virtual-ep

Close the loop after a hot-sheet recording session. Takes the episode number and which cards the host actually riffed on (the hot sheet page's "Copy riff summary" button produces the exact command), marks the source inbox nodes as acted on so upstream pipelines stop resurfacing them, and — when a transcript or recording notes are provided — extracts quotable lines, fresh positions, and anecdotes into a handoff file for the voice-library intake. Run this skill when the user says "riff-capture EP### --cards 1,3,5", "capture that session", "I recorded, here's what I covered", "close out the episode", or pastes the copied riff summary. This is the downstream counterpart to hot-sheet.

Build a glanceable, browser-based hot sheet for a solo riff-to-camera episode and open it in a browser tab. Reads topic candidates from configured local inboxes (research-ingest nodes, voice-library positions) and/or the latest topic-radar shortlist, picks a themed set of riffable items, drafts a cold-open intro and per-topic cards with context, source links, the host's pre-loaded angle, and riff prompts, then renders a single self-contained HTML page via scripts/render_hotsheet.py. Run this skill when the user says "let's do an episode", "build a hot sheet", "hot sheet", "set up a riff session", "I want to record", "what am I riffing on today", or any equivalent request to get camera-ready fast. This is the solo-format counterpart to episode-program; riff-capture closes the loop afterward.

Scan an episode transcript for short-form clip candidates suitable for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Targets punchy openers, contrarian takes, surprising stats, emotional beats, and complete narrative arcs that stand alone without surrounding context. Produces 8–12 candidates per episode with start and end timestamps, a transcript excerpt, a suggested hook caption, a platform recommendation, and a why-this-clips note. Outputs a markdown file for the host to scan and a JSON file an editor can import. Run this skill when the user says "find clips for EP042", "what's clippable", "pull clips from the recording", "find shareable moments", "build the clip list", "clip finder", or any equivalent ask for short-form moments. Run after show-notes (the cleaned transcript is the preferred input).

Build a separate prep document for the remote co-host of an upcoming episode. Reads the run-of-show and any research briefs in the episode folder, then drafts a co-host-facing artifact in the right framing — cold-open setup line, segment-by-segment "throw" lines that hand off to the host, two to four follow-up questions per segment, articles and links the co-host should have queued, pacing notes (when to interject, when to let the host run uninterrupted), and recurring segment cues. Outputs both a local markdown file and a shareable Google Doc when Drive is connected. Run this skill when the user says "build the co-host brief", "prep the co-host", "make the co-host doc", "send the co-host their prep", "cohost brief for EP042", or any equivalent ask for the second-seat prep document. Run after episode-program, ideally after research-brief has been run for each topic.

Surface themes that span multiple past episodes and suggest concrete callback opportunities for the next episode. Reads cleaned transcripts and topic shortlists across the recent run, clusters recurring themes (e.g., "AI commoditization", "Spotify ad strategy", "founder talent flight"), and produces a callbacks document that names the theme, when it last came up, what was said, and a suggested phrasing the host can drop in. Also writes a longer themes map that catalogs every running thread across the lookback window. Run this skill when the user says "what arcs are running across episodes", "find callbacks for EP043", "cross-episode themes", "what should I call back to", "callback opportunities", "what are the running threads", or any equivalent ask about story continuity. Run after episode-program for the next episode is drafted but before recording, so the host can absorb the callbacks during prep.

Build the social distribution package for a published episode. Produces a LinkedIn post in the host's voice (1300–2000 characters), an X/Twitter single post plus a 4-tweet thread option, an Instagram caption built around the featured clip, a YouTube community post, and an optional newsletter tie-in section when the host runs a tie-in newsletter. Voice-checked against banned words and banned phrases. Schedules posts via Blotato when the connector is available; falls back to writing drafts to a local file. Run this skill when the user says "build the distribution pack", "draft the social posts", "social copy for EP042", "promote EP042", "make the LinkedIn post", "schedule the posts", "distribution pack", or any equivalent ask for episode promotion. Run after show-notes and clip-finder.

Maintain the show's editorial calendar in the configured Google Sheet (or local CSV fallback) and sync recording and publish dates to the configured Google Calendar so the co-host sees the schedule. Supports adding new episodes, updating status and metadata (recorded, edited, published, downloads, top clip), querying single episodes, and a "what's on deck" report that lists upcoming episodes and what's missing for each. Run this skill when the user says "update the editorial calendar", "what's on deck", "next episode status", "mark EP042 as published", "schedule EP043 recording", "what's missing for EP043", "sync the calendar", "add EP043 to the calendar", or any equivalent ask about episode status, scheduling, or the calendar pipeline. The default action with no arguments is the next-episode report.

Build a run-of-show for the next episode from two or three selected topics. Reads the most recent topic-radar shortlist (or accepts free-form topic descriptions if topic-radar has not been run), allocates time across recurring segments and topic segments using the show's configured runtime, and drafts a structured rundown with cold-open hook candidates, host talking-point bullets, co-host setup lines, follow-up questions, transitions, and a closing call-to-action. Writes a markdown file locally and creates a shareable Google Doc when the Drive connector is available. Run this skill when the user says "build a run-of-show", "create the rundown", "plan the next episode", "draft an episode outline", "make a run of show", "rundown for episode X", "episode-program", or any equivalent request to structure the next recording. This is the upstream input for research-brief and cohost-brief.

Initialize the Virtual EP toolkit for a new podcast. Walks the user through a one-time interactive setup that captures show identity, host and co-host details, recording stack, transcription provider, publishing destinations, brand assets, recurring segments, topic sources, output targets, and connectors, then writes config/podcast.yaml. Run this skill first when cloning the repo, when the config file is missing, or when the user says "set up the podcast", "initialize the EP toolkit", "first-time setup", "configure my show", "run init", or any equivalent. Other skills depend on this config file and will redirect the user here if it is missing.

Close the loop on a published episode. Pulls early performance data from configured analytics providers (Spotify for Podcasters, Apple Podcasts Connect, YouTube Studio, Buzzsprout), summarizes listener comments and reviews where available, identifies the top-performing clip, scores the episode against the show's running median, and writes a debrief that updates the editorial calendar entry. The debrief also feeds back into topic-radar's relevance scoring on future runs. Run this skill when the user says "debrief EP042", "post-show debrief", "how did EP042 do", "wrap up EP042", "close the loop on EP042", "analyze the numbers", "performance review for EP042", or any equivalent ask after the episode has been live for at least a few days. Default window is 7 days post-publish.

Define, manage, and populate the show's recurring named segments — beats like "Earnings Watch", "Founder of the Week", "Mailbag", or any custom segment that appears in most episodes. Adds richer per-segment configuration on top of the basic segments list in config/podcast.yaml — including which sources feed each segment, how many ammunition bullets to generate, and what the populate strategy is. Also runs the per-episode populate step that episode-program reads when slotting a recurring segment into a run-of-show. Run this skill when the user says "add a recurring segment", "define a new segment", "set up earnings watch", "populate the segments for EP043", "manage recurring segments", "list segments", "remove the founder segment", "configure my segments", or any equivalent ask about the show's named beats.

Build a one-page research brief on a single topic for an upcoming podcast episode. Produces fact-cited bullets the host can pull from extemporaneously — never paragraphs of prepared remarks. Each brief includes key facts with working source URLs, three contrarian or non-obvious angles, surprising stats, historical parallels, and named characters with quotes the host can reference. Cites every claim with a verified URL. Run this skill when the user says "research this topic", "build a brief on X", "research brief", "background for the segment on X", "give me ammunition on X", "go deep on T-20260501-01", or any equivalent ask for per-topic prep material. Run once per topic on the rundown.

Build the post-production package for a recorded episode. Consumes a transcript file or an audio file (transcribing via the configured provider if needed) and produces three title options under 100 characters each, a long-form YouTube description, a short Apple/Spotify description, chapter markers with timestamps, five key takeaways, the full list of links and references mentioned, and a filler-cleaned transcript. Run this skill when the user says "build show notes", "make the show notes", "show notes for EP042", "process the recording", "post-production for EP042", "clean the transcript", "write the description", or any equivalent post-recording ask. Run after recording is complete and a transcript or audio file is available.

Scan configured sources for episode-worthy material and produce a ranked topic shortlist for an upcoming podcast episode. Pulls from the show's configured RSS feeds, websites, earnings calendars, newsletters, and X/Twitter lists, scores each candidate against the show's audience, and writes a markdown table with hooks and "why this matters now" notes. Run this skill when the user says "find topics", "what should we cover", "topic ideas", "what's worth talking about this week", "scan the sources", "run topic radar", "what's in the news for the show", or any equivalent prompt asking what the next episode could be about. This skill is the upstream input to episode-program.

Learn the host's voice from past transcripts — recurring phrases, recurring opinions, recurring references, sentence-shape patterns — and write a fingerprint file the writing skills read so social copy and other host-facing drafts sound like the host from day one. Identifies signature phrases the host returns to, mental models they apply repeatedly, named entities they cite often, and stylistic patterns (sentence length, active voice ratio, transition habits). Suggests additions to the show's required-phrases and banned-phrases lists in config when patterns are clear. Run this skill when the user says "learn the host's voice", "build a voice fingerprint", "analyze past transcripts for voice", "what does the host sound like", "calibrate voice from past episodes", "voice fingerprint", or any equivalent ask. Run after at least 3–5 episodes have been published; rerun every 5–10 episodes to keep the fingerprint current.