Autonovel Foundation

Autonovel — Phase 1 (Foundation)

Build the foundation of a novel: world, characters, outline, canon, voice fingerprint.

When to use this skill

• State.json shows "phase": "foundation"
• User says "let's start a new novel" or "build the foundation"
• Foundation files don't exist yet, OR they exist but foundation_score --count 30`

Generate `characters.md` — protagonist, 2-4 supporting cast, 1-2 antagonists, names chosen from the proposed pools. Each character: name, role, contradictions, voice signature, secret, arc. Then gate the major cast before accepting:

!python3 ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/lib/namegen.py check ...

Acceptance requires exit code 0 (no distinctiveness issues). Write to `$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/characters.md`. Budget ~12k tokens.

### Step 3 — Generate outline.md (act-level)

Read `${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/references/outline-prompt.md`, seed, world,
characters, `genre_context/compiled/outline.md`, and the story contract.
Substitute the compiled packet as `{GENRE_OUTLINE_BLOCK}` plus all shared
Step 0 values. Generate the architecture pass: 4-6 scalable act ranges and a
title/primary-structure movement for every requested chapter. Write the
temporary architecture draft to
`$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/outline.md`. Budget ~10k tokens.

### Step 4 — Expand outline to scene level

Use the same prompt's scene-card pass. Read the architecture draft and expand
every chapter into the exact labeled fields, reveal budget, and 2-5 row scene
table required by the prompt. Replace `outline.md` with the single complete
document; do not append a second set of chapter headings. Budget ~12k tokens.

Gate the complete outline before generating canon or voice:

```powershell
python ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/lib/validation.py outline "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG"

On a nonzero exit, repair only the reported outline fields or act ranges and rerun this command. Do not continue to Step 5 until it exits zero.

Step 5 — Generate canon.md

Read ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/references/canon-prompt.md, all prior foundation files, and the story contract. Substitute all shared Step 0 values. Canon uses the story contract as its genre source of truth; do not load generic pack files into this prompt. Generate canon: rules that MUST stay consistent — magic system limits, world-rule edge cases, character backstory anchors, timeline pins. Write to canon.md. Budget ~8k tokens.

Step 6 — Generate voice.md (voice fingerprint)

Read ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/references/voice-prompt.md, seed, characters, and the story contract. Substitute all shared Step 0 values. Voice uses the story contract as its genre source of truth; do not load generic pack files into this prompt. Generate the voice fingerprint: narrative POV, tense, narrator distance, signature rhythms, dialogue style markers, sample paragraph in the target voice. Write to voice.md. Budget ~6k tokens.

Step 7 — Evaluate and run the hard boundary

Run:

!`python3 ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/lib/slop_detect.py "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/world.md" --genre-context "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/genre_context/resolved.json"`
!`python3 ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/lib/slop_detect.py "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/characters.md" --genre-context "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/genre_context/resolved.json"`
!`python3 ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/lib/slop_detect.py "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/outline.md" --genre-context "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG/genre_context/resolved.json"`

Average the three scores into foundation_score, then hand that score to the deterministic validator. This command owns score recording, iteration changes, and the phase transition:

python ${HERMES_SKILL_DIR}/lib/validation.py complete-foundation "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG" --score 

Read the JSON result. Exit code nonzero means a hard artifact gate failed and state.json remained byte-identical. Exit code zero with advanced: false means the artifacts passed but the score remains below the current threshold. Exit code zero with advanced: true means the validated foundation moved to drafting atomically.

Step 8 — Decide: continue, regenerate, or advance

• If the validator returns issues: report their stable codes and paths,

regenerate only the responsible artifact, and rerun Step 7. Never edit the phase by hand.

• If advanced is true: commit the validated foundation files and hand off to

autonovel-drafting.

• If advanced is false and iteration = 20: report to the user and ask

whether to lower the threshold or accept the current foundation despite its low score. The hard gates remain non-waivable.

Step 9 — Commit

!`cd "$AUTONOVEL_WORKSPACE/$NOVEL_SLUG" && git add . && git commit -m "phase 1: foundation iteration $(python -c 'import json; print(json.load(open("state.json"))["iteration"])')"`

Handoff

When phase complete, invoke autonovel-drafting.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: DukeTwoCan
• Source: DukeTwoCan/autonovel-agent-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.