consulting-nightly-content

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name: consulting-nightly-content description: Phase 3 of the nightly pipeline — the demand engine's insight lane (Engine A, article-first). After capture + janitor, pick a signal from the day's reservoir and produce a copy-edited pillar ARTICLE plus a LinkedIn post and a broadcast email derived from it, and an on-brand image set — staged as one role-named idea bundle (article.md + linkedin.md + email.md + images/ + meta.yml) for review, never published. Every text format goes through consulting-copy-reviewer (the reader's eyes) then consulting-copy-editor; consulting-article-illustrator makes the hero + inline diagrams. Article-first: one pillar -> many formats. Use on "run the nightly content", "draft today's article", or as the nightly content ritual.

Consulting Nightly Content (article-first flywheel engine)

Capture turns calls into insights; this turns the day's strongest insight into a pillar article, runs it past the customer's eyes and the editor's, derives and edits a LinkedIn post, then makes an on-brand image set (hero + figures). Article-first, because one good article becomes many platform posts later (LinkedIn, X, newsletter) — write the pillar once, atomize forever.

The engine drafts; Sid publishes. Quality over cadence.

Output — one idea bundle (slug folder) in drafts/

content/03-drafts/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<topic-slug>/    ← the idea is the unit (date + slug = identity)
  meta.yml         the bundle manifest / approval state machine (source + per-format status + gates)
  article.md       the pillar article (hero + figures embedded inline)
  linkedin.md      the stand-alone LinkedIn post
  email.md         a single-idea broadcast email to the list (not the weekly newsletter)
  images/          image1.png = hero (also the social/OG preview), then image2.png… (~1 per section)

Children are role-named (article.md, linkedin.md, email.md; x.md as the idea warrants) — the folder carries the title, so every bundle is structurally identical and the approval queue is uniform. Every run produces the full set (article + linkedin + email + images), each text format gated (reviewer then editor). Same shape Engine B (consulting-product-engine) produces. (A pillar is the folder shape of a draft; a one-off post/graphic is a single file in content/03-drafts/. See content/AGENTS.md.)

Rails

1. Never auto-publish. Drafts only; Sid reviews + publishes via consulting-linkedin-publisher (Postbridge).
2. Grounded, not fabricated. Every claim traces to a real captured insight/transcript — carry the citation. Never invent a client name, number, or result; confirm before naming a client, or write generically.
3. Voice = consulting-copy-writer (no exceptions): no em-dashes, anti-slop list, specific, human. Read it.
4. Two gates on EVERY audience-facing format (article, linkedin, email): reader, then editor. Run consulting-copy-reviewer (the right ICP per format) and rewrite from its notes, then consulting-copy-editor. Reviewer before editor, always. Scored ≠ gated: score_run.py is the floor; the reader/editor passes are the bar.
5. One idea, the full bundle. Every run produces article.md + linkedin.md + email.md + images/ + meta.yml. The article is the pillar; the post and email derive from the edited article.
6. Quality over volume. One strong pillar a night (occasionally a second). A thin day → one-line report, no bundle.

Steps

0. Orient + find what's new. Read the day's business/ops/nightly-digests/<date>.md. Gather unused signals — the dated signals/<YYYY-MM-DD>-*.md files with status: new (plus evergreen POVs not yet drafted into a published pillar); skip used/archived and the meta files (AGENTS.md, _template.md, _index.md, _archive/ are NOT signals). (content/_work/LAST_DRAFTED is just a run-log now; per-signal status is the truth.) git log for today.

1. Pick ONE signal — the strongest, most specific unused signal (status: new, or an evergreen POV not yet published) with a real story / POV from an actual source. Dedup vs content/04-published/ and existing content/03-drafts/ (never rewrite a published pillar). Carry its source so the draft stays grounded. Slugify the topic and make the bundle folder content/03-drafts/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<topic-slug>/ (date-first, so drafts/ sorts chronologically).

   • Fresh product-update signals jump the queue. Ingestion writes type: product-update signals (cited to PRs) from the GitHub capture. Feature news is perishable — announce it while it's new — so a fresh product-update outranks evergreen insights for tonight's slot; insights fill otherwise.
   • Branch on the signal's type. If it's a product-update, draft with Engine B's feature-announcement variant (consulting-product-engine — its draft half): ground every claim in the cited PRs, use the feature-announcement email format, Recoup-customer ICP for the email. Otherwise use the insight/thought-leadership variant below. Either way the output is the same unified bundle (article + linkedin + email + images + meta.yml), each text format gated.

2. Write the ARTICLE (the pillar). Read consulting-copy-writer first: voice-principles, anti-slop, formats §blog/articles, and references/social-article-style.md. Use the social-article structure by default: thesis first, purpose sentence, thought experiment, fair comparison, pragmatic verdict. Aim 800–1,400 words. Save as article.md with frontmatter: title, source (insight/transcript path), audience, status: draft.

3. Reader review (customer POV) + rewrite. Read consulting-copy-reviewer and run it on article.md: a fresh-context subagent role-plays Sid's ICP customer and returns reader-reaction notes (unclear jargon, where they tune out, trust, whether they'd share). Rewrite the article from the accepted notes — clearer, less technical, worth the reader's time, every fact intact. This is the customer gate; the editor gate is next.

4. Edit the ARTICLE. Read consulting-copy-editor and run its editorial pass on the rewritten article.md. Implement accepted edits in place. Defer score/report/commit to step 8 because this parent workflow scores the full bundle once. Use the edited article as the source for every downstream step.

5. Derive + gate the LinkedIn POST. Read consulting-copy-writer §social + consulting-linkedin-post-architect. Write a stand-alone post that delivers complete value on its own (don't just paste the article intro) — phone-first formatting, value above the fold. The article link is optional: add it only as a bonus after an already-complete post, never a forced "read the article" / "link in comments." Save as linkedin.md (frontmatter: source = the article path, hook, status: draft). Then gate it: consulting-copy-reviewer (Sid's operator/builder ICP) → rewrite from accepted notes → consulting-copy-editor, edits in place.

6. Derive + gate the EMAIL. From the edited article, write a single-idea broadcast email to the list (consulting-copy-writer + the routing in email/AGENTS.md) — a one-idea nurture send, not the weekly newsletter. Lead with the reader's takeaway; one clear CTA; it may lead with the bundle hero (images/image1.png). Save as email.md (frontmatter: source = the article path, subject, status: draft). Then gate it: consulting-copy-reviewer (Sid's subscriber/prospect ICP) → rewrite → consulting-copy-editor, edits in place.

7. Illustrate the edited article. Read consulting-article-illustrator (the house article-image skill; brand taste via consulting-tasteful-design / DESIGN.md). Per its density rule, produce the hero — saved as images/image1.png and embedded above the first line — plus ~1 inline figure per major section, saved as images/image2.png, image3.png, … (reading order) and embedded at each section break (pick the archetype that fits each concept). Hand-drawn whiteboard palette; generate with gpt-image-2 (this run is a cloud worker with the Higgsfield connector → use the illustrator's Higgsfield gpt-image-2 route). Run the illustrator's bar on each image. If image generation isn't available, stage the article without figures and flag it in the report — don't block the article.

8. Write the manifest, mark the signal, report, score, commit. Write the bundle meta.yml — the approval state machine: id (the folder), title, date, engine: A, source (the signal path), a formats: list (one row per artifact — article/linkedin/email, each with file: + status: draft), images:, and a gates: field recording reviewer+editor ran on each format. This is the row Sid approves per format. Then set the consumed signal's status: used + used_by: the bundle path, and regenerate signals/_index.md (an evergreen insight stays evergreen — append the bundle to its used_by history instead). Write business/ops/content-reports/<date>.md (Article · Article gates · Post · Post gates · Email · Email gates · Hero + figures · Skipped (why) · Needs Sid), run python evals/content/score_run.py (composite + flags at top), commit each draft why-first, stamp content/_work/LAST_DRAFTED, then stop.

Notes

• Article-first is the leverage. The pillar gets atomized later into X threads, a newsletter, more LinkedIn angles. Spend the effort on the pillar.
• Mine, don't manufacture. Nothing worth a pillar → say nothing. The flywheel rewards signal, not cadence.
• Scored by evals/content/score_run.py: grounding, voice, non-dup on each format (article + post + email). The scorer is the floor; the reviewer+editor gates are the bar.