Lessons — the loop that makes the machine yours

The lessons loop is why the machine improves with use where generic AI writing doesn't: every edit the user makes is a training signal, captured as prose rules the drafting step must obey forever after. Personal folder resolution: ~/.content-machine/redirect.md first line if present, else ~/.content-machine/.

Inputs

• The machine's draft (from drafts/)
• The final version the user actually published or approved (pasted, or edited in place)
• Any verbal feedback the user gave along the way ("this line is AI-cringey")

Steps

1. Diff

Compare draft vs. final, sentence by sentence. Collect: deletions, rewrites, reorderings, additions.

2. Abstract

Turn each meaningful change into a generalizable rule, categorized:

• Tone — register errors ("too breathless", "false modesty")
• Structure & flow — ordering, pacing, where the piece sagged
• Language — specific words/constructions the user removes on sight
• Format — platform-specific habits (fold behavior, line breaks, emoji)

The abstraction test: would this rule have prevented the edit AND apply to future pieces? One-off factual fixes are not lessons.

❌ Not a lesson: "Changed 'six months' to '6 months'." (one-off) ❌ Too vague: "Make it sound more natural." (unenforceable) ✅ A lesson: "TONE — Never use the setup-punchline construction 'They're both right — and that's exactly the problem.' User flags this cadence as AI-cringe. State the tension directly instead."

3. Approve — never auto-append

Present the proposed lessons as a numbered list. The user approves, rejects, or edits each. Only approved lessons are written. A lessons file polluted with wrong rules degrades every future draft.

4. Append

Add approved lessons to content-lessons.md under their category, dated. Check for contradictions with existing lessons — if a new lesson contradicts an old one, surface the conflict and ask which wins; never hold both.

5. Confirm

Report what was appended and the new lesson count per category.

Gate

The loop is complete only when: diff performed, lessons proposed with categories, user explicitly approved, file appended, contradictions resolved. If the user gave feedback mid-draft ("that hook is cheesy") that didn't make it into a lesson, ask about it here — spoken feedback that evaporates is the loop's failure mode.