Update Guidance Skill

Not every article needs every audit. This skill reads the extracted article and decides which audits to prioritize before running them. Saves time on update-pipeline runs and avoids generating noise from low-value audits.

Input

/update-guidance <slug>

Reads:

• content-pipeline/updates/1-extracted/{slug}.md (extracted article)
• content-pipeline/0-context/{slug}.md (if user provided context for the update)
• brand-config.md (current product list — used to spot what's missing)

Process

1. Read the extracted article. Note publish date, last updated, claims count, products mentioned.

2. Assess each potential audit:

   Claims audit — high priority if:

   • Last updated > 18 months ago AND article has 3+ numerical claims
   • Article cites studies older than 3 years
   • Article makes specific traffic/percentage claims (these decay fast)

   Product mentions audit — high priority if:

   • Brand has products NOT mentioned in the article
   • Article was published before some products were launched
   • Brand product list in brand-config.md is significantly different from "Mentioned products" in the extract

   Topic gaps audit — high priority if:

   • Article is older than 12 months (SERP has likely shifted)
   • Article H2 count seems thin for the topic complexity
   • User context mentions wanting to compete with newer ranking pages

3. Score each audit as high, medium, low, or skip.

4. Write the guidance file to content-pipeline/updates/0-guidance/{slug}.md with the verdict line at the top so the orchestrator can parse it programmatically:

# Update guidance: {slug}

## Verdict: PROCEED

(or `## Verdict: SKIP_ARTICLE` if all three audits scored skip — the orchestrator reads this single line to decide whether to dispatch update-draft or write a no-update-needed marker. Always present, always one of the two values.)

## Article context
- URL: {url}
- Last updated: {date}
- Word count: {n}
- Numerical claims: {n}
- Products mentioned: {list}

## Audit priorities

### Claims audit: {high/medium/low/skip}
**Reason:** {why}
**Focus areas:** {which specific claims to scrutinize first}

### Product mentions audit: {high/medium/low/skip}
**Reason:** {why}
**Specific products to consider adding:** {list from brand-config not in article}

### Topic gaps audit: {high/medium/low/skip}
**Reason:** {why}
**Worth re-pulling SERP:** {yes/no}

## Update angle (informed by user --context)

{1-2 sentences on the overall direction for the update — refresh stats? Add product walkthroughs? Compete with new SERP? Major restructure?}

## Recommended skip-list

Audits scored "skip" can be omitted from `/update-pipeline`. Skipping these saves time and reduces noise:
- {audit name} — {why skipping}

5. Tell the user the priority list and ask whether to proceed with /update-pipeline or run individual audits.

Output

content-pipeline/updates/0-guidance/{slug}.md

The audit-priority plan. /update-pipeline reads this to decide which audits to run.

Quality checklist

• Each of three audits has a priority + reason
• At least one audit is high priority (otherwise the article probably doesn't need an update)
• User-provided context is reflected in the angle
• Specific products / claims / sections are named, not generic recommendations

When the article doesn't need an update

If all three audits score skip or low:

• State this clearly in the file
• Suggest the user reconsider whether the update is worth doing
• Don't fabricate priorities to justify a run