post-cycle

name

post-cycle

description

Run the full LinkedIn post pipeline end-to-end in one go — briefing (if missing), top-posts + patterns context, ideator shortlist, writer draft, critic verdict. Use when the user says "full cycle", "run the pipeline", "do the whole flow", "post-cycle", "give me a post end to end", or wants a single command that replaces invoking topics-briefing, post-ideator, post-writer, and post-critic separately. Optionally accepts an idea number to pick from a freshly generated shortlist.

post-cycle

Orchestrates the post pipeline end-to-end so the user does not run each skill by hand. You are the conductor. The underlying skills (topics-briefing, posts-postmortem, post-ideator, post-writer, post-critic, post-image) own their logic. Do not duplicate their rules. Do not skip them.

Inputs

• args (optional): an integer 1..5 picking a specific idea from the freshly generated shortlist. If absent, auto-pick the top-scored brief in ideas/YYYY-MM-DD.md (the first entry the ideator emitted).

Workflow

Run the steps in order. Each step produces a concrete artifact on disk. Do not stop between steps unless a step truly fails.

1. Briefing (only if missing)

Check if today's briefing exists:

test -f "briefings/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md" && echo present || echo missing

• present: skip to step 2 — do not regenerate.
• missing: invoke the topics-briefing skill. Wait for it to finish writing briefings/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md.

Briefings are dated. Yesterday's file does not count as today's; only same-day matches.

1.5. Postmortems (only if stale)

The writer and critic need failure context, not just success context. Postmortems live in retros/postmortems/ and are slow-changing, so they do not regenerate every cycle.

Check freshness:

test -d retros/postmortems && \
  find retros/postmortems -type f -name '*.md' -mtime -14 -print | head -1

• If the command prints at least one path, postmortems are fresh enough — skip.
• If the directory is empty or the newest postmortem is older than 14 days, invoke the posts-postmortem skill. It writes one file per underperforming post to retros/postmortems/.

If posts-postmortem fails (corpus too small, etc.), surface the warning and continue. A missing postmortem corpus is not a pipeline failure.

2. Archive context

Run both scripts and keep their output in context for the ideator and critic:

bun run top-posts --n 10
bun run post-patterns

If either fails, surface the error and stop. The ideator and critic both depend on post-patterns.

3. Ideate

Invoke the post-ideator skill. It will:

• Read the latest briefing.
• Use the post-patterns and top-posts context already gathered.
• Dedup against recent drafts and published posts.
• Emit 3 to 5 scored idea briefs and write shortlisted entries into ideas/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md.

Do not draft yet. Wait for the ideator to finish.

4. Pick an idea

• If args is a number N, pick the Nth idea from the just-written ideas/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md (order = order in file).
• If args is empty, pick the first entry in ideas/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md (the ideator's strongest pick).
• If the pick is out of range, stop and ask the user which idea to use.

Mark the chosen idea's status in ideas/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md to approved via Edit. Leave the others as shortlisted.

5. Draft

Invoke the post-writer skill with the approved idea brief. Pass through every field the writer expects: angle, source_url, source_title, briefing_date, topic_family, source_type, why_now, opinion_wedge, evidence_points.

The writer saves to drafts/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)-<slug>.md. Capture that path for the next step.

6. Critique

Invoke the post-critic skill with the draft path from step 5. The critic will read the idea brief, the patterns report, and the draft, then emit either an approval scorecard or a rewrite plan.

If the critic rejects, stop here. Do not generate a concept image for a draft that is not going to publish.

7. Visual concept (only if critic approved)

Invoke the post-image skill with the approved draft path. Use the default square size unless the user specified one at the start of the cycle. The skill will:

• Reason over the whole draft body to pick a tactile, non-cliché metaphor.
• Write the full image-generation prompt to concepts/<date>-<slug>/prompt.md.
• Update the draft frontmatter with concept_path: concepts/<…>/prompt.md.
• Print the prompt so the user can paste it into their image tool.

If post-image fails, surface the error and stop. The draft itself is already saved and approved — the user can re-run /post-image <draft> manually.

Output

Print, in order:

1. A one-line status per step: briefing: created | reused, postmortems: refreshed | fresh | skipped, ideation: N briefs, chosen: <idea_id>, draft: <path>, critic: approved | rejected, concept: <path> | skipped.
2. The full draft text (so the user can read it without opening the file).
3. The critic's verdict block verbatim.
4. If the concept image was generated, the post-image output block verbatim so the user can paste it into their image tool.

If the critic rejected the draft, stop after step 3. Do not auto-revise and do not generate a concept image. The rewrite plan is the user's call.

Failure handling

• Briefing step fails: report the failure and stop. The rest of the pipeline depends on a current briefing.
• bun run top-posts or bun run post-patterns fails: report and stop.
• Ideator returns zero passing briefs: stop and tell the user the shortlist was empty. Do not invent an angle.
• Writer fails to save the draft: stop. Do not retry without the user.
• Critic rejects: this is not a pipeline failure. Print the rewrite plan and end normally.

What this skill does not do

• It does not run post-retro. That happens 72 hours after publishing.
• It does not publish to LinkedIn.
• It does not bypass the critic. A rejected draft stays a draft.
• It does not edit posts/. Those are scraped output.

When to use

Trigger phrases:

• "run the full cycle"
• "do the whole flow"
• "post-cycle"
• "give me a post end to end"
• "pipeline a post"
• "ideate, draft, and critique"

If the user already has a draft and just wants it critiqued, use post-critic directly. If they already picked an idea, use post-writer directly. This skill is for the cold start.