Persona Setup Flow

This file defines the interactive onboarding that runs when persona/voice.md is empty or missing. Follow these steps in order. The goal: generate persona files that let the blog-writer skill match the author's actual voice.

Step 1: Welcome

Tell the author:

Welcome to the blog-writer skill!

Before we write anything, I need to learn your voice. I'll ask a few questions, then analyze some of your existing writing to build a voice profile. This takes about 5 minutes and only happens once.

You can see an example of a completed persona in example-persona/ if you want to know what we're building toward.

Step 2: Basic Info

Ask the author:

1. Name — How should you be credited in the author bio?
2. Role and company (optional) — e.g., "Developer Advocate at Acme Corp." Leave blank if you're writing independently.
3. One-line career context (optional) — A previous role or experience that gives you credibility. e.g., "Previously spent 10 years building distributed systems at Netflix."

Record the answers. These feed into the bio template later.

Step 3: Writing Samples

Ask for 2-5 writing samples. These are the foundation of the voice analysis. The more representative the samples, the better the voice profile.

Accepted formats:

• URLs to published blog posts (use WebFetch to retrieve)
• Pasted text directly in the conversation
• Local file paths (use Read to retrieve)

Tell the author:

I need 2-5 samples of your writing. These should be posts or articles that sound like YOU — your natural voice, not corporate ghostwriting. Blog posts, newsletter issues, conference talk write-ups all work. The more "you" they sound, the better I can learn your voice.

Give me URLs, paste text, or point me to local files.

Fetch/read all samples before proceeding.

Step 4: Voice Analysis

Analyze the collected samples to identify patterns across these dimensions:

4a: Overall voice and personality

• What's the general register? (casual, technical, academic, conversational)
• How does the author relate to the reader? (peer, teacher, storyteller, provocateur)
• What's the confidence level? (assertive, hedging, self-deprecating, authoritative)

4b: Rhetorical devices

Catalog the specific devices the author actually uses, with examples pulled from their writing. Common ones to look for:

• Self-deprecation (and how it's calibrated — mild, escalating, absurd)
• Parenthetical asides (and what they're used for — commentary, jokes, caveats)
• Deadpan delivery (stating absurd things matter-of-factly)
• Cultural references (what domains — movies, books, history, games, music)
• Short paragraphs as punchlines
• Direct address to the reader
• Rhetorical questions (real ones, not the self-answering fragment kind)
• ALL CAPS emphasis
• Italics for emphasis or voices
• Any other patterns that appear consistently

For each device found, include 1-2 direct quotes from the samples.

4c: Cultural reference style

• What era/domains do the references come from?
• How frequent are they? (every paragraph, once per post, rare)
• Are they explained or left for the reader to get?

4d: Humor type and calibration

• What kind of humor? (dry, self-deprecating, absurdist, observational, none)
• How often? (constant undercurrent, occasional beats, rare)
• What's off-limits or out of character?

4e: Technical depth tendencies

• Does the author go deep on implementation details?
• How are code examples introduced and framed?
• How are technical concepts explained to the audience?

4f: Recurring elements

• Named characters, collaborators, or foils
• Catchphrases or signature transitions
• Running jokes or callbacks between posts
• Structural patterns (how posts typically open, close, transition)

Step 5: Generate and Review persona/voice.md

Using the analysis from Step 4, generate persona/voice.md with this structure:

# Voice Profile: [Author Name]

## The Voice in One Paragraph
[Synthesized description of the author's voice — what makes them sound like them]

## Rhetorical Devices That Work
[Each device as a subsection with description and quoted examples from their writing]

## Cultural Reference Style
[Era, domains, frequency, approach]

## Recurring Characters
[Named collaborators, foils, or recurring figures — if any]

## Voice Consistency Notes
[How the voice behaves in technical sections, whether it changes register, etc.]

Present the generated file to the author for review. Ask:

Here's the voice profile I built from your writing samples. Read through it — does this sound like you? Anything missing, wrong, or overemphasized?

Apply their feedback, then write the final version to persona/voice.md.

Step 6: Generate persona/bio.md

Using the basic info from Step 2, ask the author about their bio preferences:

How do you want your author bio to work? I need:

1. A bio template — the fixed part that appears on every post
2. Whether you want a rotating kicker — a final sentence that changes per post (usually a dry joke or callback to the post's content)

Here's an example of a bio with a rotating kicker:

"[Name] is a [Role] at [Company], where [current focus]. Previously, [career context]. [Dry kicker that callbacks to the post.]"

Generate persona/bio.md with:

# Author Bio: [Author Name]

## Bio Schema
[The template with variable parts marked]

## Examples
[1-2 example bios if available from the writing samples, or generate examples
based on the template and the author's info]

## Kicker Notes
[How the kicker should work — rotating or fixed, tone guidance]

Write to persona/bio.md.

Step 7: Product Context (Optional)

Ask the author:

Do you write about a specific product or platform? If so, I can set up a product context file so I'll check technical accuracy against your docs during drafting.

This is optional — skip it if you write about general topics.

If yes:

1. Ask for the product name
2. Ask for the docs URL or a list of key doc pages
3. Ask for key concepts/terminology the blog should get right
4. Generate persona/product.md with the same structure as example-persona/product.md:
   • Product name and docs site
   • Topic-to-URL index
   • How to use the index during Phase 0 and Phase 3

If no: Leave persona/product.md empty. The process phases will skip product accuracy checks automatically.

Step 8: Record Examples in persona/examples.md

Write the sample URLs/references from Step 3 to persona/examples.md:

# Example Posts: [Author Name]

The following posts define the canonical tone. Fetch them during Phase 0 to calibrate
voice when writing in a series or when the tone needs recalibration.

## [Post title or description]
URL: [url]
Key patterns: [1-line note about what this sample demonstrates about the voice]

Step 9: Confirm Setup Complete

Tell the author:

Setup complete! Your persona files are ready:

• persona/voice.md — Your voice profile
• persona/bio.md — Your bio template
• persona/product.md — [Product context / Skipped]
• persona/examples.md — Your reference posts

You can edit any of these files directly at any time. The skill reads them fresh each session.

Ready to write a blog post? Just tell me what you're working on.

Proceed to the normal blog writing flow (back to SKILL.md).