# Manuscript Editorial Router

> Routes a broad or ambiguous editorial request to the right pass(es) in the Manuscript Editorial Suite. Use when the ask spans more than one kind of feedback or it's unclear which is wanted — "review my book", "give me editorial feedback", "is this ready", "go over this chapter", "full editorial pass", "what should I check". Picks among manuscript-publisher-critique, manuscript- continuity-audit, manuscript-fair-play-audit, manuscript-prose-immersion-audit, and manuscript-listing-critique, runs them in the right order for the book's genre, and hands off. Does not itself critique, score, or rewrite — it only dispatches.

- Skill: `dinaf2026-web/manuscript-editorial-router` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dinaf2026-web/manuscript-editorial-router`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dinaf2026-web/manuscript-editorial-router/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- Author: dinaf2026-web (https://skillmd.com/u/dinaf2026-web)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dinaf2026-web/manuscript-editorial-router

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# Manuscript Editorial Router

Decide which critique pass(es) the request needs, then run them. Do not produce a
critique yourself — your output is a routing decision plus the dispatched skill(s).
If the request already clearly names one pass, skip the routing prose and run it.

## STEP 0 — Resolve the project profile

From the current working directory, walk **up** the parent folders for
`.manuscript/profile.md`.
- **Found** → read it. Its `genre` and `passes` decide which passes are even
  applicable (e.g. `fair-play` only for mystery/crime/thriller).
- **Not found** → invoke `manuscript-profile-setup` to create one, then continue.
  If the author declines, route with genre-general defaults and say so.

## The five passes

| Pass | Skill | Use when the ask is about… |
|------|-------|-----------------------------|
| Craft & acquisitions | `manuscript-publisher-critique` | whole-story quality, "is it good / would a publisher take this", scoring, an editor's letter |
| Continuity / canon | `manuscript-continuity-audit` | contradictions of the book's bible, drifted details, internal inconsistency |
| Mystery logic | `manuscript-fair-play-audit` | clue fairness, plant→payoff, "does the solution hold up" (mystery/thriller only) |
| Line craft | `manuscript-prose-immersion-audit` | line-level immersion (diagnosis only): "line audit", "is this immersive", "talking heads", info-dumping, filter words |
| Sales surface | `manuscript-listing-critique` | blurb / back-cover / Amazon description / categories / keywords |

**Supporting (not a critique pass):** `manuscript-canon-ledger` — the living,
versioned canon store the continuity pass reads before auditing. Route directly to
it for ledger *maintenance*: "update the ledger", "record a canon change", "is
this canon", "resolve open question", "seed the ledger from book N".

## Routing rules

1. **Disambiguate overlapping phrases by object, not verb:**
   - "would this sell" + a *manuscript/chapter* → `manuscript-publisher-critique`;
     + a *blurb/description/listing* → `manuscript-listing-critique`.
   - "check the plot logic / does it hold up" about *clues and the solution* →
     `manuscript-fair-play-audit`; about *overall craft* → publisher-critique.
   - "did I get the details right / does this break canon" → continuity-audit.
   - "line audit / is this immersive / kill the info-dumping" → prose-immersion-audit
     (line-level, diagnosis only), vs. a macro "is the voice working overall" →
     publisher-critique's Voice row. A request to *rewrite* prose is neither —
     route it to the author's writing/voice skill.
2. **Manuscript vs. listing is the first fork.** Selling copy or metadata →
   `manuscript-listing-critique` and nothing else. Story content (scene, chapter,
   outline, manuscript, query) → one of the other four.
3. **Gate by genre.** Only run `manuscript-fair-play-audit` if the profile's genre
   is a mystery/crime/thriller (or `fair-play` is in `passes`). For a memoir,
   literary novel, or romance with no puzzle, skip it and say why.
4. **Order when multiple passes apply** (run sequentially, report each separately):
   1. `manuscript-continuity-audit` — catch canon/consistency breaks first; they
      cap the craft grade.
   2. `manuscript-fair-play-audit` — if there's a mystery to judge.
   3. `manuscript-prose-immersion-audit` — the line-level craft pass on the scenes.
   4. `manuscript-publisher-critique` — the macro craft/acquisitions read, last, so
      it can reference the prior findings.
   `manuscript-listing-critique` is independent — run it only for listing material.
5. **Broad asks default to a full pass.** "Review my book / is this ready / full
   editorial pass" on a manuscript → continuity → (fair-play if applicable) →
   prose-immersion → publisher, in that order. For a long manuscript,
   prose-immersion can sample representative scenes — say which it sampled.
6. **Only one obvious pass?** Skip the routing explanation and invoke it directly.
7. **Genuinely ambiguous and consequential?** Ask one short clarifying question
   (e.g. "craft read, canon check, mystery-logic check, line audit, or listing
   copy?") rather than guessing.

## Running a selected pass

After selecting the pass(es), for each one **load that skill's `SKILL.md` and its
referenced files, then follow that skill's required output exactly.** Do not
produce a critique from the router body alone or paraphrase a pass's format — the
value is in each skill's own report structure. Run the passes in the order decided
above and present each skill's output as its own clearly-labeled section.

## Output

Lead with a one-line routing decision — which pass(es), in what order, and why —
then load and run them. Example: "This spans continuity and craft → running
continuity-audit first, then publisher-critique." Keep the routing note to one or
two sentences; the value is in the passes, not the dispatch.