| 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:
- 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.
- The full draft text (so the user can read it without opening the file).
- The critic's verdict block verbatim.
- 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.
