zrosenfield/dossier

Dossier

Generates a complete, self-contained HTML briefing by (1) interviewing the user or parsing their data, (2) constructing and validating a JSON document, then (3) rendering that JSON into HTML using assets/dossier-template.html. The JSON is the authoritative source of truth; the HTML is fully determined by it.

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Step 1: Determine the Data Source

Check what the user has already provided before asking anything:

• SharePoint lists: Call list_items on the relevant lists. Read all needed columns before proceeding.
• Uploaded documents or tables pasted in chat: Parse all content. Do not ask for data you already have.
• Verbal description only: Proceed to Step 2.

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Step 2: Interview the User

If the data or intent is not fully clear, ask these questions in a single message — not one at a time:

1. Subject type: What are you profiling? (competitors, accounts/prospects, candidates, SharePoint sites, board members, speakers, partners, vendors — or something else)
2. Subject count: How many subjects? This determines the rendering mode.
3. Purpose and audience: What decision does this briefing support? Who reads it? This determines detail level and which key facts matter most.
4. Key facts: What are the 3–6 structured facts most important for each subject? Examples for competitors: HQ, founded, ARR, headcount. For candidates: current role, tenure, location, skills. For sites: owner, content type, last activity.
5. Narrative emphasis: Should the summary emphasize product/capabilities, financials, relationships, risks, or something else?
6. Palette: Warm paper (cream/terra-cotta), deep ink (dark/gold), clean white (white/green), or slate (gray/blue)? Default to warm paper.
7. Mode override (only ask if count is 1 or user seems to want detail): Do you want a full one-pager briefing or a compact card?

Confirm your understanding before building the JSON.

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Step 3: Choose the Rendering Mode

Auto-detection rule:

• 2–8 subjects → grid mode
• 1 subject → one-pager mode
• User explicitly says "one-pager" or "full briefing" → one-pager mode regardless of count
• User explicitly says "grid" or "landscape" → grid mode

Do not ask about mode unless the count is exactly 1 and the user has not indicated a preference.

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Step 4: Decide What Goes Where

Key facts hold structured, scannable, low-word-count data — the kind of facts a reader needs in 5 seconds. Rules:

• 3–6 pairs. No sentences. Values should be short (under 6 words).
• Good: "HQ | Austin, TX", "ARR | ~$40M est.", "Founded | 2019"
• Bad: "Company description | This is a company that..." (belongs in summary)

Tags are the fastest signal — 2–5 short labels that classify the subject. Use for: industry vertical, stage, geography, product category, or any grouping the reader uses for orientation.

Summary is 2–5 sentences of prose. Write in third person. Lead with the most important fact. No bullet points. This is the editorial paragraph — what an analyst would write.

Activity holds the 2–5 most recent, most relevant developments — in most-recent-first order. Each item gets a short date prefix (e.g., "Apr 2026") and a one-sentence description. For competitors: product launches, fundraises, acquisitions, executive changes. For candidates: recent projects, promotions, publications. For sites: content updates, ownership changes, traffic milestones.

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Step 5: Build and Validate the JSON Document

Construct the JSON object. Top-level structure:

report object (document metadata):

| Field | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | title | yes | Page title, e.g. "Competitor Landscape — Q2 2026" | | subtitle | no | Optional subtitle shown below title | | palette | yes | warm-paper, deep-ink, clean-white, or slate | | mode | no | "grid", "one-pager", or "auto" (default: "auto") | | footer | no | Footer text, e.g. "Prepared May 28, 2026 · Confidential" |

subjects array — ordered list of subject objects (1–8 items):

| Field | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | id | yes | Unique slug, e.g. "acme-corp" | | name | yes | Subject display name | | type | yes | Category label shown as a pill, e.g. "Competitor", "Prospect", "Enterprise Site" | | status | no | Status label text, e.g. "Active", "Watch", "Inactive" | | status_color | no | green, amber, red, gray, or blue | | key_facts | yes | Array of {label, value} pairs, 2–6 items | | tags | yes | Array of strings, 1–6 tags | | summary | yes | 2–5 sentence prose paragraph | | activity | no | Array of {date, text} items, 0–5, most-recent first |

Validation Checklist

Run every check before rendering. Fix any failure before proceeding.

Document level:

• [ ] report.palette is one of: warm-paper, deep-ink, clean-white, slate
• [ ] subjects array has 1–8 entries
• [ ] report.mode is "grid", "one-pager", or "auto" (or omitted)

Per subject:

• [ ] id is present and unique
• [ ] name and type are present and non-empty
• [ ] key_facts has 2–6 items; each item has label and value
• [ ] tags has 1–6 items
• [ ] summary is present and 2–5 sentences
• [ ] status_color (if present) is one of: green, amber, red, gray, blue
• [ ] activity items (if present) each have date and text; at most 5 items

Data integrity:

• [ ] No key_facts value is a sentence — values must be short labels
• [ ] Activity items are ordered most-recent first
• [ ] Subject count matches the chosen mode (grid: 2–8, one-pager: 1; or mode is explicitly set)

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Step 6: Render the HTML

1. Read assets/dossier-template.html.
2. Replace {{REPORT_TITLE}} in <title> with a concise page title.
3. Replace {{PALETTE_CLASS}} on <body> with palette- + the palette name.
4. Determine final mode: if report.mode is "auto" or omitted, use "grid" for 2–8 subjects and "one-pager" for 1 subject.
5. Replace {{PAGE_HEADER}} with the .rpt-header strip (title + optional subtitle).
6. Replace {{CONTENT}} with the rendered subjects — either the grid of cards or the one-pager layout. See references/components.md for exact HTML patterns.
7. Replace {{FOOTER}} with the footer text (or empty string).
8. Deliver the complete file as the response. No prose outside the file.

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Hard Constraints

• No external URLs, CDN links, or web fonts in the output HTML.
• No <script src> tags. All JavaScript must be inline.
• All values must be pre-rendered — the page must be fully correct with JavaScript disabled.
• Do not generate Python, PowerShell, or any other scripts — output is always the HTML file.
• Do not render until the validation checklist passes.
• Do not use SharePoint Person column types in any accompanying list schema — use text columns only.