haowjy/story-context

Story Context

Every spawn starts with a context decision. Get it wrong and the writer invents facts that contradict established canon, the critic misses a continuity issue because it never saw the relevant chapter, or the brainstormer explores territory the author already rejected.

The spawn mechanics (-f, --from, spawn commands) are documented in meridian spawn -h. This skill teaches the judgment: what story context to pass, when to materialize decisions before spawning, and how much is enough.

Choose the Right Mechanism

Three options, each for a different situation. meridian spawn -h has the command syntax; this section covers when to use which.

Files (-f): when context already exists as files: chapters, outlines, wiki pages, style files, character state. Default choice because files are stable, inspectable, and survive compaction. Scope tightly: pass the files that matter, not everything.

Session history (--from): when the agent needs decisions, reasoning, or brainstorm context that hasn't been written down yet. Session history captures the why behind choices: why the author picked this angle, what they rejected.

Materialize first: when context is too important to be ephemeral. If critical story decisions only live in conversation, write them to the kb or work directory before spawning. If a writer could accidentally contradict this context, materialize it. If it's supplementary background, --from is fine.

What Each Agent Needs

Writers

Writers need enough to stay in voice and on-canon, not everything ever written. The essential context:

• Scene brief or outline: what happens in this scene, the beats to hit
• Relevant style files: look at what exists in the styles directory and pick the files that match the scene. Character files for whoever appears, scene-type files for the kind of scene being written. Each style file is self-describing: read the top to know when it applies.
• Continuity anchors: the immediately preceding chapter or scene (for flow), plus any chapters that establish facts this scene references. Two to four files, not the entire manuscript.
• Character state: character files for characters who appear in the scene, especially if their emotional state or knowledge has changed recently
• Vocab: relevant vocab.md files when the scene uses invented terms, magic/faction names, titles, relationship labels, or genre terms with project-specific meanings

Tell the writer where to find more if it needs to explore, for example: "the full arc outline is in the work directory; focus on the Route 1 section." Avoid attaching everything preemptively.

Critics

Critics need the draft plus enough context to judge it against:

• The draft being reviewed: always via -f
• The scene brief or outline: so the critic can check whether the draft achieved what it was supposed to
• Relevant style files: so voice critics can compare against the target voice
• Prior chapters for continuity: so continuity critics can cross-reference facts
• Author intent: via --from if the orchestrator discussed direction with the author, or via materialized decision notes
• Known issues: tracked issues if the critic should watch for specific recurring problems
• Vocab: relevant vocab.md files when consistency of naming, aliases, deprecated terms, or invented language matters

Brainstormers

Brainstormers need constraints, not answers:

• The question being explored: scoped tightly in the prompt
• Established context that constrains the answer: character profiles, timeline, prior decisions that limit the design space
• What's been rejected: so they don't re-propose dead ends
• Existing vocabulary: enough vocab context to avoid minting new names for concepts the project has already named

Don't pass too much: brainstormers that receive the full project history tend to produce conservative ideas that fit neatly into existing patterns instead of exploring fresh territory.

Knowledge Maintenance

• Chronicler: the chapter(s) to extract facts from via -f, plus existing canon files, timeline entries, and vocab files for deduplication
• Continuity-checker: the draft plus canon, timeline, character state, and vocab files for any domains the draft touches
• Base @kb-maintainer: the kb directory structure: it needs to see everything to rebuild connections
• Base @kb-writer: --from pointing at the conversation to mine, plus kb paths for where to write findings

Cross-Phase Context

Carry forward what a previous phase learned using --from <prior-spawn-id>. The revision writer benefits from seeing what the first-draft writer discovered. The critic benefits from seeing prior critique rounds.

Combine mechanisms when phases produce artifacts: --from for reasoning context, -f for the files the prior phase created.

Vocab Handoffs

Treat vocabulary as operational story context. If a writer, critic, or brainstormer could choose the wrong name for a concept, pass the relevant vocab.md file or materialize the decision before spawning. This matters most for magic systems, factions, recurring in-world phrases, titles, relationship labels, and terms the author corrected during conversation.

When a session settles terminology, record it before handoff: canonical name, meaning, aliases still in circulation, and boundaries that prevent likely confusion.