Before this workflow, follow the once-per-session update preflight.

Build a directed interactive concept

Registry-first artifact boundary

When .styleseed/project.json and .styleseed/artifacts/index.json exist, resolve the requested artifact ID first, then read only .styleseed/bundles/<artifact-id>.md and .styleseed/manifests/<artifact-id>.json. Never fall back to the global legacy bundle for a registry project. Legacy projects may use .styleseed/effective-rules.md only when no registry exists.

Run the full Studio pipeline. Do not reduce it to a moodboard, a static image, or a set of arbitrary motion effects.

Start the run

Read STUDIO-PIPELINE.md, PRODUCT-PRINCIPLES.md, and the resolved project rules first. If the project has no valid STYLESEED.md, run setup and resolve before Studio.

Initialize a durable run:

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs init \
  --project-root . \
  --artifact <artifact-id> \
  --name "<project or concept>" \
  --brief "<product job and desired interaction>" \
  --surface mobile-app \
  --platform web

The command prints the run directory under .styleseed/studio/. Use the artifact schemas in references/artifact-contract.md. Use references/provider-adapters.md only when media generation or recording is required.

If the project uses the artifact registry, --artifact is required and the run binds the current artifact manifest and method hash at init time.

1. Scout by role

Classify supplied and discovered references as structure, navigation, signature, motion, or asset-language. Capture source URL/path, date, visible observation, transferable principle, confidence, and rights note. Never claim visual evidence for a reference that was not actually seen.

Do not ask the user to collect a generic moodboard. Find only the missing roles. Keep product UI, marketing presentation, and generated media separate unless the brief explicitly connects them.

2. Produce three directions

Write exactly three entries in directions.json: native, signature, and experimental. Keep the product job and content fixed; vary at least two structural axes. Every direction must include:

• composition and focal logic;
• navigation chrome versus content canvas;
• one semantic palette recipe, type, and material roles;
• generated asset strategy;
• motion and continuity logic;
• one product-specific signature move;
• output grammar, brand recipe, trade-offs, implementation cost, and risk.

Advance only after the directions validate:

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs advance --project-root . --run <id> --stage directed

3. Require a selection

Show the three directions together. Record the user's selection and rationale. Do not average them or quietly choose the easiest one.

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs select \
  --project-root . --run <id> --direction <direction-id> \
  --by "<reviewer>" --rationale "<decision>"

4. Compile scenes and media jobs

Write scenes.json, assets.json, and video.json from the selected direction.

• An interaction scene defines trigger, states, continuity, enter/exit, feedback, interruption, reduced-motion behavior, and renderer targets.
• An asset job defines capability, prompt, inputs, output, provenance, rights note, fallback, and consuming scene.
• A video plan starts with real prototype recordings. Mark generative shots explicitly; never use them to fake an interaction that does not work.

Map capability to an available provider only at execution time. If the needed provider is absent, leave the job blocked and report the exact missing capability.

Record provider execution without hand-editing the run:

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs media \
  --project-root . --run <id> --job <job-id> --status complete \
  --provider <tool/model> --output <project-relative-path> \
  --provenance "<model · date · source inputs>"

5. Generate, build, and record

Generate raster assets only for imagery, texture, illustration, footage, or product material. Keep UI geometry, icons, and final copy code-native and accessible. Copy final generated files into the run directory and preserve prompts and provenance.

Build the selected direction as a working prototype. Implement its primary navigation, signature scene, cancel/back behavior, and reduced-motion fallback. Record the actual prototype after it passes the code and pixel gates. Optional generated footage may be composited as labeled media.

Store prototype and recording paths through the CLI, then advance to built:

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs output \
  --project-root . --run <id> --prototype <route-or-path>
node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs advance \
  --project-root . --run <id> --stage built
node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs output \
  --project-root . --run <id> --recording <project-relative-path>

6. Verify and deliver

Run StyleSeed score and visual verification, then derive Studio verification from the evidence gate. The Studio evidence command stores only the computed verifier summary, and advance --stage verified reruns verification instead of trusting an earlier stored pass.

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs evidence \
  --project-root . --run <id> --evidence-run <gate-run-id>

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs advance --project-root . --run <id> --stage verified
node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs status --project-root . --run <id>

fail and blocked remain useful progress states:

node <skill-dir>/scripts/studio-run.mjs gate \
  --project-root . --run <id> --gate temporal --status blocked \
  --note "recording still missing"

Do not use gate --status pass. Only the evidence verifier may derive pass. A prototype URL can locate the built prototype, but it is not evidence. When temporal verification is required, the recording must be a local hashed file.

Deliver the complete run folder, runnable prototype, actual recording, and unresolved risks. A polished reel by itself is not a completed Studio run.

Non-negotiables

• Keep exactly one selected design direction and one coherent product language.
• Human selection precedes expensive generation and implementation.
• Do not clone protected brand assets, copy, or trademarked arrangements.
• Do not fabricate reference observations, provider outputs, file paths, or verification passes.
• Do not let generated imagery carry essential UI text or interaction semantics.
• Do not mark a run verified without seeing the pixels and the temporal result.