Dialogue

Dialogue historique

Immersive 1-on-1 conversation with a figure who questions your ideas — not a panel, not research, not framing from scratch.

Output: persona.md + dialogue.md under studies//dialogue// or output/dialogue// (standalone).

When to use (vs other skills)

| Skill | Role | |-------|------| | /dialogue | This skill — single character, Socratic back-and-forth, belief testing, transcript | | /council | Live round table — several figures debate, user participates (council.md) | | /bear-hours | Frame wedge + brief when nothing exists yet | | /deep-research | Factual wide search + synthesis — not roleplay |

| User intent | Route | |-------------|-------| | "Talk with Darwin / Tesla / …" | /dialogue | | "Fais discuter X, Y et Z" / round table, several figures | /council | | "Did they really say that?" (facts) | /deep-research after out-of-character handoff |

Do not auto-chain from other skills.

Hard rules

• In character — voice, references, era limits; never generic assistant tone in character turns.
• Advisory fiction — artifact header states: dialogue pédagogique fictif — lentille interprétative, pas source primaire.
• No fake quotes — no quotation marks for invented speech; paraphrase in own words.
• Socratic — every character turn ends with ≥1 question challenging the user.
• Wedge tie-in — every character turn includes a one-sentence link to the wedge (from brief.md or user-stated unit).
• Informed default — modern topics allowed through era's concepts; tag [extrapolation — informed] inline. See references/epistemic-modes.md.
• Wedge lock — refuse polite scope creep beyond ## Narrow wedge when brief exists.
• No research mid-dialogue — no WebSearch / WebFetch during Steps 5–6. Fact-check → out-of-character handoff to /deep-research.
• Living figures — only public contemporary figures (published work, public statements). Refuse private individuals, gossip, or defamation. One disclaimer in persona.md.
• Persona drift control — re-read persona.md before turns 1, 5, 10, 15, …
• AskUserQuestion — one question per call; title Dialogue historique — {label}.

Interactive questions

Use AskUserQuestion. One call at a time; STOP after each.

Smart-skip: user already named figure + topic → skip Step 1. User gave study slug → skip Step 0 picker. User accepts informed mode → skip Step 3.

Step 0: Resolve context

If user names a study slug → Read studies//brief.md.

If user names topic only → Glob studies/*/brief.md. If matches, AskUserQuestion:

Title: Dialogue historique — Contexte

Ask: "Lier ce dialogue à une étude existante ou session ad-hoc ?"

Options:

• —
• —
• Ad-hoc — pas de brief (output/dialogue//)
• other

If no brief and ad-hoc → derive slug from topic + persona (e.g. evolution-darwin). Create output/dialogue//.

Extract from brief when present:

| Field | Use | |-------|-----| | ## Narrow wedge | Wedge lock — quote in artifact | | ## Current beliefs | Socratic fuel — pick one to challenge first | | ## Open questions | Question targets | Resume: if dialogue.md exists with ## Session markers → AskUserQuestion:

Title: Dialogue historique — Reprise

Ask: "Une session existe déjà. Continuer ou recommencer ?"

Options:

• Continue — append new ## Session section
• Restart — archive by renaming to dialogue--archived.md, fresh file
• Cancel

On continue: re-read persona.md + last session's last 3 turns before replying.

Step 1: Choose figure

Title: Dialogue historique — Personnage

Ask: "Avec qui veux-tu dialoguer ?"

Options: Infer 2–3 figures from wedge/topic + other (name in chat) + Surprise me — pick the best fit.

Examples:

| Topic / wedge | Suggestions | |---------------|-------------| | Evolution, adaptation | Darwin, Wallace, Mendel | | Electricity, AC/DC | Tesla, Faraday, Edison | | Structural assembly / construction | Brunelleschi, Babbage | | User's brief.md beliefs | Figure who historically disagreed with a core belief |

Legitimacy: if figure has weak wedge fit, say so once and offer closer match before locking persona.

Step 2: Dialogue goal

Title: Dialogue historique — Objectif

Ask: "Quel est l'objectif de ce dialogue ?"

Options:

• Challenger mes croyances (default if brief has ## Current beliefs)
• Explorer un concept par questions
• Préparer une preuve publique (hook / thread)
• other

Step 3: Epistemic mode

Title: Dialogue historique — Mode

Ask: "Quel niveau d'anachronisme autoriser ?"

Options:

• Informé — sujets modernes via mon cadre d'époque (défaut)
• Strict — limites d'époque, pas d'extrapolation
• Spéculatif — contre-factuel explicite
• other

Load references/epistemic-modes.md for turn tags.

Step 4: Write persona.md

Create persona.md per references/persona-template.md.

Grounding only from: brief fields, user wedge, user-supplied bio (if any). No WebSearch.

Set persona-slug = lowercase hyphenated short name (darwin, tesla, wallace).

Step 5: Open dialogue.md

Path:

• Study-linked: studies//dialogue//
• Standalone: output/dialogue//

Write dialogue.md header:

# Dialogue —  × 

> Dialogue pédagogique fictif — lentille interprétative, pas source historique primaire.

**Study slug:** 
**Persona:** 
**Wedge:** 
**Mode:** informed | strict | speculative
**Goal:** 
**Started:** 

---

## Session 

First character turn — use turn schema from references/epistemic-modes.md. Open with welcome + wedge-sharp question targeting one belief or open question.

Step 6: Conversation loop

For each user message:

1. Re-read persona.md if turn number ∈ {1, 5, 10, 15, …}
2. Reply in character — append turn to current ## Session in dialogue.md
3. Enforce: wedge tie-in, ≥1 question, mode tag, confidence level
4. Optional domain analogy when natural — not on a fixed schedule; never forced

Pause commands (pause, résume, recap): 3 bullets in chat — beliefs touched, open questions, suggested next user move. Do not break character in recap bullets (label as moderator recap).

Fact-check request: break character once → offer /deep-research; do not search.

Turn budget (soft): after ~12 character turns without user saying "continue", offer to close with synthesis.

Step 7: Close session

Trigger: user says termine, insights, sauvegarde, close, or accepts wrap-up offer.

1. Append to dialogue.md:

## Session close — 

**Beliefs tested:**
- 

**Open questions remaining:**
- ...

**Suggested next step:** 

1. Append one line to ~/.ours-stack/learnings.jsonl:

{"ts":"","skill":"dialogue","slug":"","persona":"","insight":""}

1. Tell user in chat: path, 3-bullet summary, next skill — no separate insights.md.

Step 8: Route

| Outcome | Suggest | |---------|---------| | Beliefs shaken | /source-scout or anchor read | | Need facts about figure | /deep-research | | Rich thread material | /layout-html on dialogue.md | | Wedge itself wrong | /bear-hours to adjust | | Wants several figures at once | /council (table ronde, not 1-on-1) |

Escape hatches

| User says | Action | |-----------|--------| | vas-y / go | Smart-skip Steps 2–3; default informed + challenge beliefs | | strict only | Force strict mode; skip Step 3 | | one question only | Single character turn + offer close | | out of character | Next reply as assistant; offer resume | | stop | Close session (Step 7) immediately |

Self-check before close

• [ ] persona.md exists with uncertainty flags on positions
• [ ] dialogue.md header has fiction disclaimer
• [ ] Every character turn has wedge tie-in + question + mode/confidence
• [ ] No quotation marks on invented speech
• [ ] Living figure (if any) is public + disclaimer present
• [ ] learnings.jsonl appended on close

Quality references

• Persona structure: references/persona-template.md
• Modes + turn schema: references/epistemic-modes.md
• Examples + vs council: references/example-prompts.md

Source & license

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

• Author: loursCreatif
• Source: loursCreatif/ours-stack
• License: MIT

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