mc-outline

Gate 1. The outcome is outline.md: three hooks, one outline, and the packaging promise, in a form the creator can approve, edit, or kill before a line of script exists. It is a decision artifact, not a draft script. Everything in it traces to braindump.md, because the script stage may only use words already spoken there.

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}/scripts/lint_script.py).
• {project-root} → the project working directory.

On Activation

1. Resolve 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. Its paths values resolve against {project-root}.
2. Read project.json and confirm stage is outline, then braindump.md and the format profile.
3. Read {brand-path}/voice-bible.md. If it does not exist, tell the creator it is missing and that hooks in their voice cannot happen without it, then route to mc-setup and stop. Its hook section governs the candidates below.
4. Read {brand-path}/blacklist.md. If it does not exist, tell the creator it is missing and that the blacklist lint before gate 1 cannot happen without it, then route to mc-setup and stop.

Three hooks

Three candidates, each built Target-Transformation-Stakes: who it is for, what they will be able to do, why it matters now. Use the creator's braindump phrasing wherever a phrase fits, and note which braindump line each hook leans on.

One outline

One outline, not options: a tight beat list from hook to payoff. Every beat cites the braindump passage that fills it, and a beat with no material behind it is marked GAP with the question to ask the creator. Order for retention, with no throat-clearing beat at the top and open loops closed late.

Where the braindump names something the viewer should see, attach a visual-moment note to that beat, citing the passage and marked non-binding. mc-beats reads these as candidate compositions, not commitments.

The packaging promise

The working title and thumbnail concept this video must pay off, plus a CTA plan line drawn from [cta] in the studio config: which configured CTA(s) this video will make and roughly where, sized to the configured appetite. If no CTAs are configured, the line says so.

If the video cannot pay off a clickable promise, say so now; that is a project problem, not a packaging problem.

Before presenting

uv run {skill-root}/scripts/lint_script.py {projects-path}/<slug>/outline.md --blacklist {brand-path}/blacklist.md. Exit 1 lists blacklist violations; fix every one.

Gate 1

Write it all to outline.md, set approvals.outline = "pending", update artifacts, present to the creator, and STOP. Do not start the script. Do not describe what the script will say.

Only the creator's explicit say-so moves this gate. On approval, record the ISO date in approvals.outline, append outline to stages_done, and set stage to the next entry in project.json's stages array.