content-idea-finder

name

content-idea-finder

description

Create a reusable Content Idea Brief for One Horizon approval across dedicated Ink channels or broader generic marketing channels by combining current company context, trend signals, archive gaps, and channel fit. Use when Codex needs to map a goal to one concrete content idea, choose a channel, manage trend-source URLs, or turn a current signal into an approved-later brief that a writer workflow can pick up. Blog ideas follow the Blog Lifecycle Contract. Do not draft content in this skill.

Content Idea Finder

Overview

Start with the goal, not the format. The end state is a proposed Content Idea Brief filed into One Horizon, not a draft and not an approval request in chat.

Run a three-role workflow: orchestrator loads context, journalist finds up to 3 timely options, editor selects one and reports it as a reusable brief.

Quick Start

1. Read references/workflow.md.
2. Orchestrator: clarify the content job, resolve the Ink profile, author, and workspace, run the setup path for missing required context, and load the required One Horizon author context before any local corpus scan.
3. Orchestrator: load or set up Ink Context - Trend Sources. If the document is missing or has no usable Active URLs, ask the user for trend or inspiration websites and wait for the answer unless the user explicitly says to skip trend-source research for this run. After the user confirms the proposed body, create or update the One Horizon document before journalist research.
4. Orchestrator: search One Horizon for existing work with titles starting [Ink] and treat those records as the primary exclude list before ideation.
5. Journalist: use the trend-source doc or user-provided run sources, ../linkedin-social-writer/references/mcp-tools.md, trend tools, web_search, and fetch_page to produce at most 3 timely story suggestions. Do not return journalist suggestions from local corpus search alone.
6. Editor: check relevant published LinkedIn, Reddit, blog, generic channel, or Content Program examples when available, then choose one topic.
7. Editor: report the chosen idea in One Horizon, using references/idea-brief-template.md as the description format. Use create_initiative for Blog and generic channel ideas that need parent placement; use the report tool for dedicated social ideas when their channel workflow says so.
8. Orchestrator: return the recommendation, the One Horizon record, and a short note on the later workflow to run after approval.

Working Agreement

• Start from outcome and audience, then choose a dedicated or generic channel with references/channel-fit.md and ../content-program-builder/references/channel-taxonomy.md.
• Resolve the active Ink profile before One Horizon lookups or local corpus scans. If multiple profiles exist and none is named, ask which profile to use.
• Load live context from the selected profile's One Horizon workspace. Do not infer company positioning from local corpus files.
• Use One Horizon [Ink Idea] and [Ink Draft] records as the primary planned-content exclude list.
• Use trend sources and web/trend tools for discovery; use published local corpora only to check overlap and gaps.
• Do not use local draft folders for content-idea dedupe.
• Return at most 3 journalist options, then choose one. Do not pad weak ideas.
• Report the selected idea to One Horizon using references/idea-brief-template.md. Blog ideas use create_initiative; LinkedIn and Reddit use the report tool; generic channels may use create_initiative under Ink - Channel Content when parent placement is available.
• Do not draft content. Approval happens in One Horizon, and later writer workflows pick up the approved brief.

Workflow

Follow references/workflow.md.

Use references/channel-fit.md when the best format is unclear.

One Horizon: Report Editor-Selected Idea

When the editor chooses one topic, create the idea in One Horizon before returning the recommendation. This is a Content Idea Brief, not a draft.

Rules:

• For Blog, use create_initiative and the Blog Lifecycle Contract in ../one-horizon-context-setup/references/ink-initiative-hierarchy.md.
• For LinkedIn and Reddit, use the MCP report tool report-feature-request unless their channel workflow says otherwise.
• For non-specialized generic channels, use create_initiative under Ink - Channel Content when the parent exists or can be resolved. If that parent is unavailable, use the report tool and include a note that parent placement still needs repair.
• Do not use create-todo. Do not use create-initiative for LinkedIn or Reddit ideas unless their channel workflow changes.
• This is a real One Horizon MCP tool call, not a sentence in the final response. Do not claim the idea was reported unless the tool call succeeded.
• Title: the working title of the selected idea, prefixed with [Ink Idea] and the channel in brackets, e.g. [Ink Idea] [Blog] Why agent workflows break in production.
• Description: use references/idea-brief-template.md. Fill every relevant field and omit only channel-specific fields that do not apply.

If the One Horizon create/report tool is missing or fails at reporting time, skip this step and say the idea record was not created. A failure means an actual tool call failed or the tool is not callable in the current session. Do not block the recommendation summary on One Horizon availability.

Output Shape

Unless the user asks differently, return:

• the recommended channel first
• up to 3 journalist suggestions with source URLs, short story summary, why now, likely content angle, and confidence or evidence note
• the editor's chosen topic, rejected alternatives, company-fit and archive rationale, whether it is net-new or a follow-up, and why it belongs on the selected dedicated or generic channel
• the brief summary and the relevant future workflow after One Horizon approval
• the One Horizon record URL or title when the editor-selected idea was successfully reported for approval
• the context docs, trend-source doc status, One Horizon exclude-list status, published corpus examples, and external sources that shaped the recommendation

Files

• Read references/workflow.md for the orchestration flow.
• Read references/channel-fit.md when selecting a channel.
• Read ../content-program-builder/references/channel-taxonomy.md for canonical generic channel slugs.
• Use references/idea-brief-template.md as the single source of truth for the One Horizon description.
• If a One Horizon context or write tool call fails, read ../one-horizon-context-setup/references/mcp-readiness.md for recovery.
• Orchestrator resolves the selected Ink profile with ../one-horizon-context-setup/references/ink-profile-contract.md, resolves the author with One Horizon MCP inside that workspace, runs setup for missing required context, then loads relevant author-scoped context from One Horizon: Profile, Current Work, and Work History.
• Orchestrator loads or sets up the selected workspace's One Horizon doc Ink Context - Trend Sources before the journalist researches trend and inspiration signals.
• Editor reads the selected profile's blogPublishingConfig for the active blog source folder when blog is a possible channel.
• Read ../linkedin-social-writer/references/mcp-tools.md before using the local research tools.
• Orchestrator searches One Horizon for [Ink] records before journalist ideation, then filters for [Ink Idea] and [Ink Draft] title prefixes.
• Editor searches published corpus paths from the selected profile only: LinkedIn contentRoots.linkedin, Reddit contentRoots.reddit, configured blog source folder, and optional contentRoots.channels or local Content Program examples when relevant before choosing the topic.
• After approval, use ../content-creation-runner/SKILL.md to turn planned [Ink Idea] records into reviewable [Ink Draft] work, updating Blog in place, creating dedicated social draft initiatives, or routing generic channel work through ../channel-content-writer/SKILL.md as that runner specifies.