Headlines Agent Skill

Headlines

Overview

Generates headlines, article titles, social posts, and email subject lines from a brief or draft. Four phases: find the charge, generate volume across named moves, tighten survivors, output per format. Core rule: volume over polish — word-level features predict winners weakly, so breadth beats optimization.

Reference Loading Table

| Signal | Load These Files | Why |

|---|---|---|

| generating candidates: the ten named headline moves with examples | references/headline-moves.md | Move definitions and concrete examples for Phase 2. |

Instructions

Phase 1: FIND THE CHARGE

Goal: Identify the single most compelling tension or stake in the material.

• Read the brief, draft, or topic statement in full.
• List every tension candidate: a surprise, a reversal, a cost, a conflict, a number that changes the picture, a stake the reader holds.
• Pick ONE — the charge. Write it as a single sentence naming who is affected and what is at stake.
• Test it: would a reader who saw only this sentence want the rest? A topic label ("Kubernetes networking") fails; a live tension ("DNS resolved yesterday, fails today, nothing changed") passes.

Gate: Charge is one sentence, names a specific tension or stake, and is true to the source material. Proceed only when it passes — every candidate in Phase 2 builds on it, so a weak charge produces 20 weak headlines.

Phase 2: GENERATE VOLUME

Goal: Produce 15–25 candidate headlines spread across the named moves.

Load references/headline-moves.md for the move catalog: curiosity gap, specificity, stakes, contrast, question, how-to, number, voice-of-reader, news peg, negative space.

• Generate 15–25 candidates. Write fast; judge later. Polishing during generation narrows the search exactly where breadth pays.
• Cover at least 6 of the 10 moves. Tag each candidate with its move.
• Keep every candidate anchored to the Phase 1 charge. A clever line off-charge is a miss.
• Pull concrete material from the brief into candidates: numbers, names, error messages, dates. Specifics carry more pull than adjectives.

Gate: 15–25 candidates exist, each tagged with a move, at least 6 moves represented. Fewer than 15 means the charge is under-mined — return to the brief for more concrete material.

Phase 3: TIGHTEN

Goal: Select and sharpen 3–5 survivors using a stated criterion.

• Score every candidate 1–5 on each of: specificity, tension, accuracy to the brief. Sum the three.
• Keep the top 3–5 by score. Require move diversity among survivors — two candidates from the same move compete for the same reader reflex, so keep the stronger one.
• Tighten each survivor:
• Cut filler words; front-load the charge into the first 3–4 words (truncation and scanning both favor the front).
• Replace any vague noun with the concrete one from the brief.
• Verify every claim in the headline against the brief. The headline promises only what the content delivers — an overpromising headline buys one click and spends the reader's trust. This honesty rule applies in every mode, standalone included.
• Drop any survivor that needs a hedge to stay accurate. Promote the next candidate by score instead.

Gate: 3–5 survivors, each accurate to the brief, each from a distinct move where possible.

Phase 4: OUTPUT PER FORMAT

Goal: Adapt survivors to the formats the task needs. The user receives selected options plus one recommendation — triage stays inside this skill.

| Format | Constraint | Adjustment |

|--------|-----------|------------|

| Article title | ~60–70 chars; sentence case per site convention | Full charge; specificity over wordplay |

| Social post | Platform length; standalone (no body to lean on) | Add the stake or number the title implies; end with pull, not summary |

| Email subject line | ~30–50 chars; first words decide the open | Front-load the charge; cut articles and qualifiers first |

Per-platform length and format specs stay with content-engine (skills/content/content-engine/references/platform-specs.md); when both apply, the platform spec wins on length.

Present output as:

## Headline Options

**Charge**: [one-sentence charge]

### Article titles
1. "[title]" — [move]
2. ...

### Social posts
1. "[post]"

### Subject lines
1. "[subject]"

**Recommendation**: [pick one, one sentence why]

Gate: Each requested format has 2+ options. Recommendation given with reasoning.

Integration

• voice-writer HOOK-GATE (Phase 5): conceptual feed only — voice-writer's pipeline is unchanged. When voice-writer's hook scores below 8, the HOOK-GATE agent may run Phases 1–3 here against the article body to surface the concrete detail the opening should lead with; survivors also serve as title candidates.
• content-engine: supplies titles and subject lines for pipeline output; content-engine owns per-platform format specs.
• Standalone: usable directly on any brief, draft, or topic. The Phase 3 honesty rule still gates output.

Error Handling

Error: "Brief has no tension — it is a topic label or flat release notes"

Cause: Input has no stake, surprise, or change worth charging.

Solution: Ask for the one fact that surprised the author, the cost of the problem, or what changed. If none exists, say so and produce plain utilitarian titles — a fabricated tension fails the Phase 3 accuracy check anyway.

Error: "All candidates sound the same"

Cause: Generation stayed inside one or two moves.

Solution: Walk the move catalog in order and force one candidate per unused move. Mechanical coverage breaks the rut.

Error: "Accurate headlines feel flat"

Cause: The charge is weak, not the wording. Word-level polish cannot rescue a stake-free premise.

Solution: Return to Phase 1. Find a sharper tension in the material, or report honestly that the brief needs a stronger finding before headlines can work.