Manifest

Manifest

Give form to the thinking. Whatever has happened in this conversation — a plan, an analysis, a decision, a comparison, a build — manifest it as something the user can hold, share, or hand off.

The PDF is the vehicle. The skill is editorial judgment: what matters, what to cut, how to structure it so the reader gets the point immediately.

The output should feel designed, not generated. Light, not dense. Every page breathes.

The skill runs through scripts/generate_pdf.py. Read it before generating.

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Two modes

Auto — user says "manifest this" (or similar) with no further direction. The skill makes all the calls: what the document covers, what format it takes, what gets a full section vs. a callout vs. nothing. State the intent out loud before proceeding — "Manifesting a [type] doc covering [topics]." — then go immediately.

Intent-guided — user adds direction: "manifest this as slides for the board", "one-pager focused on the cost breakdown", "give this form as a data report". Honor the intent exactly. It overrides the skill's defaults on format, scope, and emphasis.

In both cases: no back-and-forth, no confirmation. Start unless the conversation is empty.

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Phase 1: Read the room

Scan the conversation. Identify:

1. What exists — what was produced, discussed, or decided?
2. What it's for — external sharing? Internal reference? Pitch? Quick handoff? This shapes density and tone above everything else.
3. User intent — did they specify format, audience, or angle? If yes, that wins. If no, choose based on the content.
4. Style signal — did they say anything about look and feel? If not, default to minimal. Use rich when content is visual-heavy or design-forward.

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Phase 2: Pick a format

Format	When	Feel
report	Analysis, findings, summaries, plans	Sectioned, readable, editorial
slides	Things meant to be walked through, presented, pitched	One idea per page, visual
data	Comparisons, tables, metrics, charts	Numbers front, callouts for the headline
mixed	Most real work — a bit of everything	Flexible, section-by-section

Default to mixed when in doubt. Default to report for short, focused output.

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Phase 3: Build the spec

Assemble a Python dict. Every section should earn its place — don't pad.

spec = {
    "title": "...",
    "subtitle": "...",       # optional — date, context, project name
    "style": "minimal",      # "minimal" | "rich"
    "type": "mixed",         # report | slides | data | mixed
    "sections": [
        {
            "heading": "...",
            "type": "text",    # text | bullets | table | code | callout | diagram | chart
            "content": "..."   # string (text/code/diagram) | list (bullets) | list-of-dicts (table) | dict (chart)
        }
    ]
}

Section types:

• text — prose. Keep it tight.
• bullets — content is a list of strings.
• table — content is [{"Col": "val", ...}, ...]
• callout — editorial pull-quote. One insight only — no padding.
• code — code block. content is a string.
• diagram — Mermaid source. Renders as a styled block.
• chart — bar chart. content is {"labels": [...], "values": [...], "ylabel": "..."}

For slides: each section = one slide. One heading, one type, brief content.

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Phase 4: Generate

python scripts/generate_pdf.py \
  --spec-file /tmp/manifest_spec.json \
  --output /path/to/output.pdf

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Phase 5: Present

Share the file. One sentence on what it covers. Note anything omitted and why.

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Editorial principles

• Lead with the point. Most important thing first.
• Never fill a page for the sake of it. Thin content = callout or bullet, not a padded paragraph.
• Callouts are for one thing. The single most important insight. If everything is a callout, nothing is.
• Every page breathes. Whitespace is design, not waste.