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Content & Media Creation · mattpocock/skills

writing-beats

Writing, exploit; assemble raw material into a journey of beats, grounding each term before a beat leans on it.

L2 Local · Restricted workspaceV1 Commit-PinnedWrite FileDual-pass Audit
Author mattpocockGitHub mattpocock/skills ↗Stars 257659License MIT（GitHub API spdx MIT；仓库根 LICENSE: Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock）Commit 3cca18b368
Control levels describe skill capabilities and suggested control measures; they do not represent quality or safety certifications, nor do they dictate usability. Usage decisions rest entirely with users and administrators. Different agent hosts apply varying constraints; do not assume hosts provide automatic protection. Third-party skill copyrights belong to their original authors. Use at your own risk.

1How It Works & Mechanism

Positioned as the exploit stage: the source material pile remains fixed, and the skill's task is to choose a path and mine the material beat by beat.

skills/in-progress/writing-beats/SKILL.md
The user has passed (or will pass) a markdown file of raw material. This is **exploit**: the exploring is done, the pile is fixed. Commit to a path through it and mine the pile to fill each beat.
The explore/exploit dichotomy runs through the writing trio in this repository: writing-fragments is explore, while writing-beats/writing-shape are exploit.

Interactive algorithm = choose-your-own-adventure beat journey: establish prerequisites first → offer 2-3 candidate starting beats for the user to choose → write only that chosen beat → re-read disk → offer 2-3 candidate next beats → loop until reaching a natural conclusion.

skills/in-progress/writing-beats/SKILL.md
Once the user picks a starting beat, write **only that beat** to the article file. A beat may be one sentence or several paragraphs, whatever that beat naturally is. Stop there.
Continuing Step 4: 'Re-read the article file from disk. Then offer 2–3 candidate **next beats**: different directions the journey could pivot to from where the article now stands.'—The user chooses the direction at each step, and the agent only writes the selected single beat.

Grounding constraint engine: every concept must be grounded before a beat uses it (assumed reader knowledge = prerequisite, or introduced by a preceding beat); the reachability of candidate beats is determined by the set of already grounded concepts.

skills/in-progress/writing-beats/SKILL.md
Every **concept** has to be **grounded** before a beat can lean on it: the audience either walked in knowing it or met it in an earlier beat. A beat that reaches for an ungrounded concept loses the reader; that is the one move the journey can't make. The unit is the concept, not the word for it: a beat can lean on an idea the reader lacks even with no jargon in sight.
Operationalization: 'Keep a running list of what's grounded so far, and update it each time a beat lands.' The unit of grounding is a concept rather than a mere vocabulary term.

Pacing discipline: write only one beat at a time, never write ahead; re-read the file from disk before each write to strictly preserve user edits; allow the user to request a rewrite of any beat at any time.

skills/in-progress/writing-beats/SKILL.md
Append one beat at a time. Never write ahead. Re-read the article file from disk before every write. Preserve user edits absolutely.
Re-reading disk treats 'the user may have manually edited the file' as a default fact, preventing overwrites.

Definition of completion: stops when the journey is complete, not when source material is exhausted—most material piles naturally leave behind leftover fragments.

skills/in-progress/writing-beats/SKILL.md
The article ends when the journey is complete, not when the pile is empty. Most piles will have leftover fragments that don't make it in. That is fine; that is the point of having more raw material than you need.
The source material is a quarry ('The pile is a quarry.'), which can be freely paraphrased, split, recombined, or quoted.

2Core Capabilities

01Generate multiple candidate starting beats from raw material (different entry points), marking newly grounded concepts for each
02Write only one beat per step, then re-read disk and provide 2-3 reachable candidate next beats
03Running grounding list: constrain each beat to use only grounded concepts, unlocking subsequent beats as new concepts land
04Quarry-style reuse of source material: freely combine via paraphrase/split/recombine/quote
05In-place beat revision support: 'rewrite that beat' modifies only that specific beat, leaving the rest untouched

4Recommended Governance & Evidence

Suggested Controls for Safe Operation
For Agent Runtime
Restrict working directory
For Administrators
Retain operation logs
Evidence & Triggers (File Paths & Excerpts)
  • 本地工作目录: File read/write and artifact output: User-specified article file: appends one beat per step; edits a specific beat in place upon user request ('rewrite that beat' in place)
Audit Notes: Local file operations only: reads user source material files, appends beats or performs in-place edits on the user-specified article file; contains no scripts, no outbound network access, and no credential access. Note: file paths are entirely specified by the user ('ask once and remember the path') rather than self-selected; model-generated text requires user review.

5Second-Pass Verification

  • [ok] choose-your-own-adventure 交互流程（候选拍 → 用户选 → 只写一拍 → 重读 → 再候选） — SKILL.md 步骤 1-5 逐字存在：'Write 2–3 candidate **starting beats**'、'write **only that beat**'、'Re-read the article file from disk. Then offer 2–3 candidate **next beats**'。
  • [ok] grounding 机制（prerequisite/introduced + 运行清单 + 可达性） — Grounding 整节存在，含 'Keep a running list of what's grounded so far'；候选拍可达性由 grounded 集决定。
  • [ok] 只写一拍、不超前 — 'Append one beat at a time. Never write ahead.' 原文在。
  • [ok] 每次写前重读磁盘、保留用户编辑 — 'Re-read the article file from disk before every write. Preserve user edits absolutely.' 原文在。
  • [ok] 就地重写特定 beat — 'edit in place, leave the rest alone' 原文在。
  • [ok] 文件写入范围 — 仅用户指定文章文件；'If the user did not say where to save the article, ask once and remember the path.' 无其它路径指令。
  • [ok] 外部依赖为空 — token 扫描零命中；无 CLI/API/网络/包。
  • [ok] 元数据 + beta 状态 — GitHub API MIT/257659/2026-09-04；本地 HEAD == 3cca18b；in-progress README 列为 beta。

6Verdict & Scenarios

  • Interactive path selection reduces rework: the user picks the direction at each step, turning the article's trajectory into a collaborative journey.
  • Grounding turns reader cognitive accessibility into a hard constraint, eliminating the common writing pitfall of using concepts unfamiliar to the reader.
  • Beat-level granularity discipline: one beat does only one thing; oversized blocks are forced to split.
  • Strictly friendly to user edits: re-reads disk before every write and edits beats in place without overwriting manual changes.
    • Best for: Ideal for writers who have a pile of raw material (interviews, notes, fragments) and want an interactive article structured through beats that can pivot at each step; especially suited for those who prioritize reader cognitive load and are willing to polish beat by beat.
    Not for: Not suitable for users looking to generate a complete draft in one shot (beat-by-beat confirmation is slow); not suitable for stages where material still needs exploration and collection (that is the explore responsibility of writing-fragments); not suitable for academic writing requiring strict outlines or argumentative structures (this skill organizes via journey and beats, offering no guarantee of a complete argument tree).
    Install Agent-Ready
    ① Verified Mirror 2026-09-09
    Option A · Direct DownloadDownload writing-beats.tar.gz
    sha256: e5908f87db6a7beb…
    Option B · Copy Guide for Agent
    install.json
    Agents automatically download and verify mirrors from this JSON guide.
    ② Upstream GitHub
    GitHub Repo ↗
    Pinned to commit 3cca18b368.