| name | draft-post |
| description | Turn an idea into a draft Hugo post for mattgoodrich.com — generates the post directory, frontmatter, body draft in Matt's voice (per STYLE.md), and a header image matching the site's editorial illustration aesthetic. USE WHEN draft post, new post, create post, scaffold post, start a post, blog draft, /draft-post. |
draft-post
End-to-end scaffolding for a new Hugo post on mattgoodrich.com. Takes an idea, returns a complete draft (directory + frontmatter + body + header art) ready for Matt to iterate on. Draft only — never publishes, never commits.
Inputs
- The idea. One sentence to several paragraphs. Examples: "post about workload identity as the layer above secret management", "the broker pattern between 1Password vault scoping and pure workload identity", "what I changed my mind about with AI governance after a year".
- Optional context. Audience, angle, length target, specific framings to preserve.
Outputs
content/posts/{slug}/index.md — frontmatter + body draft (draft = true)content/posts/{slug}/header.png — header image matching the site aesthetic- A status report listing path, title, dek, word count, build status
Workflow
Step 1 — Capture the idea
Read what Matt provided. Apply the restate-in-one-sentence test: regardless of input length, can you restate the post's argument in one sentence? If no, ask up to 2 short clarifying questions (audience, angle, format) until you can. Do not generate anything until you can pass that test.
Step 2 — Read context (mandatory, every invocation)
Read these files at runtime (don't rely on training memory — Matt edits them):
STYLE.md at repo root — voice, openings, headers, words-to-avoid, length targets- Frontmatter + first 30 lines of the 3 most recent posts in
content/posts/ (sort by date in frontmatter) — calibrate current tone, tag vocabulary, dek shape
Run ls content/posts/ to know what slugs already exist.
Step 3 — Propose title, slug, dek — get approval (gate)
Output exactly this shape and stop for Matt's response. Do not proceed to Step 4 without his approval:
Concept: [one-sentence restatement of the post's argument, in Matt's voice]
STYLE.md last-modified: [date from `ls -l STYLE.md`]
Recent posts read: [3 slugs]
Title options (recommended first):
1. [Title A] — [one-line why]
2. [Title B] — [one-line why]
3. [Title C] — [one-line why]
Slug (from recommended title): {kebab-case-slug}
collides with existing post? yes / no (checked against content/posts/)
Dek (description, 2-3 declarative sentences, matches post register per STYLE.md):
"[…]"
Categories (proposed, single-quoted TOML strings): ['Security', 'AI']
Tags (proposed, single-quoted TOML strings): ['AI', 'Identity', '…']
Proposed publish date: {next Mon–Fri slot after the queue tail}, 00:01 Pacific
queue tail right now: {latest active-queue date} ({slug})
earlier-fit option (only if this clusters with queued posts): inject at {date}, ahead of {slug} — {one-line reason}; cascades {N} later posts back one weekday. Default is append-to-tail.
Approve to proceed to body draft + art generation? Or change the title/slug/dek/categories/tags/date first?
Why this gate: Art generation is expensive; frontmatter is the post's contract. Settle them before continuing.
Step 4 — Draft the body
After approval, draft the body in Matt's voice. Apply STYLE.md.
In the output, prefix the body with a labeled banner so the choices are explicit:
Opening shape: [personal hook | quoted dialogue | bold lead claim] ← pick ONE; mixing is a failure mode
Named dichotomy or concept this post coins/uses: [...]
Honest-tradeoff section will be: [section header]
Closing landing sentence: [one line]
Word-count target: [X]–[Y] (per STYLE.md register)
Then the body. Constraints:
- Section headers are claims or named concepts — never "Background", "Introduction", "Overview"
- Aim for a named dichotomy or named concept readers can carry away (Matt's posts always have one)
- At least one section argues against the post's own thesis (honest tradeoff)
- Closing lands; no rhetorical question; no marketing vocab (
leverage / unlock / harness / journey / embrace)
- Length range by register:
- Technical deep-dive: as long as the subject demands; no upper bound
- Thought piece: 2,200–2,500 typical; flag if under ~1,500
- Hybrid (workspace/code-attribution register): 1,000–1,500 fine
Step 4.5 — Self-audit (mandatory, blocking)
Before continuing to Step 5, output this audit block. If anything fails, fix and re-audit:
Words-to-avoid scan: [clean | found and replaced: leverage→use, unlock→...]
"Not just X — it's Y": [absent | found at line N, rewritten]
Three-part rhythm in titles/claims: [absent | found, reduced to two]
Rhetorical question in closing: [absent | found, rewritten]
Em-dash density: [acceptable | one paragraph has >1 where comma works, fixed]
Opening shape consistent (not mixed): [yes]
Named dichotomy present: [yes / explicitly chose not to, reason: ...]
Honest-tradeoff section present: [yes, section: "..."]
Step 5 — Generate the header image
Invoke the Media skill for the header. Use this style brief verbatim, plus a one-sentence concept tied to this post:
Style brief — Matt Goodrich blog header (consistency across all posts):
Editorial illustration in the register of Atlantic / New Yorker / Stratechery essay art. Ink and marker line work over watercolor splash washes. Cream/off-white textured paper background — NOT pure white, slight warm tone. Color palette: deep purple/violet as dominant accent, warm orange/amber as secondary accent, charcoal/black line work for form. Visible paint splatters and soft drips for organic texture. Wide cinema aspect ratio (16:9 or slightly wider). Centered or symmetric composition. Subject matter is metaphorical — depicts the post's concept through objects, technology motifs, or abstract forms — not literal scenes, no text inside the image. No human faces or full human figures. Mechanical / robotic objects ARE fine (e.g., a robotic hand reaching for a vault is on-brand). Tone: thoughtful, slightly playful, intellectually serious. Hand-drawn feel, not photo-real, not 3D render, not flat vector.
Concept-line examples (for shape, don't copy):
- 1Password post: "A weathered vault box with a robotic hand reaching for its dials, next to an open book."
- AI Governance post: "Concentric architectural rings forming a quiet, ordered amphitheatre at the center, splashed with purple paint."
- Agents Don't Travel Well post: "A workshop wall of glowing monitors over a desk, all wired into one quiet workstation."
Verify Media result before continuing:
- File exists at
content/posts/{slug}/header.png
- Aspect ratio is 16:9 (±10%)
- Image is non-zero size and parseable
On any verification failure, stop — surface the error and do NOT write index.md. Better to ship no scaffolding than scaffolding with a missing or wrong-aspect header.
Step 6 — Scaffold the post directory
Date handling — schedule into the publish queue:
New posts are future-dated into the publish queue and kept draft = true. A future date plus draft = true is held by Hugo on both counts, so the post will not go live until Matt both approves it (draft = false, via approve-post) and the date arrives. The future date is deliberate here, which is different from the 2026-05-14 gotcha (that was a post meant to publish now that got held by an accidental future stamp; here being held is the point).
Compute the slot once (propose it in Step 3, write it in the frontmatter here):
- Build the active queue: every post not yet published (
draft = true, or date in the future), sorted by date. Exclude far-future parking sentinels (the 2026-12-31 placeholders are not real slots; drop anything dated more than ~60 days out).
- The tail is the latest active-queue date.
- Default date = the next weekday (Mon–Fri) strictly after the tail, at
T00:01:00-07:00 (just after midnight Pacific). The time matters: the publish cron runs in the early morning, so a post timestamped noon is still "future" at that run and goes live the morning after its date. Anchoring at 00:01, before the cron, makes a post dated 6/X publish on 6/X. Roll a Sat/Sun result forward to Monday. If the queue is empty, use the next weekday from today.
This matches the cadence the existing schedule and approve-post follow: one post per weekday, weekends skipped.
tail=$(for d in content/posts/*/index.md; do
dt=$(grep -m1 '^date' "$d" | sed "s/.*= *'//;s/'.*//" | cut -dT -f1)
awk -v x="$dt" 'BEGIN{ if (x < "2026-12-01") print x }'
done | sort | tail -1)
n="$tail"
while :; do n=$(date -j -v+1d -f %Y-%m-%d "$n" +%Y-%m-%d); \
dow=$(date -j -f %Y-%m-%d "$n" +%u); [ "$dow" -le 5 ] && break; done
echo "$n"
If the post clusters with posts already in the queue (shared thread, tags, or cross-links), you may suggest an earlier injection slot in Step 3, naming the slot, the one-line reason, and that injecting cascades the later posts back one weekday. Injecting is a reschedule Matt opts into; never cascade dates automatically. Default is append-to-tail.
Write content/posts/{slug}/index.md using this template (filled, not placeholders):
+++
date = '2026-07-09T00:01:00-07:00'
draft = true
title = "Title With An Apostrophe Needs Double Quotes"
aliases = []
description = "Two to three declarative sentences. Same register as the post. No marketing vocab."
categories = ['Security', 'AI']
tags = ['AI', 'Identity', 'CISO']
image = 'header.png'
[params]
author = 'Matt Goodrich'
+++
{body draft from Step 4, post-audit}
TOML rules to enforce:
categories and tags are arrays of single-quoted strings, comma-separated. ['Security', 'AI'] is valid; [Security, AI] is not.title uses single quotes unless the title contains an apostrophe — then double quotes.aliases = [] always emitted (intentionally empty; reserved for slug-change redirects, see Iteration Hooks).description uses double quotes (deks routinely contain apostrophes and em-dashes).
Step 7 — Build verify
Run hugo -D --quiet from the repo root.
Pass criteria:
- Exit code 0
- Either: file at
public/posts/{slug}/index.html exists, or Hugo's build log lists the page as built (theme-routing variation tolerated)
If exit code is non-zero, surface the full error and stop. Common failure causes: TOML quoting error (apostrophe in title needs "…"), missing required frontmatter field, slug collision Hugo didn't reject in Step 3.
Step 8 — Report
Output:
✅ Draft post scaffolded
Path: content/posts/{slug}/
Title: {title}
Dek: {dek}
Word count: {N}
Opening shape: {shape}
Named concept: {dichotomy or "none, deliberate"}
Header art: content/posts/{slug}/header.png (16:9, {file size})
Status: draft = true
Date: {scheduled date} (queue slot: next weekday after {tail}; held until you approve it)
Build: passed (hugo -D)
Next steps Matt typically takes:
- Read the body, edit toward final voice
- Iterate the header art if it doesn't land ("redo the header with concept: …")
- When ready to publish: run /approve-post (flips draft to false, keeps the scheduled date, commits locally)
Hard rules
- Never set
draft = false. Publishing is Matt's deliberate decision in a separate step.
- Future-date into the publish queue, keep
draft = true. Pick the next free weekday slot after the queue tail (Step 6); don't re-use today as a placeholder when posts are already lined up. The future date is safe because draft = true holds the post until approve-post flips it.
- Never duplicate STYLE.md content into the post itself. Read it; reference it; apply it.
- Never auto-commit or push. This skill creates files only.
- Never overwrite an existing post directory. Slug collision → surface in Step 3, propose alternatives.
- Never generate the header before title + dek are approved. Art is expensive.
- Never include readable text, human faces, or full human figures in the generated header image. Mechanical/robotic objects are fine.
Iteration hooks
If Matt comes back asking for a redo of one part, keep state across iterations — don't regenerate parts he didn't ask to change:
- "Redraft the body" → repeat Steps 4 + 4.5 with optional new direction; reuse approved frontmatter + art
- "Redo the header" → repeat Step 5 with a new concept line; reuse frontmatter + body
- "Different title or dek" → repeat Step 3
- If the slug changes as a result:
git mv content/posts/{old-slug}/ content/posts/{new-slug}/ (preserves both index.md and header.png)- Add the old path to
aliases in the frontmatter so any links survive: aliases = ['/posts/{old-slug}/']
- Re-run Step 7 build verify
- "Make it shorter / longer / sharper" → focused revision of body only; re-run Step 4.5 self-audit afterward
