Write

/write

Single entry point for the writing system. Loads the right templates, runs the pipeline, saves drafts inside the active week's calendar directory, and (for long-form) derives short-form repurposes.

Invocation

/write                              → router: 2-3 question interview, picks type
/write <type>                       → directly to that type's draft flow
/write <type> "<seed>"              → with topic seed, skips topic interview
/write --from <file>                → seed from a notes/idea file
/write --repurpose <draft.md>       → skip everything, only run thread-from-longform
/write --edit <draft.md>            → skip drafting, only run editing-pass + ai-slop-check
/write --list                       → show the 13 types with one-line guidance

Flags

Flag	Effect
(none)	Default: interactive. Asks before each phase transition.
--auto	Run all phases end-to-end without confirmation prompts. Output the final draft.
--step	Alias for default (interactive). Explicit version.
--draft-only	Stop after Phase 2 (Draft). Skip edit + slop check + repurpose.
--no-repurpose	Run all phases except Phase 5 (Repurpose).
--from <file>	Use the file's content as input/notes for the draft.
--repurpose <file>	Jump to Phase 5 only. <file> must be an existing long-form draft.
--edit <file>	Jump to Phases 3+4 only. <file> must be an existing draft.
--ignore-agenda	Skip the agenda proposal in Phase 0; go directly to the type interview.
--list	Print the 13 types with one-line "use when" guidance. Exit.

Types (positional)

Long-form:

• long-form-weekly-newsletter — Sunday long-form weekly recap/newsletter (the recurring Sunday default)
• long-form-monthly-devlog — reflective monthly recap, ~1200-2000 words
• long-form-hot-take — contrarian opinion, ~800-1500 words
• long-form-how-to — actionable guide, ~1500-3500 words
• long-form-launch-retro — post-launch breakdown with numbers, ~800-1500 words
• long-form-manifesto — vision/strategy piece, ~1500-3000 words

Short-form:

• short-form-x-vs-y — comparison post
• short-form-listicle — numbered list post
• short-form-observation — single noticed thing
• short-form-motivational — motivational post (use sparingly, max 1-2/mo)
• short-form-present-vs-future — temporal contrast
• short-form-thread-from-longform — derives short-form pieces from existing long-form (alias for --repurpose-style flow when you want to start from a long-form file)
• short-form-carousel-li — LinkedIn carousel content

Pipeline

Phase 0 — Routing

If no type provided AND no --repurpose/--edit flag:

First, unless --ignore-agenda was passed, consult today's agenda via the active week's plan:

1. Compute current_week = ISO week of today using date +%G-W%V (note: %G, not %Y — required around year boundaries). Format is YYYY-WNN (e.g. 2026-W18).
2. Look for scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/plan.md.
   • If file missing: resolver returns null (no week scaffolded). The fallback interview (below) should suggest /agenda plan-week today before continuing.
3. Find rows in plan.md where Date == today AND Status == queued.
   • 0 matches → resolver returns null. Fall through to rules-only resolution per /agenda's algorithm, then to the interview if still null.
   • 1 match → propose to the user: "Today's slot is {type} — '{seed}' (slug: {slug}). Proceed? (y / pick another / cancel)".
     • y → skip the interview; go to Phase 1 with that type + seed + slug.
     • pick another → fall through to the interview.
     • cancel → exit.

   • 1 matches → surface the conflict, list all rows, ask which one (or pick another / cancel).

4. The resolver is resilient — if plan.md is missing or malformed, it returns null. It will not throw.

Interview (fallback when no agenda slot, agenda declined, or --ignore-agenda):

Ask 2-3 questions, max:

1. "Long-form or short-form?"
2. (Long) "Is this about something you DID (devlog/retro/how-to) or something you THINK (hot-take/manifesto)?" (Short) "Comparing two things, listing items, sharing an observation, or repurposing a long-form piece?"
3. (If still ambiguous) one final disambiguating question.

Then proceed to Phase 1 with the chosen type.

If type IS provided: skip Phase 0.

Phase 1 — Seed

Load context (mandatory order):

1. Voice base (always). Resolve in this order: a. scribetronic/style/writing-style.md in the project root, if it exists — user's personalized override. b. Otherwise, the bundled writing-style/SKILL.md template.
2. The type's template file (e.g., long-form-hot-take/SKILL.md, long-form-weekly-newsletter/SKILL.md).
3. If short-form: also short-form-voice-adjustments/SKILL.md.

Then:

• If --from <file> was passed: read it as raw notes/seed.
• If a "<seed>" was passed positionally: treat it as the topic.
• If neither: ask 2-4 type-specific questions per the template's "Workflow" section.
  • Example for long-form-hot-take: "What's the conventional wisdom you're disagreeing with? What's your alternative? Concrete failure modes?"
  • Example for long-form-weekly-newsletter: "What did you ship this week? Any conversations/people moments? Insights from this specific week?"
  • Example for long-form-launch-retro: "What launched? When? What were the numbers? Pre-launch expectation?"

Stop after seed is captured. Confirm with user: "Ready to draft? (y / change seed / cancel)" — unless --auto.

Phase 2 — Draft

Generate draft following the template's structure exactly. Apply the voice rules loaded in Phase 1 (project override or bundled template).

Save path — drafts live inside the active week's calendar directory:

1. Compute current_week = date +%G-W%V (format YYYY-WNN).

2. If scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/ does NOT exist, refuse with the message:

   "No week scaffolded for <current_week>. Run /agenda plan-week today first."

   Do NOT auto-scaffold the week — that requires a newsletter seed and is owned by /agenda plan-week.

3. Determine the path:

   • For type == long-form-weekly-newsletter:

     scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/newsletter.md
     

   • For all other types:

     scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/derivatives/<weekday>-<type>-<slug>.md
     

     where <weekday> is today's weekday as a lowercase 3-letter abbreviation (mon/tue/wed/thu/fri/sat/sun).
   • Lazily create derivatives/ if it doesn't exist yet.
   • NO -x/-li/-threads/-carousel suffix in the filename. ONE file per derivative — platform lives in the file's frontmatter.

Frontmatter — two shapes per Contract 6.

For long-form-weekly-newsletter at <week>/newsletter.md:

---
type: long-form-weekly-newsletter
status: draft
created: YYYY-MM-DD
week: YYYY-WNN
seed: "<first 80 chars of seed>"
length_words: <N>
---

For derivatives at <week>/derivatives/<weekday>-<type>-<slug>.md:

---
type: <one of the 7 short-form types>
status: draft
created: YYYY-MM-DD
week: YYYY-WNN
day: YYYY-MM-DD            # date this derivative is targeting
platform: x | linkedin | threads | carousel
parent: newsletter         # always
seed: "<first 80 chars>"
length_chars: <N>
---

published_date: YYYY-MM-DD is appended later by /write-publish on successful publish. The published status is owned by /write-publish — /write never writes it.

Show the full draft to the user.

If interactive: ask "Continue to editing? (y / iterate draft / save & stop)". If --auto: continue. If --draft-only: stop here. Output draft path.

Phase 3 — Edit

Run editing-pass/SKILL.md against the draft. Apply changes inline.

Output: same file, edited. The pre-edit version is preserved as {filename}.draft.md (suffix .draft before .md) in the same directory so the user can recover the unedited version.

Update frontmatter status to edited.

Show the edits as a diff or as the new full version (user choice if interactive).

If interactive: "Continue to slop check? (y / iterate edit / save & stop)". If --auto: continue.

Phase 4 — Slop check

Run ai-slop-check/SKILL.md against the edited draft.

Output: a report with issues by severity (HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW).

For HIGH issues: propose fixes inline. If interactive, ask before applying. If --auto, apply automatically and log. For MEDIUM: surface, ask for decision (interactive) or apply if confidence is high (auto). For LOW: just surface.

After fixes, re-run if any HIGH was fixed. Re-run cap: 2 passes total. If still HIGH after 2 passes, flag for manual review.

Update frontmatter status to ready (passes Phase 4 cleanly) or leave as edited (HIGH still unresolved after cap).

If interactive: "Mark as ready to publish? (y / iterate / save & stop)". If --auto: continue.

Phase 5 — Repurpose (long-form only)

Skip if:

• Type is short-form.
• --no-repurpose flag.
• User declines in interactive mode.

Otherwise, derive short-form pieces from the just-finished long-form parent (the newsletter):

1. Read scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/plan.md.
2. Find rows whose Source is newsletter (or newsletter (thread)) AND whose Status is queued. These are the planned derivatives for this week.
3. For each such row, generate one derivative draft using short-form-thread-from-longform/SKILL.md. Save to:

   scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/derivatives/<weekday>-<type>-<slug>.md
   

   where:
   • <weekday> is the row's Day (lowercase 3-letter abbreviation),
   • <type> is the row's Type,
   • <slug> is the row's Slug.
4. Frontmatter follows Contract 6's derivative shape. The platform field is taken from the plan.md row's Platform column. parent: newsletter.
5. If a derivative type proposed by Phase 5 has NO matching plan.md row:
   • Interactive: ask the user for the platform (and confirm slug).
   • --auto: skip that derivative with a warning logged in the final output.
6. Each derivative goes through Phase 4 (slop check) before save. Same severity handling, same re-run cap.

There is ONE file per derivative. The channel (X, LinkedIn, Threads, carousel) is recorded in the file's platform frontmatter — never in the filename suffix.

Phase 6 — Final output

Print:

✓ Long-form: scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/newsletter.md
✓ Edited: yes
✓ Slop check: clean (or: 1 MEDIUM unresolved)
Derivatives:
  - thu-thread-niches-are-dead       (platform: x)
  - fri-carousel-niches-are-dead     (platform: carousel)

Ready to publish:
  [ ] Final read-through aloud
  [ ] Cross-platform cadence check (don't ship X+LI+Threads same day)
  [ ] Schedule or post

Update frontmatter status to ready on the main draft (and on each derivative that passed Phase 4 cleanly).

Then update calendar bookkeeping (both files use markdown tables — see agenda/SKILL.md for the full schema):

1. history.md — append a row to the markdown table at scribetronic/calendar/history.md:

   | YYYY-MM-DD | {type} | {slug} | ready | /write |
   

   Use today's date. Schema: | Date | Type | Slug | Status | Source |. If the file or table is missing (first run), create it with the header documented in agenda/SKILL.md § File contracts, then append. Append one row per finalized draft (the newsletter and each derivative).

2. plan.md — for each finalized draft, find the row in scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/plan.md whose Slug matches the draft's slug, and set its Status from queued to drafted. Plan column schema:

   | Date | Day | Type | Slug | Platform | Source | Status |
   

   The only transition /write is allowed to make is queued → drafted. ONE write per matched row. If no row matches: surface a warning (don't error — the user may have written off-plan).

Status-write ownership (do not violate):

• /write writes drafted (to plan.md) and ready (to history.md). Nothing else.
• /write-publish owns published rows in history.md and the published transition on plan.md.
• /agenda skip owns the skipped transition on plan.md.

This avoids race conditions when multiple flows touch the same files.

Interactive prompts — phrasing rules

• Always offer 3 choices: continue (y), iterate (change seed / iterate draft / etc.), abort (save & stop).
• Never ask open-ended "what would you like to do?" — too vague.
• After a phase produces output, show the output IN the chat (don't just say "draft saved"). User must see what was written.
• If user says "iterate", ask ONE specific question: "What should change?" — don't run a 5-question questionnaire mid-flow.

Slug rules

{slug} derivation, in priority order:

1. Slug from the matched plan.md row (if Phase 0 routed via agenda).
2. Explicit slug in seed (if user wrote one).
3. First 4-6 meaningful words from seed → kebab-case.
4. Auto from headline → kebab-case, max 60 chars.

Examples

/write
→ Phase 0: reads scribetronic/calendar/2026-W18/plan.md. Finds today's queued slot.
→ "Today's slot is `long-form-weekly-newsletter` — 'shipping fast is overrated...'. Proceed? (y / pick another / cancel)"
→ y → loads long-form-weekly-newsletter template + writing-style.
→ Drafts to scribetronic/calendar/2026-W18/newsletter.md. Edits. Slop-checks.
→ Phase 5 reads plan.md, derives the queued thread + carousel rows. Done.

/write long-form-hot-take "shipping fast is overrated when you have no audience"
→ Loads long-form-hot-take template + writing-style.
→ Asks: "Whose advice are you disagreeing with? What's your alternative?"
→ Drafts to scribetronic/calendar/2026-W18/derivatives/mon-long-form-hot-take-shipping-fast-overrated.md.
→ Edits. Slop-checks. Repurpose? → derives matching plan.md rows.

/write --from scribetronic/ideas/idea-launch-retro.md
→ Reads file. Auto-detects type if possible (else asks).
→ Drafts using file as seed, into the active week's directory.

/write --repurpose scribetronic/calendar/2026-W18/newsletter.md
→ Skips Phases 0-4. Reads same week's plan.md, generates queued derivatives.

/write --edit scribetronic/calendar/2026-W18/derivatives/wed-short-form-thread-from-longform-niches-are-dead.md
→ Runs editing-pass + ai-slop-check on existing draft only.

/write --auto long-form-launch-retro "Product #2 — Boilerplate kit"
→ Asks zero questions beyond seed details. Runs end-to-end. Outputs final.

/write --list
→ Prints 13 types with one-line "use when" each.

Anti-patterns

• Don't run any phase without loading the voice base first (Phase 1 step 1: project-local override scribetronic/style/writing-style.md if present, else bundled writing-style/SKILL.md). The voice base is non-negotiable.
• Don't skip the seed interview for ambiguous types — the 2-4 quick questions save 10 minutes of bad draft.
• Don't auto-fix MEDIUM slop issues without asking unless --auto.
• Don't generate a draft + 4 derivatives in one phase. Repurpose is its own phase, optional, separate output.
• Don't write outside scribetronic/calendar/<current_week>/. The week directory is the unit of organization.
• Don't append -x/-li/-threads/-carousel to filenames. ONE file per derivative; platform is in frontmatter.
• Don't auto-scaffold a missing week directory. Refuse and instruct the user to run /agenda plan-week today.

Failure modes

• No week scaffolded: refuse with a message pointing to /agenda plan-week today. Do not create the directory.
• User asks for a type that doesn't exist: suggest the closest match from the 13. Don't invent.
• No seed and --auto: abort with error. --auto requires a seed (positional or --from).
• Type is long-form but user wants only a thread: suggest /write short-form-thread-from-longform or /write --repurpose <file> instead.
• Edit conflicts (user already modified the draft between phases): detect via mtime; ask before overwriting.
• Slug not in plan.md at Phase 6: warn ("off-plan draft — no plan.md row updated") but still complete the run and append to history.md.