cold-email-craft

name	cold-email-craft
description	Draft a single signal-anchored cold email or a 3-touch follow-up sequence using the JMC framework — <90 words, binary CTA, no banned openers. Anchors on a Pain Signal Profile (not demographics). Loaded by the main cold-email skill when the user asks to write or sequence outreach. Includes the surgical "rewrite the weakest line" mode for ship-or-cut review.
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Grep"]

Cold Email Craft — sub-skill

Drafts the actual email(s). Loaded by cold-email when the user wants to write or sequence outreach.

Activation

The main cold-email skill routes here when the user says any of:

• "Write a cold email to..."
• "Draft an outreach to..."
• "Build a 3-touch sequence for..."
• "Follow-up to at "
• "Rewrite this cold email"

Workflow

1. Gather the six framework variables

Required:

Variable	Source	Ask if missing
firstName	User-provided	"What's the recipient's first name?"
role	User-provided or LinkedIn	"What's their role?"
company	User-provided	"Which company?"
signal	Public, recent, verifiable	"What did they just do publicly? (Job post, funding, launch, hire, content)"
pain	What the signal implies operationally	"What does that signal imply about their pipeline / motion / stack?"
evp	One-line value prop	"What's your one-line EVP for this segment? (≤22 words)"
senderName	User	"Who are you signing as?"

Do not fabricate. If any are missing, ask. Never assume role, company, or signal — wrong assumptions kill cold email.

2. Validate the framework

Before generating, validate:

• Signal is something they DID, not who they ARE. If user provides "VP of Marketing at Series B SaaS", push back: "That's a demographic, not a signal. What did they post/announce/ship in the last 30 days?"
• Pain uses their language, not yours. No "synergy" / "optimize" / "leverage".
• EVP is ≤22 words, has one specific outcome, one tradeoff.

3. Generate

Use the canonical template from references/copy-frameworks.md:

Subject: <see references/subject-line-patterns.md>

{firstName} —

<Quote the signal verbatim, 1 sentence.>

<Pain in their language, 1 sentence.>

<EVP, ≤22 words.>

<Binary CTA, time-bound.>

— {senderName}

4. Self-check against constraints

After generating, verify:

• Total word count <90
• No banned openers ("Hope you're well", "Just wanted to")
• No banned closes ("Let me know your thoughts", "Happy to chat")
• Binary CTA (yes/no answerable)
• Signal is quoted verbatim (not paraphrased)
• Pain uses recipient's language
• EVP ≤22 words
• Subject ≤7 words, no clickbait

If any check fails, regenerate that block before showing the user.

5. Offer the "rewrite the weakest line" pass

After delivering the draft, offer:

"Want me to identify the single weakest line and rewrite it? (1 sentence + rationale, no full rewrite.)"

This is the canonical ship-or-cut decision aid.

3-touch sequence mode

When the user asks for a sequence, generate all four touches at once:

Day	Touch	Length	Shape
0	T1	<90 words	Full signal-anchored opener (above)
3	T2	<70 words	1-line case study + binary close
7	T3	<70 words	Different angle on same PSP (cost / risk / opportunity-cost)
14	T4	<60 words	Binary close: continue or close the loop

Each touch references the same signal but reframes the pain. No "following up on my last email" anywhere.

Output format

Default: plain text with clearly labeled subject + body.

If user requests JSON: { subject, preheader, body, touchNumber, wordCount, framework: { signal, pain, evp, ask } }.

Reference

• references/copy-frameworks.md — canonical templates
• ../../cold-email/references/jmc-framework.md — full framework
• ../../cold-email/references/banned-patterns.md — what NOT to write
• ../../cold-email/references/binary-ctas.md — 30 binary CTA patterns