Kai Content Calendar

Plan and optionally batch-produce a content calendar. Maps content to business goals, personas, keywords, and publishing cadence.

Phase 0: Load Product Context

Check if MARKETING.md exists in the project root (same directory as CLAUDE.md, README.md, package.json).

If it exists: Read it — skip product discovery questions. It has the product name, ICP, value prop, monetization, brand voice, current channels, and competitive landscape.

If it does NOT exist: Auto-explore the codebase to create it in the project root (next to CLAUDE.md). Do NOT ask the user what the product is. Read CLAUDE.md, README.md, PROJECT.md, package.json, landing pages, and any project files. Search for email/ad/analytics config. Then create MARKETING.md using the template from /kai-email-system. Present draft to user for confirmation.

Phase 1: Strategy Discovery

Read from MARKETING.md. Only ask about things not covered there:

1. Time horizon — 1 month? 1 quarter?
2. Publishing cadence — how many pieces per week? (recommend 2-3/week for SEO traction)
3. Content types — blog only? Blog + LinkedIn? Blog + email newsletter?
4. Primary goals — SEO traffic? Thought leadership? Lead gen? Product education?
5. Target keywords — any keyword research already done?
6. Existing content — any posts already published we should build on?

Phase 2: Content Map

Generate workspace/content-calendar/_content-map.md.

Topic Clustering

Group content into pillars (broad topics) and clusters (specific subtopics that link back to the pillar).

Pillar: [Broad Topic]
├── Cluster: [Specific angle 1] — targets "[keyword]"
├── Cluster: [Specific angle 2] — targets "[keyword]"
└── Cluster: [Specific angle 3] — targets "[keyword]"

This structure builds topical authority for SEO. Load knowledge/frameworks/content-copywriting/qdp-qdh-qds-content-architecture.md for the full architecture framework.

Calendar Table

Persona Rotation

Rotate across personas to avoid speaking to only one audience. Map each piece to one of the 8 personas from knowledge/personas/_persona-index.md.

Idea Eval and Kill List

Before presenting the calendar, score candidate ideas and keep a visible kill list.

Create workspace/content-calendar/_idea-eval.md:

Score each idea:

• Business fit (1-5): supports a real goal in MARKETING.md
• Audience pain (1-5): speaks to a named persona problem
• Proof available (1-5): has source locations, data, quote, demo, or example
• Channel fit (1-5): fits the intended format and cadence
• Novelty (1-5): adds information gain beyond generic advice

Use:

• 20-25: keep
• 15-19: hold until proof or angle improves
• 0-14: kill

Rules:

• Every idea needs a source location or a clear note that it came from internal strategy.
• Do not fill the calendar with unsupported claims just to hit cadence.
• Treat the calendar as a dry run until the user approves topics, dates, and formats.

Approval Gate

Present the content map to the user. Confirm:

• Topic selection and angles
• Keyword targets
• Persona assignments
• Publishing dates
• Any pieces they want to add/remove/reorder

Phase 3: Brief Generation

For each piece on the calendar, generate a brief using the schema from harness/brief-schema.md.

Output briefs to workspace/content-calendar/briefs/[week]-[slug].json.

Each brief must have:

• 3 hook variants
• Specific angle (not just restating the keyword)
• Named proof/data source
• Clear CTA

Phase 4: Batch Production (Optional)

If the user wants content produced (not just planned), batch-produce using /kai-write workflow:

Per-Piece Workflow

1. Load the framework based on format:
   • Blog/SEO: knowledge/frameworks/content-copywriting/algorithmic-authorship.md + knowledge/frameworks/aeo-ai-search/aeo-ai-search-playbook-2026.md
   • LinkedIn: knowledge/channels/linkedin-articles.md
2. Load the skill contract: harness/skill-contracts/blog-post.yaml or harness/skill-contracts/linkedin-article.yaml
3. Load the persona file
4. Write the piece
5. Run quality gates (Four U's >= 12/16 for blog, banned words, SEO lint)
6. Max 2 retries on failure

All paths are relative to the repo root (the directory containing CLAUDE.md).

Parallelization

Pieces in different pillars can be written in parallel. Pieces in the same cluster should be written sequentially (internal linking and angle differentiation matters).

Batch Output

workspace/content-calendar/
├── _content-map.md              # The full calendar
├── briefs/
│   ├── w1-slug-1.json
│   ├── w1-slug-2.json
│   └── ...
├── drafts/
│   ├── w1-slug-1.md
│   ├── w1-slug-2.md
│   └── ...
└── _quality-report.md

Phase 5: Quality Report

# Content Calendar Quality Report

> **Kai root note:** `knowledge/`, `harness/`, and `scripts/` paths in this skill live in the Kai install, not the user's project. Resolve them against the first ancestor directory of this SKILL.md that contains a `knowledge/` folder (the Kai plugin root, `~/.claude/kai`, or the kai-cmo-harness repo). `MARKETING.md`, `memory/`, and any output files live in the current project. If a referenced `scripts/` command is not available in this install, say so, skip it, and continue with the file-based guidance — never fabricate its output.

## Summary
- Total pieces planned: [N]
- Produced: [N]
- Passed all gates: [N]
- Average Four U's: [X]/16

## Per-Piece Results
| Title | Format | Persona | Four U's | Banned | SEO Lint | Status |
|-------|--------|---------|----------|--------|----------|--------|

## Internal Linking Map
[Which pieces link to which — pillar/cluster structure]

## SEO Coverage
[Keywords targeted, search volume estimates if available, content gaps]

Phase 6: Distribution Notes

Generate workspace/content-calendar/_distribution.md:

• Which pieces to cross-post to LinkedIn
• Email newsletter inclusion schedule
• Social media promotion plan per piece
• Internal linking instructions for the blog