Character management

Skill danjdewhurst/story-skills/skills/character-management

Agent Skills for end-to-end story writing in markdown, packaged as Codex and Claude Code plugins.

Install

npx -y skills add danjdewhurst/story-skills --skill character-management

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What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a character", "update a character", "add a character", "build a family tree", "character relationships", "character timeline", "character arc", "character profile", or needs to manage characters in a story project.

SKILL.md

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Character Management

Overview

Create and manage rich character profiles for a story project. Each character is a markdown file with YAML frontmatter in the characters/ directory. Characters are cross-referenced with other story elements through kebab-case identifiers.

Prerequisites

A story project must already exist (created via the story-init skill). Verify by checking for story.md in the project root.

Creating a Character

Read story.md for genre, themes, and tone context
Read characters/_index.md for existing characters
Ask for the character's name and role (protagonist, antagonist, supporting, minor)
Build the profile through conversation, exploring:
- Appearance and distinguishing features
- Personality, traits, and quirks
- Backstory and formative events
- Motivations (external wants vs internal needs)
- Voice and speech patterns (ask for example dialogue)
- Character arc (starting state, turning points, ending state)
- Key life events for the timeline
Write the character file using the template in references/character-template.md
Save to characters/{name-kebab}.md, or use story add character "{Name}" --role "{role}" when the CLI is available
Update characters/_index.md registry table
If relationships reference existing characters, update those character files too
When CLI access is available, run the maintenance pass in the story root:

story reindex .
story links .
story validate .

Updating a Character

Read the existing character file
Read characters/_index.md for context on other characters
Make the requested changes
If relationships changed, update the other character's file (bidirectional)
Update characters/_index.md if role or status changed
When CLI access is available, run story reindex ., story links ., and story validate .

Managing Relationships

Reference references/relationship-types.md for the full list of relationship types and inverse pairs.

When adding a relationship:

Add the relationship entry to the character's frontmatter
Add the inverse relationship to the other character's frontmatter
Update the Relationship Map section in characters/_index.md

Family Trees

Family trees are maintained in the characters/_index.md under the "Family Trees" section. Format:

## Family Trees

### {Family Name}
- **{Character Name}** ({status}) - [{name-kebab}.md]
  - **{Child Name}** - [{name-kebab}.md]
  - **{Child Name}** - [{name-kebab}.md]

Indent children under parents. Note marriages/partnerships inline.

Cross-Referencing

When a character is referenced in worldbuilding (e.g., a location's notable-characters), ensure the link exists both ways
Character-location backlinks live in the character file's locations frontmatter list
Faction memberships live in worldbuilding/factions/{faction-kebab}.md under members
Artifact ownership can reference a character id in worldbuilding/artifacts/{artifact-kebab}.md
When a character appears in a plot arc, ensure they're listed in the arc's characters frontmatter
Character tags should be consistent across the project (e.g., if magic-user is used, always use that exact tag)

CLI Maintenance

Use the Story CLI when it is available. If story is not installed but the story-maintenance skill is present, use node ../story-maintenance/scripts/story.js with the same arguments, resolving the path relative to this skill folder. If no CLI is available, perform the registry and backlink checks manually.

Reference Files

references/character-template.md - Full blank template for character profiles
references/relationship-types.md - Complete relationship type reference with inverse pairs