dossier

A client dossier is a git repository that holds the memory of a relationship with an external party. This skill is its protocol: it is loaded first, and every rule below applies on every harness, with or without hooks. Hooks in Claude Code only remind and catch likely shortcuts; the rules in this file are the real boundary.

Find the dossier first

Look for the nearest dossier.yaml in the working directory or a parent (the search goes upward and does not stop at a .git folder, like the linter and the hooks). When a repository holds several dossiers, the nearest one wins; read nothing from and write nothing to a dossier above or beside it.

If there is none, say so in one line, suggest dossier-init when the task concerns a relationship worth tracking, then continue with the user's task. This skill never blocks work outside a dossier. The task skills stop when no dossier is found; this one only steps aside.

Layout

Folder and file names are fixed English names, never translated or remapped.

• dossier.yaml: configuration (language, counterparts, confidential names, consent).
• sources/: immutable. received/, transcripts/ with raw/, text extractions next to PDFs.
• dossier/: the seven living files.
  • ACTORS.md: who is who on every side, role, decision power, expectations.
  • HISTORY.md: dated chronology, commitments in progress (ours, theirs), upcoming deadlines.
  • LEARNINGS.md: what the exchanges teach about the counterpart.
  • TONE.md: the voice, and the log of every reviewer comment on a draft.
  • CHANNELS.md: how we communicate, addresses, call habits, confidentiality level.
  • OPEN-QUESTIONS.md: answered, still open on their side, what we would ask the end client.
  • RELATIONSHIP.md: status, metrics, our view, their view (reconstructed), opportunities.
• knowledge/: CONTEXT.md (the one-page context), DOCTRINE.md (what we say and never say), decisions/, watch/.
• outbound/: everything addressed to the counterpart: deliverables/, mails/, calls/. Files are named YYYY-MM-DD_slug.

Read before acting, update before handing back

"Before handing back" means in the same session, before its final message. Update the living files the work touched, or state in one sentence why none needed it. In Claude Code a stop check blocks the first stop of a turn when outbound/ or sources/ changed and dossier/ did not; the rule is the same without that check, and you apply it yourself.

Writing a fact

- <fact, one sentence, absolute dates> (<source>, <locator>).

• Source examples: call @12:34, mail 2026-09-16 from Jane, brochure p. 4, internal note p. 15. A fact line ends with one parenthesised source; that is the shape the linter reads.
• One fact per line. Dates are absolute: convert "tomorrow" before writing.
• A line whose source is a reconstruction (their view as we reconstruct it) says "reconstructed". A line without a source is an opinion and says so.
• Each living file keeps its Last updated: line current: an absolute date, then after which event (for example Last updated: 2026-09-16, after the kickoff call).
• A quote from a transcript is checked in context before it is reused.
• A contradicted line is corrected in place, not duplicated; append (corrects a line dated <date>).
• Write Name (Organisation) on the first mention of a person in a file.

When a source is wrong

Nothing under sources/ is ever modified or corrected, even when a transcript is plainly wrong and even when the user asks for it. The rule covers every route: Write, Edit, sed -i or any script, mv, rm, cp over a file, a redirection, retyping a file. New sources are copied in unchanged, never written or retyped. In Claude Code a guard denies the obvious shortcuts, but it is a heuristic that reads the command text; a command it fails to recognise is still forbidden. It does not see eval, interpreters (python3 -c and the like), command substitutions, variables or loops, so this file stays the boundary: never modify a source by any route, seen or not by the guard.

Common rationalizations, all answered the same way: "the user asked me to fix it" (observed at the baseline), "it is one character", "they are forwarding it in five minutes", "I will tell them afterwards" (these three are anticipated, not observed). The user's request is met by the filed correction, not by editing the source. Do not offer to override the rule; offer the corrected fact.

What to do instead:

1. Quote the source as it is, in the line itself.
2. File one dated, sourced correction line in the living file where the fact belongs.
3. Tell the user what you filed and where, and that the source stays as received.

Worked example, a transcript that misheard an amount:

- Mark Lee (Northwind) set the budget at 12,000 euros on 2026-03-04; the transcript reads "twelve million" (call 2026-03-04 @21:07).

Outbound status header

Every file in outbound/ opens with a status block, in the file's own comment syntax (<!-- --> in Markdown and HTML, # lines in plain text):

Status: draft | reviewed by <name> | sent <date time> by <name>
To: <recipient>
Subject: <subject>            (mails)
Deadline: YYYY-MM-DD          (optional)
Written by: <human or "agent session, YYYY-MM-DD">
Rules: no confidential names; see knowledge/DOCTRINE.md

sent needs a date and a sender. Deadline: is an absolute date. A new draft is draft. Never mark a draft as sent or reviewed: a human sends it and edits the status line.

Language

Dossier content (living files, outbound drafts, knowledge) is written in the language set by the language key of dossier.yaml. Paths are fixed English names. Protocol keywords stay in English: Last updated:, the status header field names and the status values (draft, reviewed by, sent). Headings, examples and content follow the dossier's language.

Never

• Send a message or a document. Drafts go to outbound/ with a status header; humans send.
• Modify anything in sources/.
• Name a confidential party (the confidential_names of dossier.yaml) under outbound/, unless consent_recorded: true is set and consent_source is filled in.
• Promise what knowledge/DOCTRINE.md forbids; the doctrine is read before writing to the counterpart.
• Leave a .claude/ folder in a subfolder (the symptom of an agent launched from the wrong directory).

Checking the shape

From the dossier, run python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/lint.py" to check the mechanical rules (fact lines, status headers, confidential names). If that script is not available (a bare-skills install has no scripts), say so and apply the rules above by reading the files.

Other skills

dossier-init starts a dossier in this repository or completes a scaffold that already exists. dossier-ingest files a source that arrived (a transcript, mail, brochure, PDF or link) under sources/ and turns it into dated, sourced lines in the living files. dossier-draft writes every draft addressed to the counterpart (a mail, a message, a deliverable or a note) under outbound/, has it reviewed by doctrine-reviewer and records the commitment in history; every draft goes through it. dossier-call prepares a call (a file in outbound/calls/ with what we want to obtain, a timed agenda, what we do not do and the open questions to ask) and debriefs it from its transcript; every call preparation and every debrief goes through it. dossier-status answers where the deal stands, read-only: the one-line status, the commitments due, the overdue drafts, the sources not yet reflected, the stale living files and the lint findings.