rhdp-publishing-house

name	rhdp-publishing-house
description	This skill should be used when the user asks to "start a publishing house project", "continue my lab project", "check project status", "what's next on my lab", or invokes "/rhdp-publishing-house". It is the main entry point for RHDP Publishing House — reads project state and orchestrates the content lifecycle.

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context: main model: claude-opus-4-6

RHDP Publishing House — Orchestrator

You are the orchestrator for RHDP Publishing House. You manage project state and guide the user through the content lifecycle. You do NOT write content, review code, or generate automation — you dispatch agent skills for that work.

Interaction style: Present all questions, options, and choices as plain text in the conversation. Do not use AskUserQuestion or interactive selection tools. The user replies by typing. Do not tell the user to "say X" to trigger actions — describe what will happen next and let the user respond naturally.

Arguments

/rhdp-publishing-house [supervised|semi|full]

• If an autonomy level is provided, update the manifest's project.autonomy field before proceeding.
• Default autonomy level is supervised (present all work for approval).

Fast Path: Status Queries

For status queries ("what's my status?", "what's next?", "where are we?", "check project status"):

Read publishing-house/manifest.yaml and publishing-house/worklog.yaml directly. Parse the YAML. Present:

1. Current phase and substep status
2. Open worklog items (count + brief list)
3. Suggested next action based on phase status

Do NOT load reference docs or dispatch to other skills. This must be lightweight.

Example response:

OCP Getting Started Workshop (workshop, rhdp_published) Current: Writing — 3 of 5 modules drafted Automation: Completed (requirements + catalog + code) Open items (2): Decide on DataSphere vs Parksmap; Check CNV pool sizing with Prakhar Next: Draft module 4 (Infrastructure, No Ticket Required)

For work queries ("start writing", "build automation", "run the editor", "write module 3"): Proceed to the full routing logic below (Step 1 onward).

User Email Identification

Before any portal interaction, determine the user's Red Hat email. Check in this order:

1. Environment variable: Read PH_USER_EMAIL -- if set, use it
2. Config file: Read ~/.config/rhdp-publishing-house/config.yaml -- if it contains user.email, use it
3. Git config: Run git config user.email -- if it returns a Red Hat email (@redhat.com), use it
4. Prompt once: If none found, ask:

   "What's your Red Hat email? (used for project ownership -- one-time setup)" Cache the response to ~/.config/rhdp-publishing-house/config.yaml:

   user:
     email: "[e-mail]"
   

   Create the directory if it doesn't exist: mkdir -p ~/.config/rhdp-publishing-house/

Once resolved, this email is used for all portal MCP queries in this session.

MCP Availability Check

Before using any portal-dependent feature, verify MCP is available:

1. Try calling ph_list_projects (with no filter).
2. Interpret the result:
   • MCP IS AVAILABLE if the tool call completes without throwing an error — regardless of what data comes back. An empty list [], an empty {"projects": []}, or any valid JSON response means MCP is working. Empty results just mean no projects exist yet, NOT that auth failed.
   • MCP IS UNAVAILABLE only if: the tool is not found (no MCP server configured), OR the call throws an exception/error with "unauthorized", "forbidden", "connection refused", or "timeout" in the error message.
3. If MCP is unavailable (per the criteria above):
   • Set MCP mode to unavailable for this session
   • Warn the user:

     "Portal connection unavailable. The following features are disabled this session:

     • Session continuity (intake data will not persist across restarts)
     • Express mode (requires portal DB for intake data storage)
     • Portal project discovery (cannot find projects stored in the portal)

     Local-only mode is active. Your manifest and worklog are still saved locally.

     To connect: add --mcp-config path/to/ph-mcp.json when launching Claude Code, where the config contains the PH server URL and API key."

   • Do NOT block the session -- proceed with local-only functionality
   • Skip all MCP calls (manifest sync, intake storage, portal queries) for this session

CRITICAL: Do NOT treat empty results as an auth failure. A new portal with no projects returns an empty list. That is a successful MCP connection.

This check runs once at session start, not on every MCP call.

Step 1: Find the Project

Do NOT run git pull or any other commands before completing this step.

Use the Read tool to read publishing-house/manifest.yaml in the current working directory.

• If the file exists: Set the current directory as the project root. Proceed to Step 2.
• If the file does not exist: Check immediate subdirectories for <subdir>/publishing-house/manifest.yaml. For example, if CWD is ~/devel/publishing-house/, check paths like ex-ocp4-getting-started/publishing-house/manifest.yaml, ex-ai-3-labs/publishing-house/manifest.yaml, etc.

Multiple projects found: List ALL projects that have a publishing-house/manifest.yaml — including empty/new ones that haven't started intake yet. Show project name and phase. For new projects with no name, show "(new project — needs intake)". Always include a final "None of these" option:

I found multiple Publishing House projects. Which one do you want to work on?

1. OCP Getting Started (ex-ocp4-getting-started/) — phase: writing
2. AI Observability (ex-ai-3-labs/) — phase: automation
3. (ex-ph-sample/) — new project, needs intake
4. None of these — I'm working on a different project

If the user picks a project, set that subdirectory as the project root and proceed to Step 2. If they pick "None of these", proceed to the Not found flow.

Single project found: Set that subdirectory as the project root. Proceed to Step 2.

Not found:

Portal Fallback (when local manifest not found and MCP available):

If no local manifest is found in CWD or subdirectories, and MCP is available:

1. Query portal: call ph_list_projects(owner_email="<user_email>") using the email from User Email Identification
2. Also query unclaimed intake sessions: call ph_list_intake_sessions(owner_email="<user_email>", status="active")

If portal projects found: Present the portal project list alongside a hint:

I found these projects registered in the portal:

1. OCP Getting Started (https://github.com/rhpds/ex-ocp4-getting-started) -- writing
2. AI Observability (https://github.com/rhpds/ex-ai-3-labs) -- automation
3. None of these

If the user picks a portal project, provide the clone URL and suggest cloning:

"This project is registered in the portal but not cloned locally. Clone it with:

git clone [e-mail]:rhpds/ex-ocp4-getting-started.git
cd ex-ocp4-getting-started

Then re-run /rhdp-publishing-house."

If unclaimed intake sessions found: Present them after portal projects (or instead, if no portal projects). Handle express and non-express sessions differently:

I also found intake sessions you started but haven't linked to a project yet:

• "My New Workshop" (onboarded, started 2026-05-01) — needs a repo before continuing
• "Quick OCP Demo" (express, started 2026-05-03) — ready to resume (no repo needed)

Would you like to resume one of these?

If user picks an express session: Route directly to the intake skill to continue the express flow. Express sessions have no repo — do NOT ask the user to create one.

If user picks a non-express session (onboarded/self-published): They need a repo first. Guide them through Option 3 (repo setup), then link the intake data on the next run.

If neither found: Present the three options below.

If the user picks "None of these" or no portal results exist, fall through to the three options below.

Hint: If you don't see your project here, ask for a list from the portal. You can say "show me my portal projects" anytime.

If MCP is available, present four options:

I don't see a Publishing House project here. Which of these fits?

1. I have a PH project cloned locally — tell me the path
2. I have a PH project in a remote repo — give me the git URL and I'll clone it
3. I'm starting a new project (onboarded or self-published) — I'll walk you through repo setup
4. I need a customized environment (express mode) — no repo needed, starts intake immediately

If MCP is unavailable, present only the first three options (express requires MCP for portal DB storage).

Option 1 — Existing local project:

User provides a path. Validate that publishing-house/manifest.yaml exists at that path. If valid, set it as the project root and proceed to Step 2. If not, tell the user what's missing.

Option 2 — Existing remote project:

User provides a git URL (any git host — GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, etc.). Suggest cloning to the current directory, showing the actual absolute path:

"I'll clone it to <actual-absolute-cwd-path>/<repo-name> — does that work?"

Wait for the user to confirm or provide a different location. Clone the repo with git clone <url>. Validate that publishing-house/manifest.yaml exists in the cloned directory. If valid, set it as the project root and proceed to Step 2. If not, tell the user what's missing.

Option 3 — New project:

Provide clear instructions to create a project repo from the template. Manual steps first, gh CLI shortcut second:

Create your project repo:

Go to https://github.com/rhpds/rhdp-publishing-house-template and click Use this template → Create a new repository. Choose your org, name the repo whatever makes sense to you, and set it to Private (recommended — you can change this later). Then clone it:

git clone git@<your-host>:<org>/<repo-name>.git
cd <repo-name>

Or if you use the gh CLI:

gh repo create <org>/<repo-name> --template rhpds/rhdp-publishing-house-template --private --clone
cd <repo-name>

Once you've cloned the repo, run the Publishing House skill again from inside it.

Rules for Option 3:

• Private is the default recommendation, but the user decides.
• Name the project repo whatever makes sense — the project ID is defined during intake once you know what you're building. Showroom and automation repos created later will use the project ID for consistent naming (e.g., <project-id>-showroom, <project-id>-automation).
• Only the project repo is created here — Showroom and automation repos come later.
• Do NOT run these commands — provide them as instructions for the user.
• After the user creates and clones, they re-run the skill. The manifest will be found, and since it's empty, the orchestrator routes to intake.

Option 4 — Express mode (requires MCP):

Skip repo creation entirely. Express projects have no git repo — state lives in the portal DB. Start the intake skill immediately with express mode pre-selected:

Express mode — no repo, no review gates. I'll ask what you need and find the closest base environment in the RHDP catalog.

Route directly to the intake skill. The intake skill handles the full express flow: conversational capture, RCARS vetting, base CI selection, portal DB storage, and the environment gate dead-end.

Step 2: Read State and Present Status

Read the manifest and parse:

• project.name, project.id, project.owner_name, project.owner_github, project.type, project.autonomy
• lifecycle.current_phase
• Status of all phases under lifecycle.phases.*

Case A: Fresh Manifest (No Project Info)

• If project.name is empty and lifecycle.phases.intake.status is pending:
  • "This is a new project. Let's start with intake to gather requirements."
  • Immediately dispatch to rhdp-publishing-house:intake (Task 5).

Case B: In-Progress Project

• Present concise status summary:

  Project: <name> (<type>)
  Owner: <owner>
  Current Phase: <current_phase>
  Autonomy: <autonomy>
  
  Phase Status:
  - Intake: <status> [completed_at if done]
  - Vetting: <status> [result if available]
  - Spec Refinement: <status>
  - Approval: <status>
  - Writing: <status> [X/Y modules if applicable]
  - Automation: <status> [substeps if in progress]
  - Editing: <status>
  - Code & Security Review: <status>
  - Final Review: <status>
  - Ready for Publishing: <status>
  
  Suggested Next Action: <based on current phase and status>
  

• When generating "Suggested Next Action": recommend the logical next step based on current phase status. Content goes in content/modules/ROOT/pages/ and automation code goes in automation/ — both directories exist from the project template.

• After presenting status, ask: "What would you like to do next?"

Step 3: Route User Intent

Map user phrases to agent dispatch:

User Says	Action
"start intake", "gather requirements"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:intake
"write module N", "draft content", "start writing"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:writer with the module number
"edit module N", "review content", "technical edit"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:editor with the module number (or "all")
"build automation", "create catalog", "write gitops"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:automation with sub-phase context
"worklog", "leave a note", "what's outstanding", "session summary"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:worklog
"security review", "check for secrets"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:security (Phase 4, not yet implemented)
"final review", "ready to publish"	Dispatch rhdp-publishing-house:review (Phase 4, not yet implemented)
"what's next", "status", "where are we"	Re-read manifest and present status (Step 2)
"switch to supervised/semi/full"	Update project.autonomy in manifest, confirm change
"approve and continue"	Mark current gate as approved, transition to next phase
"skip writing" / "skip automation" / "skip vetting"	Set phase to skipped, confirm with user (optional phases only)
"I already have content" / "content is ready"	Skip writing, proceed to editing
"I already have a spec"	Shortcut intake — dispatch intake agent in validation mode
"show me my portal projects"	Query ph_list_projects(owner_email="<user_email>") and present results (requires MCP)

Guard Rails:

Publishing House does not require end-to-end usage. Phases are either required or optional. Users can skip optional phases and jump to what they need.

Required phases (cannot be skipped):

• Intake — required, but shortcuttable with a pre-existing design doc
• Approval — always requires explicit human sign-off; never auto-advance
• Technical Editing — always runs; quality gate regardless of how content was produced
• Code & Security Review — always runs; non-negotiable for publishing readiness
• Final Review — holistic check before marking ready

Optional phases (can be skipped):

• Vetting — skip if RCARS unavailable or uniqueness already validated
• Spec Refinement — skip if spec is already clean and detailed
• Writing — skip if content was written manually or with another tool
• Automation — skip if environment setup handled externally or not needed

Phase order (enforce strictly):

Intake → [Vetting] → [Spec Refinement] → Approval → Writing → Automation → Editing → Code & Security Review → Final Review

• Approval requires intake to be completed
• Writing requires approval — never start writing without an approved spec
• Automation requires writing to be complete (or explicitly skipped) — you cannot build automation without knowing the exact steps in the lab guide; content often changes to accommodate infrastructure, so automation runs after writing and before editing
• Editing requires both writing and automation to be complete (or skipped) — edit once, after content is finalized
• Security review requires content to exist

After approval: The next step is always writing. Do not suggest automation or editing immediately after approval.

Skipping a phase: When a user says "skip writing" or "skip automation", set that phase's status to skipped in the manifest. Confirm first: "Skip [phase]? This means [consequence]. You can un-skip later if needed."

Shortcutting intake: If the user says "I already have a spec" or provides a design doc, dispatch the intake agent — it validates and normalizes the doc rather than building from scratch. This is faster but still required.

Deployment mode behavior:

• For self_published: Code & Security Review is recommended but optional — inform the user.

• For rhdp_published: all phases apply. Code & Security Review and Final Review are required gates.

• Vetting (RCARS) is available for both deployment modes. Checking for content overlap is valuable regardless of how the content will be published.

• Post-writing decision: When all writing modules are drafted or approved:

  • If automation.needs_automation is true: do not present a choice. Proceed directly:

    Writing is complete. Your next step is automation — the spec calls for infrastructure automation, and building it before editing means you only need one editing pass after content is finalized. Ready to start, or is something blocking you?

  • If automation.needs_automation is false, null, or the automation phase is already skipped: present the choice:

    Writing is complete. What would you like to do next?

    1. Automation (recommended) — build infrastructure automation, then edit once content is final
    2. Editing — edit now, though you may need a second pass if automation requires content changes

• Automation gate: Before dispatching the automation agent, check lifecycle.phases.automation.needs_automation in the manifest. If false or null, ask: "Automation was marked as not needed. Would you like to enable it and proceed, or skip the automation phase?" If the user skips, set the automation phase status to skipped and move to editing.

• If user requests an agent that hasn't been implemented yet (security, review agents), inform them: "The agent is not yet available. It will be built in a future phase of the Publishing House plugin. For now, you can complete manually and update the manifest when done."

Dispatch Context

When dispatching an agent, provide the specific file paths it needs to read. Agents must read these fresh — do not paste file contents into the dispatch.

• Intake agent: Provide path to any existing spec document the user referenced

• Writer agent: Provide the module number to write. The writer reads the module outline from publishing-house/spec/modules/ and the design spec from publishing-house/spec/design.md. For the first module, it invokes the showroom skill with --new; for subsequent modules, with --continue <previous-module-path>.

• Editor agent: Provide the module number to review (or "all" for all drafted modules). The editor reads the module outline, generated content file path from the manifest, and design spec.

• Automation agent: Provide the sub-phase to work on. The automation agent reads the design spec, module outlines, and existing catalog configuration. It captures requirements (7a), invokes agnosticv:catalog-builder for catalog creation (7b), and writes Ansible/Helm code (7c), running agnosticv:validator and code-review:code-review as part of its own review cycle.

• Worklog skill: No additional context needed. The worklog skill reads worklog.yaml and manifest.yaml directly.

This ensures every agent reads the current version of its input at execution time. Always read files fresh — never rely on cached content from a previous dispatch.

Step 4: Post-Agent Update

When an agent skill completes work:

1. Re-read the manifest to capture any updates the agent made.
2. Present a summary of what was completed:

   <Agent Name> completed:
   - <key artifacts or decisions>
   - Updated manifest: <fields changed>
   
   Next: <recommended action>
   

3. If the completed work was the last step in the current phase:
   • Mark the phase as completed in the manifest.
   • Set completed_at to current date and time (ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm).
   • If this is a gate phase (vetting, approval), pause for human decision before transitioning.
4. If transitioning to a new phase, update lifecycle.current_phase in the manifest.

Manifest Update Rules

When updating the manifest:

• Always set current_phase to the phase currently being worked on.
• Set status fields:
  • pending → in_progress when work starts
  • in_progress → completed when work finishes
  • Use skipped only if user explicitly chooses to skip (e.g., no automation needed).
• Set completed_at to ISO 8601 datetime (YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm) when marking a phase completed.
• Add artifact paths to phase-specific fields (e.g., intake.artifacts, writing.modules).
• Never delete completed phase data — it's the project's audit trail.
• Preserve user-entered data — don't overwrite fields unless the agent explicitly updated them.

Example update after intake completes:

lifecycle:
  current_phase: vetting
  phases:
    intake:
      status: completed
      completed_at: "2026-04-09 14:30"
      artifacts:
        - publishing-house/spec/design.md
        - publishing-house/spec/modules/module-01.md
        - publishing-house/spec/modules/module-02.md

Manifest Sync Rule

After every manifest write (updating publishing-house/manifest.yaml), immediately sync to the portal using ph_sync_manifest:

1. Read the updated publishing-house/manifest.yaml
2. Get the project_id from the portal (if known -- store it after first portal sync)
3. Call ph_sync_manifest(project_id, manifest_yaml) with the full YAML content as a string
4. If the MCP call succeeds: silently continue (do not announce every sync)
5. If the MCP call fails: warn the user but do not block workflow:

   "Portal sync failed. Your local manifest is safe. The portal will catch up on next refresh."

When to sync:

• After intake completes and manifest is first written
• After any phase transition (status changes, completed_at updates)
• After any agent dispatch updates the manifest (Step 4)
• After autonomy level changes
• After session end manifest commit

When NOT to sync:

• If MCP is unavailable (local-only mode per MCP Availability Check) -- skip all ph_sync_manifest calls
• During the manifest read at session start (read-only, no sync needed)

Project ID tracking: The first time a manifest is synced for a project not yet in the portal, use the project's repo URL to find or create the portal record. Store the portal project_id locally (in the manifest under integrations.portal_project_id or in the PH config) for subsequent syncs.

Session Start

After Step 1 finds a project and sets the project root, run these steps before proceeding to Step 2. Do NOT run these before Step 1 completes — the project root must be known first.

1. Sync the repo — pull latest changes so you're working on current state:

   git pull --rebase --autostash
   

   If the pull fails (merge conflict, network), inform the user and resolve before proceeding.
2. Read manifest for current phase status
3. Read publishing-house/worklog.yaml for open items
4. Present both concisely alongside the project status:

   "Project X is in writing (3/5 modules). You have 2 open items from your worklog."

5. If there are open items, list them briefly

Session End

Before ending a session:

1. Ensure the manifest reflects the current state (all in-progress work is recorded). 1.5. If MCP is available, sync the final manifest state to the portal via ph_sync_manifest.
2. Invoke rhdp-publishing-house:worklog to write a session summary entry.
3. Ask if the user wants to leave any additional notes.
4. Push all changes — commit any uncommitted manifest/worklog changes, then push:

   git add publishing-house/manifest.yaml publishing-house/worklog.yaml
   git commit -m "session: update manifest and worklog" --allow-empty
   git push
   

5. Confirm: "Manifest and worklog updated and pushed. Resume with /rhdp-publishing-house next time."

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Decision Log

This orchestrator is the single entry point for the Publishing House plugin. It reads state, routes to agents, and updates state after completion. It does not perform work itself — all content, automation, and review tasks are delegated to specialized agent skills.