| name | cold-email-kickoff |
| description | Adaptive router for the cold-email skill pack. Detects the operator's current state (brand-config present? SOUL.md present? infrastructure ready? PSP defined? EVP locked? first campaign run?) and picks the next-best step. Loaded by the main cold-email skill on bare invocation ("/cold-email") or when the operator asks "where do I start" / "what's next". Inspired by coldoutboundskills' /cold-email-kickoff pattern. |
| user-invocable | false |
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Write","Grep","Bash"] |
Cold Email Kickoff — adaptive router
State-aware router. Operators don't ship cold email on day 1 — they
go through a sequence: ICP → PSP → EVP → infrastructure → first send
→ reply triage → iterate. Kickoff detects where the operator is in
that sequence and picks the right next step.
Activation
Loaded by cold-email on:
- Bare
/cold-email invocation (no other intent)
- "Where do I start"
- "What should I do next"
- "I'm new — what's the path"
- "Onboard me"
State detection
Before recommending, kickoff checks the project state:
state = {
"has_brand_config": file_exists("brand-config.json"),
"has_soul": file_exists("SOUL.md"),
"has_psp": "psp" in brand_config and brand_config.psp.primary_pain != "",
"has_evp": "evp" in brand_config and brand_config.evp.primary != "",
"has_infrastructure": "infrastructure" in brand_config and brand_config.infrastructure.sending_domain != "",
"deliverability_audited_recently": days_since(brand_config.infrastructure.deliverability_last_audited) < 30,
"first_send_logged": has_entries(brand_config.operations.experiment_log_path),
"reply_data_available": has_logged_replies(brand_config.operations.experiment_log_path)
}
Map state to the next-best step:
| State condition | Route to |
|---|
!has_brand_config OR !has_soul | cold-email-onboarding |
has_brand_config AND !has_psp | "Install cmj-hub/claude-psp first; let me know when PSP is done" |
has_psp AND !has_evp | "Install cmj-hub/claude-evp first; let me know when EVP is done" |
has_evp AND !has_infrastructure | "Let's set up infrastructure. Run cold-email-deliverability for a baseline audit." |
has_infrastructure AND !deliverability_audited_recently | "Deliverability hasn't been re-audited in 30+ days. Run cold-email-deliverability first." |
deliverability_audited_recently AND !first_send_logged | "Ready to ship. Want to draft your first sequence via cold-email-craft?" |
first_send_logged AND !reply_data_available | "First sequence shipped. Set up reply routing — see cold-email-reply-scoring." |
reply_data_available | "You've got data. Run cold-email-audit to score the program + cold-email-weekly-rhythm for the cadence going forward." |
Welcome flow
On first invocation with no state:
> /cold-email
Welcome. Let's figure out where you are.
[Detected state: brand-config.json missing]
You're at step 1 of 7. The 7 steps:
1. ⬜ Set up brand-config + voice (10 min) ← YOU ARE HERE
2. ⬜ Build a Pain Signal Profile (20-30 min)
3. ⬜ Lock the EVP for your primary tier (15 min)
4. ⬜ Set up sending infrastructure
5. ⬜ Run the 15-point pre-campaign deliverability check
6. ⬜ Draft + ship first signal-anchored sequence
7. ⬜ Score replies + iterate (weekly rhythm)
Step 1 takes ~10 minutes and is required for everything else.
Want to run it now? (y/n)
If yes → invoke cold-email-onboarding.
If no → tell the operator what minimum-mode produces, and offer to
defer.
Status check mode
User-invocable: /cold-email status
Returns:
# Cold Email program status
Brand config: ✓ brand-config.json (24 fields)
Voice (SOUL.md): ✓ SOUL.md (8 phrases used, 6 banned, 5 stories)
PSP: ✓ Series-B SaaS pipeline-gap pain
EVP: ✓ Tier 3: "For Series-B SaaS, in a pipeline gap, we ship 14+ SQLs/month without hiring 2 SDRs"
Infrastructure: ✓ outreach.acmecloud.com (Smartlead, ramped 60+d, DMARC quarantine)
Deliverability: ✓ Last audited 2026-05-20 (3 days ago) — score 94/100
First send: ✓ 142 sends logged (last 14d)
Reply data: ✓ 11 replies (4 positive, 2 buy-signal, 5 neutral) — 7.7% reply rate
You're in iteration mode. Recommended next step:
→ Run `cold-email-audit` against your current program for the 30-point grade.
→ Or run `cold-email-weekly-rhythm` to set Monday's hunt + Wednesday's ship.
Resume from a specific step
User-invocable: /cold-email resume <step>
Where step is onboarding | psp | evp | infrastructure | deliverability | first-send | iterate. Jumps to that step regardless of detected state.
Why state-aware routing matters
Without it, kickoff would dump a "here are 12 sub-skills" menu and
overwhelm the operator. State-aware routing surfaces the ONE next step
that matters most given where they actually are.
The 30K+-star marketing-skills repos that work do this — orchestrator
adapts, doesn't list. Operators ship faster.
References
../cold-email-onboarding/SKILL.md — invoked on missing state../cold-email-craft/SKILL.md — invoked on "ready to ship"../cold-email-audit/SKILL.md — invoked on "have reply data"../cold-email-weekly-rhythm/SKILL.md — invoked on "in iteration mode"
