

Propose four-beat arc from topic + audience:

• Problem: concrete opening hook — specific pain or question, not generic
• Journey: 3–5 key points (what tried, what failed, what arc covers)
• Insight: core "aha" framed for stated audience level — name directly
• Action: specific next step for audience

Editorial conflict check: if brief implies expert audience but topic introductory, or vice versa — surface before continuing:

"Your brief suggests [X] but audience profile is [Y] — recommend adjusting [Z]. Proceed as-is or adjust?"

Arc approval + voice (single AskUserQuestion call): show proposed arc, then ask voice choice — option (d) redirects to arc adjustment.

Options:

• (a) Approve arc — neutral developer advocate (balanced, educational) ★
• (b) Approve arc — opinionated / direct first-person, no hedging
• (c) Approve arc — conversational / approachable, informal
• (d) Adjust the arc first (free text — describe what to change)

On (d): revise arc, re-present, re-invoke this question. After (a)/(b)/(c): restate confirmed arc and voice in two sentences.

Step 4 — Write outline file

• Derive slug from topic: kebab-case, max 5 words (e.g. tracing-python-services-otel).
• Write creates .plans/content/ if absent — no separate mkdir needed.
• Anti-overwrite check before writing the outline: list existing files matching .plans/content/<slug>-outline*.md (Bash ls -1 .plans/content/<slug>-outline*.md 2>/dev/null || true). If .plans/content/<slug>-outline.md already exists, append the smallest available counter suffix (-2, -3, …) per quality-gates.md output routing convention. Resulting path becomes the new <outline-path>; use it in the Write call AND in the Step 4 gate spawn prompt below. Print the resolved path before writing.
• Write <outline-path> with this structure:

---
topic: <topic from brief>
created: YYYY-MM-DD
---

## Audience
[who they are, experience level, what they've likely seen, what they need]

## Format
[blog post | conference talk (N min) | social thread (x|linkedin) | talk abstract | lightning talk (N min)]

## Voice
[tone brief: e.g., "direct and opinionated, first-person, no hedging"]

## Arc

### Problem
[concrete opening hook — the pain or question]

### Journey
[key points to explore: what was tried, what failed, what the arc covers]

### Insight
[the core "aha" — what was learned or built; name it directly]

### Action
[call to action — specific, what audience should do next]

## Constraints
[length target, things to avoid, format-specific constraints]

• Confirm file path to user.

• Derive the artifact extension <ext> from the format selected in Step 2 — substitute the literal value into the spawn prompt before invoking Agent(); do not pass the literal <ext> placeholder. Mapping:

  Format (Step 2 choice)	<ext>
  a) blog post	md
  b) conference / meetup talk with Marp slide deck	md (Marp markdown)
  c) social thread (X/LinkedIn)	md
  d) talk abstract (CFP submission)	md
  e) lightning talk	md

  Every supported format currently renders to a markdown source file, so <ext> resolves to md in every branch — but the substitution must still happen explicitly so the artifact path on disk is .plans/content/<slug>.md, not .plans/content/<slug>.<ext>. If a future format uses a different extension, extend the table.

Agent budget — each spawn costs 120,851 tok of fixed overhead (73 tool-calls' worth) plus ~12.0 s/call, so work under ~73 calls is cheaper done inline: spawn nothing. Keep each agent near ~55 tool-calls; past ~60 they stall without returning an envelope, forcing reconstruction from disk. Every spawn prompt must require an envelope even on exhaustion — partial: true plus what was finished.

• End with an AskUserQuestion gate with two options: (a) Generate the full artifact now — spawn foundry:creator via Agent(subagent_type='foundry:creator', prompt='Read <outline-path> and generate the complete <format> artifact. Output file path: .plans/content/<slug>.<ext>') where <outline-path> is the resolved path from the anti-overwrite step above, and <slug>, <format>, <ext> are substituted from the generated outline (see extension table above) before the call — never pass literal angle-bracket placeholders to the spawned agent. (b) Stop here — I'll invoke foundry:creator manually when ready.

  Substitution verification before issuing the Agent call (mandatory):

  1. Construct the final prompt string with all placeholders replaced
  2. Scan the constructed string for any remaining < or > characters; if either is present, substitution is incomplete — resolve the missing value(s) before spawning
  3. Confirm the outline file path in the prompt matches <outline-path> exactly (the resolved path including any counter suffix, not a guess)

  If the user selects (a), issue the Agent() call in the same response turn AFTER the verification above passes. Do not narrate intent — call the tool.

• End with ## Confidence block per quality-gates.md protocol, score based on outline coverage of topic, arc, audience.

• Execution model: disable-model-invocation: true — Claude itself follows this SKILL.md as workflow template directly in the main context (no autonomous sub-agent dispatch during the outline phase). When the Step 4 gate selects (a), exactly one sub-agent is spawned: foundry:creator (executes the outline and writes the full artifact). No other sub-agent invocations are made by this skill.

• 5 questions in baseline flow; up to 7 with arc-conflict resolution (steps 2–4 use exactly 4; step 1 adds one only when $ARGUMENTS absent; arc conflicts in step 3 may add 1–2 more).

• Each AskUserQuestion uses lettered options with one ★ recommended default.

• After each answer, restate understanding 1–2 sentences before proceeding.

• Never silently adjust arc to match audience — always surface conflicts explicitly (Step 3).

• Refuse FAQs / comparison tables / ref docs at Step 1 gate; name foundry:doc-scribe as redirect.

• Write outline exactly once after approval — no second draft unless user requests.

• foundry:creator reads output outline file and generates full artifact autonomously.

• Outline spec files written to .plans/content/ — see artifact-lifecycle.md for TTL policy (30d).