Write Blog

/write-blog

Create a new blog post for the MemMachine website (memmachine.github.io) with the correct directory structure, complete YAML frontmatter, and build verification.

Usage

/write-blog                      # interactive — prompts for all fields
/write-blog "Post Title"         # pre-fill the title, prompt for remaining fields

What You Must Do When Invoked

Follow these steps in order. Do not skip steps.

Step 1 — Collect post metadata

If any of the following are not provided in the invocation arguments, ask for them now (you may ask for all missing fields in a single message):

Step 2 — Derive the slug and path

From the title:

1. Lowercase the entire title.
2. Replace spaces and any non-alphanumeric characters with hyphens.
3. Collapse multiple consecutive hyphens into one.
4. Strip leading and trailing hyphens.

From the date, extract YYYY and MM (zero-padded).

Construct the directory path:

content/en/blog/{YYYY}/{MM}/{slug}/

Example: title "MemMachine Joins NVIDIA NeMo Toolkit", date 2026-04-27:

• slug: memmachine-joins-nvidia-nemo-toolkit
• path: content/en/blog/2026/04/memmachine-joins-nvidia-nemo-toolkit/

Step 3 — Format the date field

Convert the date to RFC 3339 format with a timezone offset. Use Pacific Time as default if not specified:

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-08:00   # Pacific Standard Time
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-07:00   # Pacific Daylight Time (summer)

Default time: 09:00:00 (9 AM).

Date gotcha: Hugo silently drops any post whose date is in the future — it will not appear in the local server or the deployed site. Always use today's date or a past date. If you do not know the current date, ask the user before writing the file.

Step 4 — Build the tags array

Start with the user-provided tags. Clean each tag:

• Preserve original capitalization (e.g., "AI Agent", "LLM", "NeMo").
• Wrap each in quotes, comma-separated.

If the user said yes to featuring the post, append "featured" to the array.

Step 5 — Create the post

Create the directory and index.md using the Write tool:

---
title: "{title}"
date: {RFC 3339 date}
featured_image: "featured_image.png"
tags: [{tags array}]
author: "{author}"
description: "{description}"
draft: false
---

<!-- 
  Replace this comment with your blog post content.
  
  BEFORE PUBLISHING:
  1. Confirm the date above is today or in the past — Hugo silently hides future-dated posts
  2. Add featured_image.png to this directory (same folder as this index.md)
  3. Set draft: false in the frontmatter above
  4. Preview: hugo server --buildDrafts --bind 0.0.0.0
  5. Build check: hugo --gc --minify
  6. Commit with signed commit: git commit -sS -m "Add blog: {title}"
-->

Step 6 — Report and next steps

After creating the file, tell the user:

1. The exact file path created.
2. That featured_image.png must be placed in the same directory as index.md before publishing.
3. The preview command: hugo server --buildDrafts --bind 0.0.0.0
4. The URL where the post will appear when published: /blog/{YYYY}/{MM}/{slug}/
5. That they must set draft: false before opening a pull request.

Evaluations

Evaluation 1: Full fields provided

Input: /write-blog "MemMachine Reaches 1000 Stars" author="Jane Smith" description="MemMachine celebrates a community milestone." tags="AI Memory, Community, Open Source" date=2026-06-01 featured=yes

Expected behavior:

• No prompts (all fields provided)
• Creates content/en/blog/2026/06/memmachine-reaches-1000-stars/index.md
• Frontmatter includes "featured" in tags array
• draft: false is set
• Reports file path and next steps

Pass criteria: File created at correct path with all frontmatter fields populated correctly.

Evaluation 2: Missing required field

Input: /write-blog "New Integration Post" (no author, description, tags, date)

Expected behavior:

• Prompts for missing fields in a single message: author, description, tags, date, and whether to feature
• After user provides answers, creates the file at the correct path
• Does not proceed to file creation before all required fields are collected

Pass criteria: Skill asks for missing fields before creating any files.

Evaluation 3: Title with special characters

Input: title = "MemMachine v0.3: What's New & Why It Matters"

Expected slug: memmachine-v0-3-whats-new-why-it-matters

Expected behavior:

• Colon, apostrophe, ampersand all converted to hyphens
• Multiple consecutive hyphens collapsed
• Correct directory path derived from slug

Pass criteria: Slug contains only lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens; no consecutive hyphens; no special characters.