Set Up A Writing Home

Create one portable folder that can travel independently of the plugin and contains the context and working surfaces Compound Writing needs.

Resolve The Target

• Use the path or folder name the user supplied.
• If the destination is unclear and choosing it would create the writing home in a materially different place, ask for the path.
• Read existing workspace instructions before writing.
• Never create writing-home files inside the installed plugin or runtime cache.

Create The Writing Home

Create this exact minimum structure:

writing-home/
├── VOICE.md
├── STYLE.md
├── examples/
│   └── README.md
└── drafts/
    └── README.md

Run the bundled creator by resolving it relative to this SKILL.md; do not assume the user's working directory is the plugin root:

python3 "<plugin-root>/skills/cw-setup-project/scripts/create_project.py" "/path/to/writing-home"

The script copies the canonical templates from defaults/project-template/. It may create a new folder or populate an empty folder. It refuses to modify a non-empty folder by default and never overwrites files.

For an existing folder, inspect it first. If the user explicitly wants the Compound Writing structure added, run:

python3 "<plugin-root>/skills/cw-setup-project/scripts/create_project.py" "/path/to/writing-home" --add-missing

--add-missing creates only absent items. Preserve every existing file and convention.

Optional Audience Guide

When the writer asks to establish audience context and no maintained shared guide is already named, add --with-audience to the creator command. For an existing writing home, combine it with --add-missing after inspection. This adds the generic AUDIENCE.md template without overwriting any existing file.

If a shared audience guide already governs the work, reference that guide from project instructions instead of creating a duplicate. A local AUDIENCE.md is optional; do not add one or interrupt writing merely because it is missing. Use the audience resolution rules in ../../references/context-contract.md.

Keep The Split Clear

• VOICE.md answers: How should the sentences sound? Put syntax, diction, and tone here, including cadence, rhythm, register, punctuation, and verbal tics.
• STYLE.md answers: What must the article do, contain, and prove? Put argument, evidence, article structure, substantive standards, audience promise, and publication-readiness criteria here.
• Optional AUDIENCE.md answers: Who are we writing for, and what may engage them? Keep reader situations, knowledge, wants, interests, resistance, and their evidence here; use a named shared guide when one exists.
• examples/ holds curated positive and negative examples. Examples are evidence for the written rules, not rules by themselves.
• drafts/ holds one folder per piece: drafts/<piece-slug>/. Keep that piece's notes, research, outline, draft versions, and reviews together.

Never put argument, evidence, structure, or publication-readiness rules in VOICE.md. Never put word choice, sentence construction, cadence, or tone rules in STYLE.md. Split mixed feedback into separate rules.

Do not create TASTE.md, context.md, published/, or .status.yaml as part of setup.

Migrate A Legacy Project

When TASTE.md exists:

1. Read it with the existing project instructions.
2. Route syntax, diction, and tone rules to VOICE.md.
3. Route argument, evidence, article structure, substantive standards, and publication-readiness rules to STYLE.md.
4. Route durable reader knowledge to a maintained AUDIENCE.md when requested; use an existing shared guide rather than creating a duplicate. Flag mixed or conflicting guidance.
5. Show the migration summary before changing ambiguous or high-authority guidance.
6. Preserve TASTE.md until the user explicitly approves its deletion or archival.

Begin The Guides

After first-run setup, begin cw-onboarding so the writer can add a useful first version of both guides from a short conversation, existing writing, or the work already in progress. Do not block use of the writing home on completing either profile.

When the user invoked cw-setup-project manually for an additional folder, offer onboarding rather than assuming they want a new profile immediately.

Handoff

Report the writing-home path, the created surfaces, any optional audience guide or shared source, anything skipped because it already existed, and the next useful step.