editorial-pipeline

Editorial Pipeline

Apply a sequence of focused editorial refinements to a draft, passing output from each stage as input to the next. The pipeline reads 7 agent prompts from ./agents/ and applies cross-cutting constraints from ./rules/ to preserve author voice, maintain detail level, and track changes.

When to use

• User asks to "polish this draft" or run iterative multi-pass editing
• Draft needs systematic refinement (typos → UK English → flow → headings → fact-checking → sources → SEO)
• User wants to inspect intermediate outputs and decide which stages to run or reorder
• Prose requires cross-cutting consistency (voice, detail, structure)

Inputs to gather

• Draft text — the source document to refine (paste, file, or workspace reference)
• Workspace path — which content-writing workspace to write intermediates to (user must have provisioned via /content-writing:new-workspace)
• Draft name — short slug for the working subdirectory (e.g., blog-post-v1, opinion-piece-draft)
• Stages to run (optional) — default is all 7 in order; user may skip, reorder, or stop early
• Author voice / style notes (optional) — guidance from rules/author-voice.md to preserve tone and register

Procedure

1. Read the rules. Load and parse rules/author-voice.md, rules/detail.md, rules/folder-structure.md, and rules/version-control.md. These constraints apply to every stage.

2. Set up working directory. Create <workspace>/editorial-pipeline/<draft-name>/ under the user's workspace data directory:

   ${CLAUDE_USER_DATA:-${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/claude-plugins}/content-writing/<workspace>/editorial-pipeline/<draft-name>/
   

   Write the original draft to 00_original.md in this directory.

3. Run each stage in order (or user-specified order):

   • Read agents/basic-typo-reviewer.md (stage 1)
   • Read agents/uk-english-standardiser.md (stage 2)
   • Read agents/flow-and-polish.md (stage 3)
   • Read agents/headings.md (stage 4)
   • Read agents/proofreader.md (stage 5)
   • Read agents/add-sources.md (stage 6)
   • Read agents/seo-reviewer.md (stage 7)

4. Apply each agent inline. For each stage:

   • Take the output of the previous stage (or the original draft for stage 1)
   • Apply the agent prompt directly in this conversation
   • Save the refined version to <stage-number>_<stage-name>.md (e.g., 01_basic-typo-reviewer.md, 02_uk-english-standardiser.md)
   • Enforce rules from ./rules/ — especially author voice, detail preservation, and version-control comments if the rules specify them

5. Present progression to user. After each stage, summarize changes made and offer the user options: continue to next stage, skip the next stage, reorder, or stop.

6. Final output. Save the fully refined version to final.md in the same directory. Emit a summary of all changes across stages and the location of the working directory so the user can inspect any intermediate.

Output / side effects

• Numbered intermediate files (01_..., 02_..., etc.) written to the workspace editorial-pipeline subdirectory
• final.md with the fully refined draft
• User receives a summary of changes per stage and location of working directory
• User can re-run individual stages or request manual edits between stages
• No changes to the original workspace structure; intermediates are scoped to editorial-pipeline/<draft-name>/

Safety / constraints

• Do not write outside the user's provisioned workspace. Always use the data-storage resolver.
• Do not overwrite or modify the source draft. Always work from intermediate outputs.
• Read rules (author voice, detail, folder structure) before starting; they are binding across all stages.
• User retains full control: may skip stages, pause for manual review, or request re-runs of specific stages.
• If a stage prompt references external sources (fact-checking, SEO research), note what external input is needed and ask before proceeding.