headlines · diff
git:20260705.380563c to git:20260919.28d30f9
53 added, 69 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: headlines
- promoted_to: content-calendar
+ promoted_to: content
description: "Generate headlines, titles, and subject lines: charge, volume, tighten."
user-invocable: false
allowed-tools:
- Read
- Write
- Bash
- Grep
- Glob
- Edit
- Task
routing:
triggers:
- "headline"
- "headlines"
- "article title"
- "title options"
- "subject line"
- "better title"
category: content-creation
pairs_with:
- - voice-writer
- - content-engine
- - topic-brainstormer
+ - writing
+ - content
---
# Headlines
- ## Overview
-
- Generates headlines, article titles, social posts, and email subject lines from a brief or draft. Four phases: find the charge, generate volume across named moves, tighten survivors, output per format. Core rule: **volume over polish** — word-level features predict winners weakly, so breadth beats optimization.
-
- ---
-
- ## Reference Loading Table
-
- | Signal | Load These Files | Why |
- |---|---|---|
- | generating candidates: the ten named headline moves with examples | `references/headline-moves.md` | Move definitions and concrete examples for Phase 2. |
-
- ## Instructions
+ Generate headlines, article titles, social posts, and email subject lines from a brief or draft. Four phases: find the charge, generate volume across named moves, tighten survivors, output per format. Core rule: **volume over polish** -- breadth beats optimization because word-level features predict winners weakly.
- ### Phase 1: FIND THE CHARGE
+ ## Phase 1: FIND THE CHARGE
- **Goal**: Identify the single most compelling tension or stake in the material.
+ Identify the single most compelling tension or stake in the material.
1. Read the brief, draft, or topic statement in full.
- 2. List every tension candidate: a surprise, a reversal, a cost, a conflict, a number that changes the picture, a stake the reader holds.
- 3. Pick ONE — the charge. Write it as a single sentence naming who is affected and what is at stake.
- 4. Test it: would a reader who saw only this sentence want the rest? A topic label ("Kubernetes networking") fails; a live tension ("DNS resolved yesterday, fails today, nothing changed") passes.
-
- **Gate**: Charge is one sentence, names a specific tension or stake, and is true to the source material. Proceed only when it passes — every candidate in Phase 2 builds on it, so a weak charge produces 20 weak headlines.
+ 2. List every tension candidate: surprise, reversal, cost, conflict, a number that changes the picture, a stake the reader holds.
+ 3. Pick ONE -- the charge. Write it as one sentence naming who is affected and what is at stake.
+ 4. Test: would a reader who saw only this sentence want the rest? A topic label ("Kubernetes networking") fails; a live tension ("DNS resolved yesterday, fails today, nothing changed") passes.
- ---
+ **Gate**: Charge is one sentence, names a specific tension, is true to source. A weak charge produces 20 weak headlines.
- ### Phase 2: GENERATE VOLUME
+ ## Phase 2: GENERATE VOLUME
- **Goal**: Produce 15–25 candidate headlines spread across the named moves.
+ Produce 15-25 candidate headlines spread across these ten named moves. Write fast; judge later.
- Load `references/headline-moves.md` for the move catalog: **curiosity gap, specificity, stakes, contrast, question, how-to, number, voice-of-reader, news peg, negative space**.
+ ### The Ten Headline Moves
- 1. Generate 15–25 candidates. Write fast; judge later. Polishing during generation narrows the search exactly where breadth pays.
- 2. Cover at least 6 of the 10 moves. Tag each candidate with its move.
- 3. Keep every candidate anchored to the Phase 1 charge. A clever line off-charge is a miss.
- 4. Pull concrete material from the brief into candidates: numbers, names, error messages, dates. Specifics carry more pull than adjectives.
+ | Move | Reflex | Example |
+ |------|--------|---------|
+ | **Curiosity gap** | Opens a question only reading can close | "The One-Line Nginx Default That Took Our API Down" |
+ | **Specificity** | Carries the concrete detail into the headline | "CoreDNS Returns NXDOMAIN for Internal Services After Upgrading to 1.31" |
+ | **Stakes** | Names what the reader loses or gains | "Your Postgres Backups May Be Silently Unrestorable" |
+ | **Contrast** | Two true things that should not coexist | "Local Build Passes, Cloudflare Deploy Fails -- Same Commit" |
+ | **Question** | Asks what the reader already wonders | "Is Your Standup Meeting Just a Status Email With Legs?" |
+ | **How-to** | Promises a capability, named precisely | "How to Cut Go CLI Startup From 400ms to 40ms" |
+ | **Number** | Count or measurement as the spine | "Three Config Lines That Halved Our CI Bill" |
+ | **Voice-of-reader** | Phrased in the reader's own words | "I Rotated the API Key and Production Still Worked. That's the Problem." |
+ | **News peg** | Anchored to a current event | "What the AWS Outage Reveals About Your Single-Region Bet" |
+ | **Negative space** | Leads with what is absent or refused | "The Test Suite Had No Test for the Thing That Broke" |
- **Gate**: 15–25 candidates exist, each tagged with a move, at least 6 moves represented. Fewer than 15 means the charge is under-mined — return to the brief for more concrete material.
+ Rules:
+ 1. Cover at least 6 of the 10 moves. Tag each candidate with its move.
+ 2. Keep every candidate anchored to the Phase 1 charge.
+ 3. Pull concrete material from the brief: numbers, names, error messages, dates.
- ---
+ **Gate**: 15-25 candidates, each tagged, at least 6 moves represented. Fewer than 15 means the charge is under-mined -- return to the brief.
- ### Phase 3: TIGHTEN
+ ## Phase 3: TIGHTEN
- **Goal**: Select and sharpen 3–5 survivors using a stated criterion.
+ Select and sharpen 3-5 survivors.
- 1. Score every candidate 1–5 on each of: specificity, tension, accuracy to the brief. Sum the three.
- 2. Keep the top 3–5 by score. Require move diversity among survivors — two candidates from the same move compete for the same reader reflex, so keep the stronger one.
+ 1. Score every candidate 1-5 on: specificity, tension, accuracy to the brief. Sum the three.
+ 2. Keep the top 3-5. Require move diversity -- two candidates from the same move compete for the same reader reflex; keep the stronger one.
3. Tighten each survivor:
- - Cut filler words; front-load the charge into the first 3–4 words (truncation and scanning both favor the front).
+ - Cut filler; front-load the charge into the first 3-4 words.
- Replace any vague noun with the concrete one from the brief.
- - Verify every claim in the headline against the brief. The headline promises only what the content delivers — an overpromising headline buys one click and spends the reader's trust. This honesty rule applies in every mode, standalone included.
- 4. Drop any survivor that needs a hedge to stay accurate. Promote the next candidate by score instead.
-
- **Gate**: 3–5 survivors, each accurate to the brief, each from a distinct move where possible.
+ - Verify every claim against the brief. The headline promises only what the content delivers.
+ 4. Drop any survivor that needs a hedge to stay accurate. Promote the next by score.
- ---
+ **Gate**: 3-5 survivors, each accurate, each from a distinct move where possible.
- ### Phase 4: OUTPUT PER FORMAT
+ ## Phase 4: OUTPUT PER FORMAT
- **Goal**: Adapt survivors to the formats the task needs. The user receives selected options plus one recommendation — triage stays inside this skill.
+ Adapt survivors to the formats the task needs.
| Format | Constraint | Adjustment |
|--------|-----------|------------|
- | Article title | ~60–70 chars; sentence case per site convention | Full charge; specificity over wordplay |
- | Social post | Platform length; standalone (no body to lean on) | Add the stake or number the title implies; end with pull, not summary |
- | Email subject line | ~30–50 chars; first words decide the open | Front-load the charge; cut articles and qualifiers first |
+ | Article title | ~60-70 chars; sentence case | Full charge; specificity over wordplay |
+ | Social post | Platform length; standalone | Add the stake or number; end with pull, not summary |
+ | Email subject line | ~30-50 chars | Front-load the charge; cut articles and qualifiers first |
- Per-platform length and format specs stay with content-engine (`skills/content/content-engine/references/platform-specs.md`); when both apply, the platform spec wins on length.
+ Per-platform specs from content-engine (`references/platform-specs.md`) win on length when both apply.
- Present output as:
+ Output format:
```markdown
## Headline Options
**Charge**: [one-sentence charge]
### Article titles
- 1. "[title]" — [move]
+ 1. "[title]" -- [move]
2. ...
### Social posts
1. "[post]"
### Subject lines
1. "[subject]"
**Recommendation**: [pick one, one sentence why]
```
**Gate**: Each requested format has 2+ options. Recommendation given with reasoning.
- ---
-
## Integration
- - **voice-writer HOOK-GATE (Phase 5)**: conceptual feed only — voice-writer's pipeline is unchanged. When voice-writer's hook scores below 8, the HOOK-GATE agent may run Phases 1–3 here against the article body to surface the concrete detail the opening should lead with; survivors also serve as title candidates.
+ - **voice-writer**: when voice-writer's hook scores below 8, the HOOK-GATE agent may run Phases 1-3 here against the article body to surface the concrete detail the opening should lead with.
- **content-engine**: supplies titles and subject lines for pipeline output; content-engine owns per-platform format specs.
- - **Standalone**: usable directly on any brief, draft, or topic. The Phase 3 honesty rule still gates output.
-
- ---
+ - **Standalone**: usable directly on any brief, draft, or topic.
## Error Handling
- ### Error: "Brief has no tension — it is a topic label or flat release notes"
- Cause: Input has no stake, surprise, or change worth charging.
- Solution: Ask for the one fact that surprised the author, the cost of the problem, or what changed. If none exists, say so and produce plain utilitarian titles — a fabricated tension fails the Phase 3 accuracy check anyway.
-
- ### Error: "All candidates sound the same"
- Cause: Generation stayed inside one or two moves.
- Solution: Walk the move catalog in order and force one candidate per unused move. Mechanical coverage breaks the rut.
-
- ### Error: "Accurate headlines feel flat"
- Cause: The charge is weak, not the wording. Word-level polish cannot rescue a stake-free premise.
- Solution: Return to Phase 1. Find a sharper tension in the material, or report honestly that the brief needs a stronger finding before headlines can work.
+ | Error | Cause | Solution |
+ |-------|-------|----------|
+ | Brief has no tension | Input is a topic label or flat release notes | Ask for the one fact that surprised the author, the cost of the problem, or what changed. If none exists, produce plain utilitarian titles. |
+ | All candidates sound the same | Generation stayed in 1-2 moves | Walk the move catalog in order; force one candidate per unused move. |
+ | Accurate headlines feel flat | Charge is weak, not the wording | Return to Phase 1. Find a sharper tension or report that the brief needs a stronger finding. |