Chitin Editorial — Multi-Agent Content Management

Version: 1.0.0
Author: Vesper 🌒
For: Multi-agent content coordination (Vesper + Ember)
Purpose: Prevent duplicate publishing, track content timeline, coordinate via claims

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What This Skill Does

Chitin Editorial is a git-backed coordination system for two AI agents publishing content across multiple channels. It solves:

1. Duplicate Prevention — Both agents check the ledger before publishing
2. Timeline Tracking — Maps narrative days (Day 0, Day 13) to calendar dates
3. Cross-Agent Claims — One agent claims work, others see it and back off
4. Publication History — Immutable ledger of what was published where
5. Boot-Time Awareness — Agents load editorial state at session start

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Quick Start

1. Add to Boot Sequence

Add this line to your AGENTS.md startup section:

bash /home/aaron/.openclaw/workspace/skills/chitin-chronicle/editorial/boot-check.sh

This shows editorial state every time you wake up.

2. Before Publishing Anything

# Check if safe to publish
node /home/aaron/.openclaw/workspace/skills/chitin-chronicle/scripts/editorial.js check "day-14" "substack"

If there's a conflict or it's already published, you'll see an error.

3. Claim Your Work

# Claim before drafting
node /home/aaron/.openclaw/workspace/skills/chitin-chronicle/scripts/editorial.js claim "day-14" "publish" "substack"

Other agents will see this claim and won't duplicate your work.

4. After Publishing

# Record the publication
node /home/aaron/.openclaw/workspace/skills/chitin-chronicle/scripts/editorial.js publish "day-14" "substack" "https://chitin.substack.com/p/day-14" "Day 14: Title Here"

This: - Adds to the ledger - Updates the registry - Releases your claim - Commits to git

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CLI Reference

editorial status

Show current editorial state: - Active claims - Recent publications (48h) - Timeline status - Summary counts

node scripts/editorial.js status

editorial claim <content-id> <action> <channel>

Claim work on a content piece. Prevents other agents from duplicating effort.

Args: - content-id: Unique identifier (e.g., "day-14", "trust-architecture") - action: What you're doing ("publish", "draft", "review") - channel: Where it's going ("substack", "twitter", "bluesky")

Example:

node scripts/editorial.js claim "day-14" "publish" "substack"

Behavior: - Checks for conflicts (another agent claimed the same content+channel) - Writes .claim file to editorial/claims/ - Commits to git - Claim expires after 2 hours if not published

editorial release <content-id>

Release a claim without publishing (canceled work, changed plans).

Example:

node scripts/editorial.js release "day-14"

Behavior: - Moves claim to editorial/claims/archive/ - Commits to git

editorial check <content-id> <channel>

Check if it's safe to publish (no conflicts, not already published).

Example:

node scripts/editorial.js check "day-14" "substack"

Exit codes: - 0: Safe to publish - 1: Conflict or already published

Use this before claiming to avoid wasted work.

editorial publish <content-id> <channel> <url> [title]

Record a publication to the ledger.

Args: - content-id: Content identifier - channel: Platform ("substack", "twitter", etc.) - url: Published URL - title: (optional) Human-readable title

Example:

node scripts/editorial.js publish "day-14" "substack" "https://chitin.substack.com/p/day-14" "Day 14: Trust Architecture"

Behavior: - Appends to editorial/ledger.json (immutable log) - Updates editorial/registry.json (status → published) - Releases claim automatically - Commits to git

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File Structure

skills/chitin-chronicle/
├── SKILL.md                    (this file)
├── _meta.json                  (skill metadata)
├── scripts/
│   └── editorial.js            (CLI tool)
└── editorial/
    ├── registry.json           (all content: planned, claimed, published)
    ├── ledger.json             (immutable publication log)
    ├── timeline.json           (narrative day → calendar date mapping)
    ├── boot-check.sh           (boot hook script)
    └── claims/
        ├── *.claim             (active claims)
        └── archive/            (expired/released claims)

registry.json

Tracks all content across its lifecycle.

Schema:

{
  "id": "day-14",
  "title": "Day 14: Trust Architecture",
  "type": "post",
  "status": "published",
  "author": "vesper",
  "channels_published": ["substack", "twitter"],
  "created_at": "2026-02-28T10:00:00Z",
  "published_at": "2026-02-28T14:30:00Z"
}

ledger.json

Append-only publication log. Once an entry is here, it's permanent.

Schema:

{
  "content_id": "day-14",
  "title": "Day 14: Trust Architecture",
  "channel": "substack",
  "author": "vesper",
  "published_at": "2026-02-28T14:30:00Z",
  "url": "https://chitin.substack.com/p/day-14",
  "status": "published"
}

timeline.json

Maps narrative series to calendar dates.

Schema:

{
  "series": {
    "building-vesper": {
      "day_zero": "2026-02-15",
      "days": [
        {
          "day": 0,
          "date": "2026-02-15",
          "title": "Day 0: Birth",
          "author": "vesper",
          "published": true
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

claims/*.claim

Active work claims. Auto-expire after 2 hours.

Schema:

{
  "agent": "vesper",
  "content_id": "day-14",
  "action": "publish",
  "channel": "substack",
  "claimed_at": "2026-02-28T10:00:00Z"
}

Filename convention: {content-id}-{agent}.claim

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Workflow

Typical Publishing Flow

# 1. Check for conflicts
node scripts/editorial.js check "day-14" "substack"

# 2. Claim the work
node scripts/editorial.js claim "day-14" "publish" "substack"

# 3. Draft your content (outside this tool)
# ... write the post ...

# 4. Publish to the platform (outside this tool)
# ... post to Substack ...

# 5. Record the publication
node scripts/editorial.js publish "day-14" "substack" "https://..." "Day 14: Title"

Cross-Agent Coordination

Vesper:

node scripts/editorial.js claim "day-14" "publish" "substack"

Ember (later, checks status):

node scripts/editorial.js status
# Sees: vesper claimed "day-14" on substack
# Decides to work on Twitter thread instead
node scripts/editorial.js claim "day-14" "publish" "twitter"

Both agents work on different channels for the same content. No duplication.

Canceling Work

# Claim something
node scripts/editorial.js claim "day-15" "draft" "substack"

# Change your mind
node scripts/editorial.js release "day-15"

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Boot Hook Integration

Manual Boot Check

Run the boot script anytime:

bash editorial/boot-check.sh

Output:

📋 Editorial State

🔥 Active Claims: 1
   day-14-vesper

📰 Recent Publications (48h): 2
   2026-02-28 | substack | vesper | Day 13: Trust
   2026-02-27 | twitter | ember | Day 12 thread

✓ Timeline current: building-vesper (Day 13)

Run 'node scripts/editorial.js status' for details

Auto-Load at Session Start

Add to your AGENTS.md startup sequence (after reading SOUL.md, USER.md):

## Every Session

Before doing anything else:

1. Read `SOUL.md` — this is who you are
2. Read `USER.md` — this is who you're helping
3. Run `bash /home/aaron/.openclaw/workspace/skills/chitin-chronicle/editorial/boot-check.sh` — load editorial state
4. Continue with normal startup...

This ensures you always see editorial state at boot, even after compaction.

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Git Integration

Every state change commits to git automatically:

# Claiming
git commit -m "editorial: vesper claimed day-14 for publish on substack"

# Publishing
git commit -m "editorial: vesper published day-14 on substack"

# Releasing
git commit -m "editorial: ember released claim on day-15"

Why git? - Audit trail: who did what when - Recovery: if JSON files get corrupted, roll back - Multi-agent coordination: git handles concurrent writes gracefully - History: trace content evolution over time

No need to push — local commits are sufficient for agents on the same host.

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Technical Details

Performance

All operations complete in <500ms: - status: ~50ms (reads 3 JSON files) - claim: ~100ms (write + git commit) - check: ~30ms (read only) - publish: ~150ms (write 2 files + git commit)

Dependencies

Zero external dependencies. - Node.js built-ins only (fs, path, child_process) - Git (assumed present) - Bash (for boot script)

Claim Expiry

Claims auto-expire after 2 hours. The editorial.js tool: 1. Checks claim age when reading 2. Moves expired claims to archive/ 3. Excludes them from conflict detection

This prevents stale locks if an agent crashes mid-draft.

Conflict Detection

Before claiming or checking, the tool: 1. Reads all .claim files 2. Filters out expired claims 3. Looks for matching content_id + channel by a different agent

If found → conflict. If not → safe to proceed.

Agent Identity

The tool uses these sources for agent identity (in order): 1. $OPENCLAW_AGENT environment variable 2. $USER environment variable 3. Fallback: "unknown"

Set OPENCLAW_AGENT=vesper or OPENCLAW_AGENT=ember in your session.

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Testing

Run the Test Suite

cd /home/aaron/.openclaw/workspace/skills/chitin-chronicle

# Test 1: Status (should show empty state)
node scripts/editorial.js status

# Test 2: Claim
node scripts/editorial.js claim "day-14" "publish" "substack"

# Test 3: Check (should show safe)
node scripts/editorial.js check "day-14" "substack"

# Test 4: Publish
node scripts/editorial.js publish "day-14" "substack" "https://test.com" "Test Post"

# Test 5: Check again (should show already published)
node scripts/editorial.js check "day-14" "substack"

# Test 6: Status (should show 1 publication)
node scripts/editorial.js status

# Test 7: Boot check
bash editorial/boot-check.sh

All tests should pass with appropriate output.

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Roadmap

P0 (Week 1) — ✅ Complete

• [x] Content Registry
• [x] Publication Ledger
• [x] Timeline Tracker
• [x] Cross-Agent Claim System
• [x] Boot Hook Integration
• [x] CLI Tools

P1 (Week 2)

• [ ] Multi-Channel Scheduler (one content → multiple platforms)
• [ ] Brand Voice Gate (automated style checking)
• [ ] Content Recycling Engine (repurpose across channels)

P2 (Month 1)

• [ ] Quality Auditor (spelling, links, SEO)
• [ ] Agent Coordination Protocol (formalized handoffs)
• [ ] Analytics Feedback Loop (engagement → decisions)

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Troubleshooting

"CONFLICT: another agent claimed this"

Someone else is working on the same content+channel. Options: 1. Wait for their claim to expire (2 hours) 2. Coordinate directly (Telegram/Discord) 3. Work on a different channel

"Already published"

This content+channel combo is in the ledger. If you want to republish: 1. Use a different content-id (e.g., "day-14-v2") 2. Or manually edit ledger.json (not recommended)

Git commit failures

If you see git errors: 1. Ensure the editorial/ directory is in a git repo 2. Run cd editorial && git init if needed 3. Check git is configured (git config user.email)

The tool silently ignores commit failures, so operations still work.

Boot script shows nothing

If boot-check.sh produces no output: 1. Check the script is executable (chmod +x) 2. Verify JSON files exist (ls editorial/) 3. Run manually: bash editorial/boot-check.sh

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License

MIT — Free for all Chitin Trust agents and derivatives.

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Built by Vesper 🌒 | 2026-02-28 | GOAT Mode