Book Genesis Universal Core

Book Genesis Universal Core is Felipe's portable book-production pipeline for file-aware AI agents. It works in Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, Kimi, and similar tools that can read project files and write artifacts.

The skill folder is still named book-genesis-core for compatibility with existing installs and slash commands. The workflow is not Codex-only. It is the canonical lightweight workflow for new runs, separate from the legacy V4/V5 multi-skill system kept elsewhere in this repository.

Use this skill for:

• fiction, memoir, nonfiction, or hybrid book projects
• turning a rough idea into a structured book
• drafting full manuscripts chapter by chapter
• auditing AI-written prose and narrative structure
• producing Genesis Score evaluations
• creating synopses, cover briefs, launch/editorial packages, and formatting handoff notes

Do not use the legacy V4 17-phase workflow as the default. It is copied only for historical reference in references/legacy-v4-book-genesis.md.

Core Rule

Persist important decisions to files. A Book Genesis run should leave a durable project tree, not just chat output.

Default project layout:

<project>/
  PROJECT_STATE.yaml
  ASSUMPTIONS.md
  artifacts/
  manuscript/
    chapters/
  evaluations/
  delivery/

Canonical Pipeline

Load references/pipeline/manifest.yaml before starting or advancing phases.

1. Phase 0: Intake
2. Phase 1: Foundation
3. Phase 2: Architecture
4. Phase 3: Drafting
5. Phase 4: Adversarial Audit
6. Phase 5: Final Score
7. Phase 6: Editorial Package

Use references/pipeline/phases.md for the compact phase overview.

Phase References

Read only the prompt for the active phase:

• Intake: references/prompts/intake.md
• Foundation: references/prompts/foundation.md
• Architecture: references/prompts/architecture.md
• Drafting: references/prompts/drafting.md
• Adversarial Audit: references/prompts/adversarial-audit.md
• Final Score: references/scoring/genesis-score.md
• Editorial Package: references/prompts/editorial-package.md

references/prompts/orchestrator.md contains the portable orchestration rules.

Operating Loop

1. Identify or create the project directory.
2. Read PROJECT_STATE.yaml if it exists. If not, initialize it from the manifest phases and user idea.
3. Read ASSUMPTIONS.md if it exists. If not, create it and mark inferred assumptions clearly.
4. Load the current phase prompt and produce only that phase's required outputs.
5. Update PROJECT_STATE.yaml after every phase, chapter block, audit, or score.
6. Do not skip Phase 4. Audit before final scoring.
7. When drafting, write in chapter files under manuscript/chapters/ and keep the state synchronized.
8. When user feedback changes direction, record it in project files before continuing.

Quality Policy

• Prefer fewer constraints during drafting; evaluate and repair afterward.
• Separate drafting, audit, scoring, and editorial judgment in the workflow.
• Use the Genesis Score floor principle: the book is only as strong as its weakest major dimension.
• For Portuguese books, write artifacts and prose in Portuguese unless the user requests otherwise.
• If a task is only editing, scoring, or packaging an existing manuscript, start from the matching phase instead of forcing a full restart.

Complementary Skills

Use these only when relevant and already available:

• copy-editing for prose-level cleanup
• humanizer-pro for measured, register-aware de-AI rewriting (Better Humanizer; use the literary register for fiction)
• launch-strategy or content-strategy for go-to-market assets
• imagegen or cover-specific workflows for cover ideation