Editorial Guidelines

Process

1. Check for existing file. Use Glob for editorial-guidelines.md at the project root. If it exists, ask: overwrite, update in place, or save a new version with date suffix.
2. Run the interview. Ask the 12 questions above, one at a time. For any question the user skips, record the seeded default and note (default) next to it in the output.
3. Optional cross-check. If the user provided example URLs and a scraper is available:
   • For each URL, fetch the article via the fallback chain in _shared/firecrawl-jina-playwright-helpers.md.
   • Extract observable patterns: median sentence length, heading cadence, paragraph length distribution, top 20 content words excluding stopwords, presence of first-person vs second-person, use of contractions, emoji count.
   • If any stated rule contradicts observed patterns (e.g. user says "formal" but examples are casual), surface the contradiction and ask which to trust.
4. Render the file. Write editorial-guidelines.md using the template below.
5. Confirm. Print the path and a 5-line summary (brand, audience, voice attributes, top 3 banned words, reading level).

Output template

# Editorial Guidelines — {Brand}

_Last updated: {YYYY-MM-DD}_

## Brand positioning

{One sentence.}

## Audience

{Segment 1}
- Role / seniority:
- Primary pain:
- What they already know:
- What they're skeptical of:

{Repeat for each segment.}

## Content goals

- {goal 1}
- {goal 2}

## Voice

**Attributes:** {attr1}, {attr2}, {attr3}, {attr4}

{One paragraph describing how these combine in practice. Include one "we sound like X, not Y" contrast.}

## Tone

- Formal ↔ casual: {1–5} — {1-sentence rationale}
- Serious ↔ playful: {1–5} — {1-sentence rationale}
- POV: {we / you / I / third}
- Contractions: {yes / no}
- Emoji: {never / headlines only / body OK}

## Reading level

Target: Flesch {x}–{y} (grade {n}). Sentences median {m} words, max {max}.

## Structural defaults

### How-to
{ordered sections}

### Comparison
{ordered sections}

### Opinion / POV
{ordered sections}

### Case study
{ordered sections}

## Formatting

- Serial comma: {Y/N}
- Numerals: {rule}
- Headings: H1 {case}, H2/H3 {case}
- Links: {inline / footnote}, new tab {Y/N}
- Code: inline `monospace`, fenced blocks with language tag
- Lists: {bullet style, when to use numbered}
- Dates: {format}

## Banned words and phrases

- {word 1}
- {word 2}

## Preferred words and naming

- {Product} — always written as `{exact casing}`
- {Acronym} — spell out on first use as `{expansion}`

## Examples

**On brand:**
- {URL 1} — {what makes it on brand, 1 line}

**Off brand:**
- {URL 1} — {what makes it off brand, 1 line}

## Quality bar

Before shipping, every piece must pass:

1. {rule 1 — default: "Would I send this to a practitioner friend unprompted?"}
2. {rule 2 — default: "Does it contain at least one thing not in the top 3 ranking articles?"}
3. {rule 3 — default: "Is every claim linked to a source or showing its work?"}
4. {rule 4 — default: "Does the closer tell the reader a specific next action?"}

Fallbacks

• No scraper available: skip the cross-check step and note in the output that examples were not validated against observed patterns.
• User refuses interview: write a file using 100% defaults from b2b-saas-voice-reference.md, prefixed with a note that the file is a starting point and should be edited.
• Existing file, user wants update: diff the old file against new interview answers, only change fields the user updated, preserve everything else.

Verification

1. editorial-guidelines.md exists at the project root.
2. It contains all sections from the template.
3. Run proofreading-style-check against any article using this file — it should return at least one voice/tone finding that references a rule in the guidelines.