Shared artifact convention between orchestrators — what goes where in `$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/` and `$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/`, how artifacts flow between phases, and what each directory means. Use whenever work artifacts, style files, knowledge entries, drafts, or critique reports are being created, referenced, or discussed.
Artifacts live in two places: durable project knowledge in $MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/ and temporary work scratch in $MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/. This convention defines what each directory means, who writes it, and how artifacts flow between orchestrators. Every orchestrator shares this understanding — it's how story direction survives the handoff from brainstorming to drafting to revision.
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/ — Durable Project KnowledgeThe agent-maintained knowledge layer. Both humans and agents read it. Quality bar: readable prose with clear structure, not agent shorthand. Decisions baked inline with reasoning — a character entry includes why that age was chosen, a timeline entry includes why events are ordered that way.
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/
├── styles/ # style reference files (style-creator output)
├── characters/ # character state + decision annotations
├── world/ # locations, lore, systems, factions
├── timeline/ # chronology, event ordering
├── canon/ # established facts from written chapters
├── issues/ # tracked writing problems (tics, inconsistencies, structural concerns)
└── graphs/ # relationship maps, knowledge graph output
styles/ — How to write, not what to write. Style files capture the patterns a writer needs to match the project's voice. The style-creator determines how to organize these based on analysis of the source text — the structure follows what the prose actually does rather than a predetermined taxonomy. Each file is self-describing so an orchestrator can read it and know when to load it. See the style-creator agent for the analytical approach.
characters/ — Current character state: where they are in the story, what they know, their emotional trajectory, key relationships. Updated by the chronicler after chapters are written. Includes decision annotations — "character is 8 at story start [decided in session X, alternatives considered: 6, 10, rejected because...]".
world/ — Locations, systems, lore, factions — anything about the world that multiple chapters reference. The chronicler and session-miner both contribute here.
timeline/ — Event chronology. When things happened, in what order, with citations back to chapters. The continuity-checker's primary reference.
canon/ — Facts established by written chapters. Not a copy of the chapter — a synthesis of what the chapter established as true. "Chapter 4 established that the protagonist can sense a new ability" with a citation.
issues/ — Writing problems worth tracking across revision cycles. Mechanical tics, scene-type inconsistencies, structural concerns, patterns that need the author's attention. Critics, the style-creator, and the continuity-checker all contribute here. See the writing-issues skill for conventions.
graphs/ — Mermaid relationship diagrams, knowledge graph output, connection maps. The graph-maintainer keeps these current.
$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/ — Work ScratchTemporary, scoped to the current work item. Archived when work completes. Durable knowledge gets promoted to $MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/ before closing out.
$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/
├── outline/ # current outline being worked
├── drafts/ # draft iterations (v1, v2, etc.)
├── critique-reports/ # critic output for each round
└── brainstorm/ # brainstorm captures and synthesis
outline/ — Scene briefs, beat breakdowns, chapter structure. The outliner writes here; the writer reads from here.
drafts/ — Draft iterations. Each revision gets a new version. The draft-orchestrator tracks which version is current.
critique-reports/ — Individual critic reports and orchestrator synthesis. The draft-orchestrator writes the synthesis; the writer reads it for revision.
brainstorm/ — Brainstorm outputs from fan-out sessions. The story-orchestrator synthesizes these before presenting options to the author.
| Artifact | Written by | Read by |
|---|---|---|
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/styles/ | style-creator | writer, critic (voice focus) |
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/characters/ | chronicler, session-miner | writer, critic, continuity-checker |
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/world/ | chronicler, session-miner | writer, researcher, wiki-editor |
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/timeline/ | chronicler | continuity-checker, outliner |
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/canon/ | chronicler | critic, continuity-checker, writer |
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/issues/ | critic, style-creator, continuity-checker | critic, draft-orchestrator, story-orchestrator |
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/graphs/ | graph-maintainer | explorer, wiki-editor, orchestrators |
$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/outline/ | outliner | writer, draft-orchestrator |
$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/drafts/ | writer | critic, draft-orchestrator |
$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/critique-reports/ | critic, draft-orchestrator | writer, story-orchestrator |
$MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/brainstorm/ | brainstormer | story-orchestrator |
When a work item completes, the orchestrator promotes durable knowledge from $MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/ to $MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/:
$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/ entries$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/characters/$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/canon/$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/timeline/$MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/issues/The knowledge-orchestrator handles promotion by dispatching chronicler, session-miner, and graph-maintainer. Don't promote raw brainstorm captures or draft iterations — those stay archived in the work item. Promote the knowledge extracted from them.
Agents maintain $MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/. The author maintains story/, wiki/, and future/. The wiki-editor is the one agent that writes to the author's space (wiki/), producing polished, reader-facing reference pages. All other agent output goes to $MERIDIAN_FS_DIR/ or $MERIDIAN_WORK_DIR/.
Agents don't reorganize the author's manuscript structure or planning files. They read from the author's space and write to their own.
A project can replace this skill with its own artifact conventions — different directory names, different flow, different files — without touching orchestrator or agent bodies. The convention is a skill, not hardcoded structure.