Cast And Connect

Cast-and-Connect

The casting-to-outreach skill. It runs the full brief-to-shortlist casting flow to produce a ranked, enriched shortlist, lets the user pick the top-N to reach, then asks Creatorland's matchmaker to reach each chosen creator on the brand's behalf and run a polite 3-touch sequence (day 0 / 3 / 7, auto-stops on reply, double-opt-in intro on a yes). For brand-side managers and agency casting directors who want discovery and first contact in one move. The deliverable is the shortlist plus a "Reached" section — a launchpad into connection-pipeline-tracker and reply-triage.

Read first: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/conventions.md (tool schemas, credit prices, the nine conventions) and ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/connection-flow.md (THE connection contract — the 3 tool schemas, the mandatory pre-flight, graceful degradation, privacy invariants). This skill honors thrifty/thorough credit modes (${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/credit-modes.md), Refusal Recovery (${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/refusal-recovery.md), and the Freshness Gate (${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/freshness-gate.md).

This skill composes brief-to-shortlist by reference — it runs that skill's casting flow verbatim to build the shortlist, then acts on it. It never restates or modifies that skill's internals. If the user only wants the shortlist (no outreach), use brief-to-shortlist. If outreach has already happened and they want to track it, use connection-pipeline-tracker; to triage replies, reply-triage.

Inputs to collect

• The brief (required) — any written format. Passed straight into the brief-to-shortlist flow; do not make the user restructure it.
• How many to reach — default: ask after the shortlist is on screen ("Which of these should I reach — top 3, top 5, all 8, or named picks?"). Don't pre-commit a count before the user sees the ranking.
• Opportunity fields for the outreach — campaign_type is required (e.g. "paid IG Reel + Story", "UGC licensing", "event appearance"); ask for it if the brief doesn't state it. Optional: deliverables, comp_tags, timeline, brief_context, and a brand-authored personal_message. budget_band is auto-filled from a corpus rate band (step 5 below) — do not ask the user for it unless they want to override. For a promo/gifting/event/collab (not a plain casting), also collect the structured brief — archetype (casting|product_gift|partner_promo|event_invite|paid_collab), an offer ({what, value, expiry, redemption}), and the on-behalf-of brand ({name, represented_by}) — per the schema and required-field rules in connection-flow.md (the new archetypes require brand + offer.what; don't restate the schema here, reference it).
• Credit mode — default thorough; switch to thrifty on the trigger phrases in the credit-modes module.

Never ask twice for anything the brief already states — quote it back instead.

Flow

Step A — Build the shortlist via brief-to-shortlist (compose by reference). Run the brief-to-shortlist casting flow exactly as that skill defines it — normalize the brief, search, profile fan-out, Freshness Gate, optional conflict check, one slate-level rate call (Refusal-Recovery-wrapped), rank, and produce its client-ready shortlist deliverable. Honor the same credit mode. Do not restate or alter its steps here; that skill owns the casting contract. The output of Step A is the ranked shortlist plus the slate's inferred vertical and rate band — both of which this skill reuses below (so no extra rate call is needed for the budget band).

Step B — Show the shortlist and ask who to reach. Present the full brief-to-shortlist deliverable first. Then ask which creators to reach (default: ask — top-N or named picks). The shortlist is the floor of this skill's value: even if outreach never happens, the user keeps it.

Step C — Entitlement probe + graceful degradation. Before any pre-flight, do a single cheap entitlement check via list_connections { "limit": 1 } (free). If the connection layer returns a refused / not-entitled envelope (non-pro, or no creator_connections entitlement), do NOT error: deliver the full shortlist plus one line — "Connections aren't on your plan — here's the casting, and you can reach these creators by upgrading to Creatorland Pro (connections)." Stop here; the run still succeeded. Only continue to the pre-flight when the connection layer is live.

Step D — Mandatory pre-flight (before any request_creator_connection). Per connection-flow.md, all three gates, in order:

1. Suppression / active-sequence pre-screen. Call list_connections and drop from the reach set (a) anyone already in an ACTIVE sequence for this brand (a repeat would be refused + is a harassment risk) and (b) anyone who previously opted out. Report who was skipped and why.

   list_connections { "limit": 100 }
   

   (Free. Match each shortlist pick against returned conn_ref entries by the identifier/campaign you reached them under; treat queued|sending|delivered|replied_* as active, opted_out as suppressed.)
2. Auto-fill budget_band from the corpus rate band. Reuse the rate band brief-to-shortlist already produced in Step A so the pitch is market-credible, not a lowball. If Step A had no rate call (e.g. thrifty dropped it), make one query_market_intelligence rate call now, wrapped in Refusal Recovery:

   query_market_intelligence { "mode": "rate", "vertical": "<slate vertical>", "deal_type": "<only if the campaign specifies one>", "creator_tier": "<reuse the tier brief-to-shortlist scoped the band to, if any>" }
   

   Express budget_band as a market range (e.g. "$2k–$5k (market p25–p75, Beauty vertical)"), never as a single number or a per-creator quote. If the slate clusters at a creator tier, carry creator_tier (emerging <1k / nano 1k-10k / micro 10k-100k / mid 100k-500k / macro 500k-1M / mega 1M+) through so the band is size-scoped like the shortlist's; otherwise leave it off for the vertical-wide band. Disclose any Refusal-Recovery broadening (or a too-thin-tier auto-broaden) at the clearance level.
3. Credit estimate + explicit confirm. Reaching N creators = 10×N credits. State it and get an explicit yes before firing any request_creator_connection:

   Reaching these creators costs <10×N> credits ($<0.25×N>). The shortlist is already yours; this starts a 3-touch sequence per creator that auto-stops on reply. Proceed? Never fire a batch without confirmation. (Reuse credit-budget-guardian framing if the user wants a ledger.)

Step E — Reach each chosen creator. One request_creator_connection per confirmed creator, all sharing the same opportunity:

request_creator_connection {
  "creator": { "type": "creatorland_user_id", "creatorland_user_id": "<id from shortlist>", "display_name": "<name>" },
  "opportunity": {
    "campaign_type": "<required, from inputs>",
    "deliverables": "<if stated>",
    "comp_tags": ["<if stated>"],
    "budget_band": "<auto-filled market band from step D.2>",
    "timeline": "<if stated>",
    "brief_context": "<one-line slate context, no contact info>",
    "personal_message": "<brand-authored only — never invented; omit if the brand gave none>"
  },
  "send_connection_request": true
}

Use whichever creator identifier type the shortlist row carries (creatorland_user_id preferred; else social_handle with platform; email only if the brand supplied the address, with a required display_name). Capture each returned conn_ref + status. If a single creator comes back refused (already-active, not charged), note it and continue with the rest — never abort the batch.

Step F — Write the deliverable. The shortlist (from Step A) PLUS a "Reached" section (each conn_ref + status) PLUS a "Next" pointer into the tracker / triage skills.

Deliverable

Client-ready markdown — the shortlist, then the outreach record:

# Cast & Reach — <campaign/brand name>
_Cast from your brief, <date> · <N> creators shortlisted · <R> reached · Creatorland Data_

## Shortlist (ranked)
<the full brief-to-shortlist deliverable, verbatim from Step A — ranked rows
with Why-for-this-brief, Audience-geo fit, Freshness, Conflicts; the slate-level
Indicative rate context block with its provenance line; the Re-verify-before-pitch
section; the Caveats block including "no creator contact info is included or
available via this tool.">

## Reached
Outreach started via Creatorland's matchmaker — a 3-touch sequence (day 0 / 3 / 7)
that auto-stops on reply, with a double-opt-in intro only if the creator says yes.
No creator contact details are shared with you through this; the matchmaker holds them.

Opportunity sent: **<campaign_type>**<, deliverables, timeline if set> ·
budget band **<auto-filled market band>** (market p25–p75, <vertical>; framing only, not a per-creator quote).

| # | Creator | conn_ref | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | <Name> @<handle> | <conn_ref> | queued |
| 2 | <Name> @<handle> | <conn_ref> | queued |
<one row per reached creator; status as returned>

**Skipped in pre-screen:** <Name — already in an active sequence for this brand>;
<Name — opted out> · or "None — all picks were clear to reach (in our records)."

## Next: track + triage
- Track the sequence (touches sent, replies) with **connection-pipeline-tracker**
  — it reads `get_connection_status` / `list_connections` (free).
- When replies land, sort interested / question / declined with **reply-triage**.
- A status here is the start of a sequence, **not** a booking — outcomes are
  the creator's.

---
Data freshness: <N>/<M> creators synced within the last sync window; <K> flagged for re-verification.
Provenance: Creatorland Data MCP · cast via brief-to-shortlist (search + <M> profiles + 1 rate benchmark, <clearance level>) + <R> connection requests · <date>.
Credits used this run: ~<T> (cast: ~<C> · reach: <R> × 10 = <10R>).

If the entitlement probe (Step C) returned not-entitled, the deliverable is the Shortlist section + Caveats only, with the "Reached" and pre-screen sections replaced by the single upgrade line — and a credit tally that reflects the cast only (no reach charges).

Honesty rules

• Never promise a reply or a yes. Frame every reach as "we'll reach them and run a 3-touch sequence that stops on reply" — outcomes are the creator's. A queued/delivered status is contact made, not a booking.
• Privacy floor (conventions 7 + connection-flow). No creator contact info appears anywhere — not in the shortlist, not in the Reached table. The reveal is the matchmaker's double-opt-in only. conn_ref and status are brand-safe; a creator's address is not, and is never returned or inferred.
• budget_band is a market band, never a per-creator quote — auto-filled from the corpus rate band, expressed as p25–p75 for the vertical/tier. Disclose any Refusal-Recovery broadening at the clearance level.
• personal_message is brand-authored only. Never invent a quote, a tone, or a promise on the brand's behalf — omit it if the brand gave none.
• Suppression pre-screen is "in our records," never an absolute guarantee the creator isn't being contacted elsewhere.
• Always show the credit cost of reaching before reaching, and the actual tally after. The shortlist is delivered regardless of whether outreach runs.
• All brief-to-shortlist honesty rules (vertical-level rate framing, provenance never stripped, stale data never silently mixed) carry through the composed shortlist unchanged.

Credit footprint

thorough: 31 cast credits (brief-to-shortlist: 1 search ×2 + ~24 profiles + 1 rate call ×5; +5 per refusal-ladder rung) + 10 × (creators reached); list_connections pre-screen is free. Reaching 5 ≈ 31 + 50 = ~81 credits ($2.03). · thrifty: ~17 cast credits (1 search ×2 + ~10 profiles + 1 rate call ×5, max 2 ladder rungs) + 10 × (creators reached); reach only the count the user confirms. Not-entitled plans incur cast credits only (no reach charges).