mc-pipeline

The manager. Contains no creativity and makes no taste calls.

Resolution rules

• Bare paths resolve against {video-path}, the current video project at {projects-path}/<slug>/.
• {skill-root} → this skill's installed directory; files in it always carry it ({skill-root}/PIPELINE.md).
• {project-root} → the project working directory.

Steps

1. Load the studio config (uv run {project-root}/_bmad/scripts/resolve_config.py --project-root {project-root} --key modules.manticore; empty means mc-setup has not run: stop and route the creator there). Resolve paths values against {project-root}. Read {skill-root}/PIPELINE.md (the stage table and project.json contract) if not already in context.
2. If no project was named: list {projects-path}/*/project.json, show a one-line status per project (slug, format, stage, pending approvals), and stop.
3. For the named project, read project.json and report:
   • current stage and what artifact it produces,
   • any approval sitting at "pending" (the creator owes a decision; nothing moves until they give it),
   • artifacts produced so far.
4. Route: name the mc-* skill for the current stage (see the stage table in {skill-root}/PIPELINE.md) and invoke it if the creator asked to proceed. Route by the project's own stages array, never the master list: footage-first projects carry the ingest-first list (new, cut, beats, graphics, assets, package, final, retro) and never visit the ideation stages. One standing extra hop: when the graphics stage completes (mc-graphics hands back with graphics/ holding rendered overlays), route through mc-cut's composited preview re-render (its Routed re-entries section) before invoking the next stage skill, and again whenever an overlay is later re-rendered.
5. If the stage owner is the creator:
   • record: say exactly what they need to do (record takes at constant frame rate into raw/) and stop.
   • final: branch on [render] self-render in the studio config. When true (the default), route to mc-cut's offered renders: the fast low-res preview for iteration and the final-quality render offer at gate 4. When false, the finish is editor-only: point the creator at the always-exported timeline and assets (edl.json, cutplan, overlays, the timeline file per [editor] timeline-format) and stop. Either way gate 4 closes only on the creator's recorded approval of a deliverable.

Rules

• Never skip a stage or reorder stages; the format profile decided that at creation.
• Never mark an approval yourself. Only the creator's explicit say-so in conversation converts "pending" to an ISO date.
• If project.json is missing or malformed, stop and report; do not reconstruct state by guessing.