curate

<essential_principles>

What This Skill Does

Single entry point for all knowledge base operations: discovering domains, scaffolding structure, adding topics, ingesting URLs, managing proposals, and maintaining the curation plan. Replaces the previous explore, init, and curate skills with one unified flow.

Core Approach

1. •Understand intent -- The user expresses what they want in natural language. Claude classifies and routes.
2. •Assess knowledge-base state -- Is there a knowledge base? A curation plan? Existing domain areas?
3. •Route to workflow -- Based on intent + state, route to the right workflow. No menus.

Design Philosophy

• •Free text first -- The user says what they want. Claude figures out how.
• •One skill, one entry point -- No explore/init/curate distinction for the user.
• •Curation plan as prerequisite -- Created after understanding intent, seeded with the user's goal.
• •New domains inline -- If a topic doesn't fit, offer to create the area on the spot.
• •Collaborative curation -- Both humans and agents can propose, review, and add content.
• •Source primacy -- Every topic should trace back to authoritative sources.

Key Variables

• •$ARGUMENTS -- Optional free-text context passed to this skill
• •${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} -- Root directory of the Dewey plugin </essential_principles>

Step 1: Gather intent

If the user provided clear intent (via arguments, conversational context, or a natural-language trigger), use it directly. Do not re-ask.

If the user invoked /dewey:curate with no arguments and no prior conversational context, ask one open-ended question:

"What would you like to add or change in your knowledge base?"

Step 2: Assess knowledge base state

Check for:

1. •Does a knowledge base exist? (Look for AGENTS.md and a knowledge base directory configured in .dewey/config.json, defaulting to docs/)
2. •Does .dewey/curation-plan.md exist?
3. •What domain areas exist?

Step 3: Route based on state + intent

No knowledge base exists

• •Vague or exploratory intent ("help me set up", "I don't know where to start", no specific topic) -> Route to workflows/curate-discover.md
• •Clear intent with goals ("I want a knowledge base for marketing analytics", "build a knowledge base for my team") -> Route to workflows/curate-setup.md
• •Very specific intent ("add a topic about bid strategies") -> Route to workflows/curate-setup.md with a note to resume into the specific curation action after scaffolding

Knowledge base exists, no curation plan

Before routing to any workflow, build the curation plan:

1. •Read AGENTS.md to understand the role and domain areas
2. •Read the knowledge base directory structure to see what topics exist
3. •Tell the user: "Before we proceed, let me build a curation plan so we have a map of what's covered."
4. •Propose 2-4 starter topics per domain area. Seed with the user's stated intent as the first item if it maps to a specific topic.
5. •Ask the user to confirm or adjust
6. •Write .dewey/curation-plan.md
7. •Then resume routing based on the user's original intent

Knowledge base exists, plan exists

Classify the user's intent and route:

If intent is ambiguous, ask one clarifying question -- not a menu of options.

New domain area needed

During classification, if the user's topic doesn't fit any existing domain area:

1. •Tell the user: "This doesn't fit your existing areas ([list areas]). Want me to create a new domain area for it?"
2. •If yes: route to workflows/curate-setup.md (which handles adding areas to an existing knowledge base via its re-init path), then resume into the original curation action
3. •If no: ask where they'd like to put it, or whether to skip </intake>

<workflows_index>

Available Workflows

All workflows in workflows/:

<scripts_integration>

Python Helper Scripts

Curate scripts in scripts/:

create_topic.py -- Create topic files in a domain area

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/curate/scripts/create_topic.py --knowledge-base-root <root> --area <area> --topic "<name>" --relevance "<relevance>"

propose.py -- Create a proposal file

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/curate/scripts/propose.py --knowledge-base-root <root> --topic "<name>" --relevance "<relevance>" --proposed-by "<who>" --rationale "<why>"

promote.py -- Move a proposal into a domain area

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/curate/scripts/promote.py --knowledge-base-root <root> --proposal "<slug>" --target-area "<area>"

Scaffolding scripts in scripts/:

scaffold.py -- Create or extend knowledge-base directory structure

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/curate/scripts/scaffold.py --target <dir> --role "<persona>" --areas "<area1>,<area2>"

config.py -- Read knowledge base configuration

• •read_knowledge_dir(knowledge_base_root) returns the configured knowledge directory (default: docs) </scripts_integration>

<success_criteria> Curation is successful when:

• •Content follows the topic template structure
• •Sources are referenced in frontmatter and cited inline
• •Frontmatter is complete with title, relevance, and date
• •Template sections are filled in (Why This Matters, In Practice, Key Guidance, Watch Out For, Go Deeper)
• •AGENTS.md has linked table rows for each topic
• •overview.md "How It's Organized" has linked table rows for each topic in the area
• •overview.md "Key Sources" is populated with actual sources
• •dewey-kb.md Domain Areas table lists the area </success_criteria>