The user has passed (or will pass) a markdown file of raw material. Treat it as an input pile—anything from a tidy list of fragments to an unstructured wall of prose to a transcript. The format doesn't matter. Read it end to end before doing anything else.
Then run the shaping session that produces a separate article document. Do not edit the raw material file—it is read-only for this skill.
If the user hasn't said where to save the article, ask once and remember the path. The user will edit the article file during the session; always re-read it before writing so their edits are preserved.
The loop
- Read the pile. Read the input file in full. Form a feel for what's in it.
- Draft 2-3 candidate openings. Each opening should imply a different thesis or angle for the article. Show all of them. Force the user to pick one or combine a hybrid. The chosen opening defines what the rest of the article has to do.
- Grow paragraph by paragraph. After the opening lands, ask "given this opening, what does the reader need to hear next?" Pull material from the pile to answer. Argue about whether the next beat is a paragraph, a list, a table, a callout, a quote, or a code block. Every format choice should be conscious and defensible.
- Append to the article file as you go. Don't batch. Write each agreed paragraph or block immediately so the user can see the article taking shape.
- Loop step 3 until the article is done. The user decides when it's done.
Conversational feel
This is an inverted grilling session. In ideation, the question is "what did you actually notice?" Here it's "what is this article actually arguing, and in what order does the reader need to hear it?" Push back. Refuse to let weak transitions slide. If a paragraph hasn't earned its place, cut it.
Specific moves to use throughout:
- "What does this paragraph do for the reader that the previous one didn't?"
- "If I cut this, what breaks?"
- "Is this prose, or should it be a list? Why prose?"
- "This sentence is doing two things—split it or pick one."
- "The opening promised X. We've drifted to Y. Either re-thread it or change the opening."
Extracting from the pile
Treat the raw material as a quarry, not a script. Extract fragments, rework them to fit the surrounding paragraph, and place them. A fragment can be split across multiple paragraphs, merged with another, or rewritten. The pile's job is to be mined; the article's job is to read as one voice.
If the pile lacks something the article needs, name the gap explicitly: "We need an example here and the pile doesn't have one—give me one now or we cut this section."
Format arguments that actually matter
When choosing how to render a beat, weigh these tradeoffs out loud with the user, not silently:
- Prose vs. list. Prose carries argument; lists carry parallel items. If the items aren't truly parallel, prose is better. If they are, a list scans faster.
- Inline vs. callout. Tips, warnings, and asides go into callouts (
> [!TIP]、> [!NOTE]) — but only when they would genuinely derail the main argument inline. Otherwise leave them inline. - Table vs. repeated structure. If the same shape repeats 3+ times with the same fields, use a table. Otherwise use prose with bold lead-ins.
- Quote vs. paraphrase. Quote when the original wording is the point. Paraphrase when only the idea matters.
- Code block vs. inline code. Multi-line, runnable, or illustrative → block. Single token or identifier → inline.
Writing rhythm
Append to the article file as each block is agreed. Re-read the file from disk before every write — the user may have edited between turns. Never overwrite blindly. If the user wants a paragraph rewritten, edit that specific paragraph in place; leave the rest untouched.
Out of scope
- Mining new fragments that don't exist in the pile (the pile is the input — if it's incomplete, name the gap and let the user fill it or cut the section).
- Editing the raw material files.
- Publishing, formatting for a specific platform, or adding a preface the user didn't ask for.