goblin-recon

name	goblin-recon
description	Goblin Recon router skill. Routes user commands to the smallest useful workflow: Social Pulse, Clip Mine, Clip Vault, Competitor Scout, Brand Gate, Email Hook, or Carousel Generator.

Goblin Recon — Router Skill

Goblin Recon finds what is trending, finds the source, and finds the moment.

Use this operating shape for every request:

Router -> Workflow -> Tools -> Normalized Data -> Score/Gate -> Human Gate -> Memory

Do not run every source or workflow by default. Pick one primary workflow, run the fewest reliable tools, then stop with a clear next action.

Router

User intent	Workflow	Output
Trends, hooks, formats, ideas	Social Pulse	Ranked content opportunities
Source videos or timestamps	Clip Mine	Editor-ready clip briefs
Retrieve/update prior clips	Clip Vault	Clip lists, briefs, status updates
Competitor analysis	Competitor Scout	Competitor report
Brand/voice fit	Brand Gate	Pass / revise / shelve
Email hooks or drafts	Email Hook	Scored subject/opening variants
Carousel or social image	Carousel Generator	Rendered local assets

If the request mixes workflows, run the smallest sequence and state it. Example: run full scan = Social Pulse first, then Clip Mine only for the 2-3 strongest candidates.

run full autonomous scan means use approved public/local sources and local tools without repeated confirmations. It still cannot reveal secrets, bypass access controls, publish/send, create paid services, delete important files, deploy, or commit without explicit approval.

Output Direction

Before brand-facing output, ask once:

1. Audience: B2C, B2B, or Both?
2. Destination: Faceless Instagram, personal brand, client work, internal use, email/outbound, or other?
3. Tone: professional, casual, edgy, warm, wry, reflective, analytical/data-driven, bold, or platform-native?

If skipped, default to Both / Faceless Instagram / professional and state that default.

Skip this only for Clip Vault retrieval, direct brand checks on user copy, or manual scans where direction is already supplied.

Workflows

Social Pulse

Purpose: ideas, trends, hooks, formats, carousels, blogs.

Flow:

Scan mode -> source collection -> social_intake -> scoring -> Security Rail -> report

Scan modes:

• Fast Scan: YouTube, Reddit, Tech News, Product Hunt, approved/public X. Avoid fragile IG/TikTok unless requested.
• Deep Social Scan: Instagram/TikTok public surfaces first, then X/Reddit/Tech News validation.
• Signal Scan: X/public, Hacker News, GitHub Trending, ArXiv, then Reddit if public. Last 6 hours.
• Manual Assisted Scan: user supplies URL/screenshot/caption/handle; normalize and score.

Every Social Pulse report starts with ## Decision, includes category, sources, publication dates, effort, confidence, vault check, fallback angle, AI search potential, hooks, formats, creators, and next step. Save to vault/reports/YYYY-MM-DD-social-pulse.md.

Clip Mine

Purpose: source videos and 15-60 second moments.

Flow:

Trend/topic -> Source Hunter -> transcript -> Clip Vault dedup -> Moment Finder -> Brand Gate -> Security Rail -> Human Gate

Rules:

• YouTube first, then public Instagram/TikTok, then podcast platforms.
• Clip duration: 15-60 seconds, natural sentence start/end.
• Validate timestamps with goblin_recon.tools.clip_extractor.
• Check duplicates with goblin_recon.tools.clip_store before recommending.
• Save only approved/shelved metadata and short excerpts, not full raw transcripts.
• Briefs use templates/clip-mine-brief.md and include Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts variants.

Clip Vault

Purpose: local memory for approved, shelved, and production-status clips.

Use:

scripts/query_clips.py list --status approved
scripts/query_clips.py list --query "topic"
scripts/query_clips.py brief <clip_id>

Storage: vault/clips.db, vault/briefs/, memory/trend-history.md.

Competitor Scout

Purpose: public competitor intelligence. Keep separate from Social Pulse and Clip Mine.

Use templates/competitor-report.md. Every claim needs a public source URL and date. Run Security Rail before delivery.

Brand Gate

Load memory/brand-rules.md and config/brand-voice.yaml before outward content. Run goblin_recon.tools.brand_gate when feasible.

Default recommendation when uncertain: shelve.

Email Hook

Use skills/email-hook/SKILL.md and goblin_recon.tools.email_gate for outbound subject lines, openers, and short drafts. Ask Output Direction first.

Carousel Generator

Use skills/carousel-generator/SKILL.md and goblin_recon.tools.carousel_renderer.

Flow:

brief/topic -> brand memory -> platform spec -> slide manifest -> render -> QA -> vault/carousels

Render locally. Replicate is optional; no token means gradient fallback.

Source Rules

Social extraction ladder:

Approved API/public feed -> public browser extraction -> manual assisted input

Never bypass login, paywall, captcha, robots.txt, rate limits, or platform restrictions. Never use personal employee accounts. If blocked, mark access_status: blocked and move on.

Normalize social records through goblin_recon.tools.social_intake before scoring.

Required fields: platform, creator, url, published_date, views, likes, comments, caption, hook, format_type, topic, category, why_it_is_trending, can_genx_adapt_this, confidence, access_status.

Canonical Tools

Tool	Use
api_search.py	Exa/Tavily search
api_extract.py	Firecrawl/ScrapeGraph extraction
youtube_tool.py	transcripts and public video metadata
clip_extractor.py	clip URL/timestamp validation
scoring.py	velocity, lifecycle, source diversity
social_intake.py	normalize social observations
clip_store.py	save/find/update local clips
brand_gate.py	brand voice checks
email_gate.py	email quality scoring
carousel_renderer.py	carousel/social image output

MCP source of truth: mcp.json.

Final Gate

Before user-facing reports, clip briefs, competitor claims, publish instructions, or brand copy, run skills/security-rail/SKILL.md mentally or explicitly.

Security Rail decision: APPROVE, REVISE, SHELVE, or NEEDS HUMAN REVIEW.

Deliver only safe/revised output. If shelved, do not recommend it.

Output Rules

• Start reports and briefs with ## Decision.
• No fabricated sources. No URL = do not include.
• All data needs publication date when applicable.
• Category required: Latest AI News, Controversial/Polarizing, Upgrade/Democratization, or Analytical/Deep-dive.
• Recommendation before evidence.
• Phone-scannable output.
• Always suggest the next step.