Narrative Review

Purpose

Evaluate an existing narrative markdown file against the cogni-narrative quality gates. Produce a structured scorecard with pass/warn/fail per gate, an overall score (0-100), and the top 3 actionable improvement suggestions.

When to Use

• Review a narrative after generation to assess quality
• Audit an existing insight summary for arc compliance
• Compare narrative quality before and after edits
• Score narratives for quality tracking across projects

Not for:

• Generating new narratives (use cogni-narrative:narrative skill instead)
• Editing or rewriting narratives (use copywriter skill instead)
• Adapting narratives to other formats (use cogni-narrative:narrative-adapt skill instead)

---

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
--source-path	Yes	Path to the narrative .md file to review
--arc-id	No	Override arc detection (uses frontmatter arc_id by default)
--language	No	Override language detection (uses frontmatter language by default)

---

Output

Two outputs:

1. Markdown scorecard written to {source-dir}/narrative-review.md
2. JSON summary returned on completion

JSON Summary

{
  "success": true,
  "source_path": "insight-summary.md",
  "arc_id": "corporate-visions",
  "overall_score": 82,
  "grade": "B",
  "gates": {
    "structural": "pass",
    "critical": "pass",
    "evidence": "warn",
    "structure": "pass",
    "language": "pass"
  },
  "top_improvements": [
    "Add 3 more citations to reach minimum 15 (currently 12)",
    "Expand 'Why Now' section by ~40 words to meet its 21% element allocation (~299 words at default T=1675)",
    "Add citation to uncited quantitative claim in paragraph 3 of 'Why Change'"
  ]
}

Grading Scale

Score	Grade	Meaning
90-100	A	Publication-ready, all gates pass
80-89	B	Strong, minor improvements possible
70-79	C	Acceptable, several improvements needed
60-69	D	Below standard, significant rework needed
0-59	F	Fails critical gates, major rework required

---

Execution Protocol

Step 1: Load Narrative

1. Read the narrative file from --source-path
2. Extract YAML frontmatter fields: title, subtitle, arc_id, arc_display_name, target_length, word_count, language, date_created, source_file_count
3. If frontmatter is missing or incomplete, flag as critical issue
4. Determine arc_id from: explicit parameter > frontmatter > detection failure
5. Determine language from: explicit parameter > frontmatter > default en

Step 2: Load Arc Standards

Read the arc definition to know expected element names, word targets, and quality gates:

1. Read: ../narrative/references/story-arc/arc-registry.md -- for arc metadata
2. Read: ../narrative/references/story-arc/{arc_id}/arc-definition.md -- for element definitions and word targets
3. Read: ../narrative/references/language-templates.md -- for localized header names

Store the expected element names, proportions, and citation requirements. Read target_length from the narrative's frontmatter to compute expected word ranges. If target_length is absent (legacy narratives), default to 1675. Compute total_lower = target_length * 0.85, total_upper = target_length * 1.15, then per-element ranges: [proportion * total_lower, proportion * total_upper].

Step 3: Run Quality Gates

Evaluate the narrative against each gate category. Use the scoring rubric in references/scoring-rubric.md.

Gate evaluation order (matches narrative skill Phase 5):

1. Structural Gate (30 points max)
2. Critical Gate (25 points max)
3. Evidence Gate (25 points max)
4. Structure Gate (10 points max)
5. Language Gate (10 points max)

For each gate:

• Count specific pass/fail criteria
• Assign points based on rubric
• Determine gate status: pass / warn / fail

Step 4: Generate Scorecard

Write narrative-review.md to the same directory as the source file:

---
type: narrative-review
source: "{source filename}"
arc_id: "{arc_id}"
overall_score: {0-100}
grade: "{A-F}"
date_reviewed: "{ISO 8601}"
---

# Narrative Review: {source filename}

**Arc:** {arc_display_name} | **Score:** {score}/100 ({grade}) | **Language:** {language}

---

## Gate Results

| Gate | Status | Score | Details |
|------|--------|-------|---------|
| Structural | {pass/warn/fail} | {x}/30 | {summary} |
| Critical | {pass/warn/fail} | {x}/25 | {summary} |
| Evidence | {pass/warn/fail} | {x}/25 | {summary} |
| Structure | {pass/warn/fail} | {x}/10 | {summary} |
| Language | {pass/warn/fail} | {x}/10 | {summary} |
| **Total** | | **{total}/100** | |

---

## Top 3 Improvements

1. {Most impactful improvement with specific action}
2. {Second improvement with specific action}
3. {Third improvement with specific action}

---

## Detailed Analysis

### Structural Gate ({x}/30)

{Detailed findings for each structural criterion}

### Critical Gate ({x}/25)

{Detailed findings for each critical criterion}

### Evidence Gate ({x}/25)

{Detailed findings for each evidence criterion}

### Structure Gate ({x}/10)

{Detailed findings for each structure criterion}

### Language Gate ({x}/10)

{Detailed findings for each language criterion}

Step 5: Return JSON Summary

Return the JSON summary (see Output section above).

---

Gate Evaluation Details

For detailed scoring criteria per gate -- including partial credit rules, counting methods, and edge cases -- load references/scoring-rubric.md.

Gate summary: Structural (30 pts) | Critical (25 pts) | Evidence (25 pts) | Structure (10 pts) | Language (10 pts)

---

Constraints

• DO NOT modify the narrative file -- this is a read-only review
• DO NOT fabricate or assume quality issues -- only report what is measurably found
• ALWAYS compute expected word ranges from arc proportions x target length for scoring
• ALWAYS check against the language-specific header names

---

Bundled Resources

File	Purpose	Load When
references/scoring-rubric.md	Detailed scoring weights and edge cases	Step 3

Cross-skill dependencies (files owned by the narrative skill):

File	Purpose	Load When
../narrative/references/story-arc/arc-registry.md	Arc metadata and detection algorithm	Step 2
../narrative/references/story-arc/{arc_id}/arc-definition.md	Element names and word targets	Step 2
../narrative/references/language-templates.md	Localized header names per arc	Step 2