---
title: "Playbooks and skills"
description: "Playbooks are role docs the agent reads on demand. Skills are slash-invocable workflows."
---

Ralphy's agent intelligence lives in two layers. **Playbooks** are role and domain instruction docs under `docs/playbooks/*.md` — the agent reads them on demand when the routing table in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/AGENTS.md) matches a user intent. **Skills** are slash-invocable workflows under `.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` — narrow, deterministic, with a single CLI command and a defined input → output contract. Both exist for the same reason: keep the agent from improvising on topics where the codebase already has a known-good answer.

<Tip>
  Browse every built-in skill at a glance — including trigger phrases and input → output contracts — on the [**Skills gallery**](https://ralphy.dev/skills) on the landing page.
</Tip>

## Playbooks

A playbook is a plain Markdown file. No frontmatter, no slash-command, no skill activation. It is read by the agent via the `Read` tool after `AGENTS.md` routing matches an intent. The eleven playbooks today:

| Playbook | When it fires |
|---|---|
| [`intake.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/intake.md) | New project request — captures the brief in 3-5 questions before any paid generation |
| [`scenarist.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/scenarist.md) | "write a script", "make a video about X", scenario feedback ("rework scene 3", "tighten VO") |
| [`art-director.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/art-director.md) | "generate prompts / assets", "make images / video / VO / music", model swap, A/B variants |
| [`editor.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/editor.md) | "compose the video", "render", captions, transitions, audio mix, HyperFrames composition edits |
| [`producer.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/producer.md) | End-to-end, batch (N ≥ 3), "save as template", profile export / import |
| [`researcher.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/researcher.md) | URL drop, "style from `<site>`", "analyze @handle", competitor audit |
| [`core.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/core.md) | `ralphy doctor`, "nothing works", "read logs", any CLI usage question |
| [`ralphy-install.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/ralphy-install.md) | Fresh machine, `which ralphy` empty |
| [`hyperframes.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/hyperframes.md) | HyperFrames composition rules — GSAP timelines, captions, transitions, audio, ffmpeg |
| [`meta.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/meta.md) | Start-of-session discipline — read once per session |
| [`README.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/README.md) | Catalogue / index of all playbooks |

Each playbook starts with **"Read this when:"** so the agent confirms the match before diving in. Each lists its **Sub-docs** at the top — for example, `researcher.md` points at `researcher/yt-dlp.md` and `researcher/tiktok-extract.md` for tool-specific deep-dives. The agent reads sub-docs on demand once the sub-task is identified.

The rule from [`docs/playbooks/meta.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/meta.md) rule 6: **when the agent feels "I know how to do this, I'll skip the read" — that feeling is the bug.** Across 10 shipped postmortems, confidence-without-reading was the highest-cost failure mode. The cost of reading is ~10 seconds; the cost of being wrong is $1-50 + 30-90 minutes of user-flagged cleanup.

## The routing table

The routing table in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/AGENTS.md) maps user intent to a playbook. A simplified excerpt:

| User intent | Playbook |
|---|---|
| New project request, brief with > 1 unknown | `intake.md` — fires before any other playbook |
| URL drop, "analyze @handle", "what's trending in X" | `researcher.md` (and the `/researcher` skill) |
| "write a script", scenario feedback | `scenarist.md` |
| "generate prompts / assets", model swap | `art-director.md` |
| "compose the video", "render", "captions" | `editor.md` (then `hyperframes.md` for API specifics) |
| End-to-end, batch (N ≥ 3), "save as template" | `producer.md` |
| "evaluate / score / QA" a rendered mp4 | `/evaluator` skill |
| `ralphy doctor`, CLI usage question | `core.md` |

**Composition.** A request that spans roles is a chain in role order. "Make a video in the style of `<url>` for `<brand>`" → researcher → scenarist → art-director → editor. The producer playbook is the wrapper for end-to-end.

**Batch (N ≥ 3).** Always producer → `batch from-template`. Never a hand-rolled loop.

The full table lives in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/AGENTS.md) and is auto-imported into the system prompt by `CLAUDE.md`, so it is always in context.

## Skills

A skill is a folder under `.agents/skills/<name>/` with a single `SKILL.md` that follows the [agentskills.io](https://agentskills.io) convention: YAML frontmatter + Markdown body. The frontmatter is the trigger contract (the `description` renders in Claude Code's slash-command menu); the body is the playbook the agent reads once the skill fires.

The seven skills today, in the order they appear under `.agents/skills/`:

| Skill | Namespace | Input → Output |
|---|---|---|
| [`evaluator`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/evaluator/SKILL.md) | `user` | rendered mp4 → `eval.json` + `eval-report.md` |
| [`researcher`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/researcher/SKILL.md) | `user` | URLs / handles / topic → `report.md` + `sources.json` |
| [`templater`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/templater/SKILL.md) | `user` | shipped project → vibe-reference template in `.ralphy/workspaces/<ws>/templates/` (publish onward to the hosted library) |
| [`install`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/install/SKILL.md) | `user` | fresh machine → installed binary, configured keys, working `ralphy doctor` |
| [`hyperframes`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/hyperframes/SKILL.md) | `user` | HyperFrames composition question → topic-specific sub-doc |
| [`postmortem`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/postmortem/SKILL.md) | `user` | iteration session → 6-file postmortem set under `.ralphy/workspaces/<ws>/projects/<id>/postmortem/` |
| [`dev-issues`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/dev-issues/SKILL.md) | `maintainer` | maintainer brain-dump → ordered `notes/issues/*.md` work items |
| [`dev-loop`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/dev-loop/SKILL.md) | `maintainer` | open `notes/issues/` backlog → sequential issue execution loop |
| [`dev-release`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/dev-release/SKILL.md) | `maintainer` | main-branch HEAD → new GitHub Release + brew + npm publication |
| [`dev-tasks`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/dev-tasks/SKILL.md) | `maintainer` | maintainer inbox capture for `notes/ideas/`, `notes/issues/`, and decisions |
| [`normalize-skills`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/.agents/skills/normalize-skills/SKILL.md) | `maintainer` | skill bundle audit + landing icon backfill |

The skill body follows a conventional section order — `## Trigger`, `## Hard invariants`, `## Workflow`, `## Outputs`, `## Cookbook` — see [`docs/skills-format.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/skills-format.md) for the authoring guide.

## Two namespaces

Skills ship in two namespaces:

| Namespace | Audience | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| `user` | end users | `evaluator`, `researcher`, `templater`, `install` |
| `maintainer` | maintainers / contributors | `dev-issues`, `dev-loop`, `dev-publish-template`, `dev-release`, `dev-tasks`, `normalize-skills` |

The install wizard (`ralphy skill install`) installs the `user` set by default. `ralphy skill install --dev` opts into the maintainer set. The split exists so a tester running `/<TAB>` on a fresh install does not see release, backlog, and maintainer authoring tools.

A skill in the `maintainer` namespace ships through the same lint and installer plumbing as a `user` skill — it is the same format, just gated behind the `--dev` flag in the installer.

## Playbooks vs. skills

The two layers solve different problems.

**Playbooks** are *role docs*. They are read by the agent when a user intent matches a row in the routing table. They cover roles (`scenarist`, `art-director`, `editor`, `producer`, `core`) and domains (`hyperframes`, `intake`). No frontmatter, no activation contract — they are just Markdown the agent reads.

**Skills** are *workflows*. They have a deterministic input → output contract and a single CLI command. They are slash-invocable (`/evaluator <path.mp4>`) and they produce specific artifacts on disk. The agent invokes a skill when the user types the slash command, or when the routing table points the agent at a skill (e.g. "evaluate this video" → `/evaluator`).

The old role-shim skills (`ralph-art-director`, `ralph-core`, `ralph-editor`, `ralph-producer`, `ralph-scenarist`) were removed in favor of direct routing via `AGENTS.md` → playbooks. If you need to invoke a role, you say the role-utterance ("compose the video") and the routing picks the right playbook. You no longer need a slash command for the everyday flow.

## When to write a playbook vs. a skill

The decision tree:

- **Write a playbook** when the work is a *role* the agent plays (writing scripts, generating prompts, composing videos). Playbooks branch — the same playbook handles many sub-tasks. The producer playbook handles end-to-end *and* batch *and* save-as-template — three different sub-tasks, one role.
- **Write a skill** when the work is a *workflow* with a single artifact (URL → research report, mp4 → eval report, project → template). Skills are linear — input → workflow → output. They have a slash command. They have hard invariants enforced by the skill body.

A red flag for the wrong choice: a skill that branches into "now you decide what to do next" is probably a playbook. A playbook that ends "produce this specific artifact at this specific path" is probably a skill.

## The agent's start-of-session discipline

From [`docs/playbooks/meta.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/meta.md), five files to read at session start:

1. `AGENTS.md` — auto-loaded by `CLAUDE.md`.
2. `MODELS.md` — checked before every model call.
3. `CLI.md` — verb / flag reference cheatsheet.
4. The closest sibling postmortem under `.ralphy/workspaces/<ws>/projects/<id>/postmortem/02-lessons.md`.
5. The matched playbook from `AGENTS.md` routing — read fully before acting.

The closest-sibling postmortem rule is the highest-leverage 10 minutes of a session. Sibling = same template kind, same category, same aesthetic register. Reading the lessons file from the closest prior project saves $5-20 of regen burn that would otherwise rediscover the same lessons.

## Adding a new playbook or skill

For a new playbook:

1. Drop a `docs/playbooks/<role>.md` file. Start with **"Read this when:"** so the agent can confirm the match.
2. List sub-docs at the top with a "When to read it" column.
3. Add a row to the routing table in `AGENTS.md` mapping intent to the new playbook.
4. (Optional) Add canonical utterances to [`docs/use-cases.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/use-cases.md).

For a new skill:

1. Create `.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` with valid frontmatter (`name`, `description` ≤ 1536 chars).
2. Pick a namespace — `user` for user-facing, `maintainer` for maintainer-only.
3. Follow the section order — `## Trigger`, `## Hard invariants`, `## Workflow`, `## Outputs`, `## Cookbook`.
4. Run `bun run lint:skills` — CI runs the same lint.
5. Add a row to the routing table in `AGENTS.md` if the skill should fire from a user-intent match.

See [`docs/skills-format.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/skills-format.md) for the full skill authoring guide, including the "writing a great description" section that covers the 1536-char trigger budget.

## Related

- [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/AGENTS.md) — the routing contract that points at every playbook and skill
- [`docs/playbooks/README.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/README.md) — the playbook catalogue
- [`docs/skills-format.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/skills-format.md) — the skill authoring guide
- [`docs/playbooks/meta.md`](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/meta.md) — start-of-session discipline
- [`/advanced/skill-format`](/advanced/skill-format) — the frontmatter contract reference
