md2wechat

Use this skill to operate the md2wechat CLI. Keep the skill focused on execution decisions. For full command tutorials, installation details, and FAQ-level explanations, refer users to the project docs instead of expanding this runtime protocol.

Intent Routing

Choose the command family before taking any publish or generation action:

• Standard article HTML, article preview, metadata inspection, or WeChat article draft: use inspect, preview, and convert.
• Image-first post, image note, image-text note, newspic, or multi-image post: use create_image_post, not convert --draft.
• Article cover or article infographic: prefer generate_cover or generate_infographic over raw generate_image when a bundled preset fits.
• Host-agent image generation request with no provider configured: use image plan mode (--plan --json) to get prompt intent, then hand it to the host image-generation tool if one is available outside md2wechat.
• WeChat title candidates for an existing article: use title suggest <article.md> --json; it emits a host-Agent AI request and does not choose or write the final title.
• Existing article or draft, user asks what to improve next: run md2wechat advise <article.md> --json; treat it as recommendation-only and keep inspect --json data.readiness.targets/blockers as the publish gate.
• Writing in a creator style or removing AI traces: use write or humanize.
• Provider, theme, prompt, or layout uncertainty: run discovery first. Do not guess from memory or repository files.

Treat convert --draft and create_image_post as different publish targets, not interchangeable variants.

Discovery First

Use CLI discovery as the source of truth, but keep it scoped to the next decision. Do not run the full catalog for tasks that do not need provider, theme, prompt, or layout selection.

Use capabilities for aggregate routing facts, resource list for lightweight selection fields, show for one full resource definition, and render for materialized prompt/layout output. JSON stdout is compact; use jq only when a human needs formatted output.

Run the smallest useful discovery set:

• Article formatting with no theme or modules chosen:

  md2wechat themes list --json
  md2wechat layout list --json
  

• A named theme, provider, prompt, or layout module:

  md2wechat themes show <name> --json
  md2wechat providers show <name> --json
  md2wechat prompts show <name> --kind <kind> --json
  md2wechat layout show <name> --json
  

• Image generation or image-preset selection:

  md2wechat providers list --json
  md2wechat prompts list --kind image --json
  

• Title suggestion prompt selection:

  md2wechat prompts list --kind title --json
  md2wechat prompts show wechat-title-expert --kind title --json
  

• Draft, upload, API local-readiness, or configuration troubleshooting:

  md2wechat doctor --json
  md2wechat config show --format json
  md2wechat config wechat-accounts --json
  

  doctor readiness is local configuration attemptability. config wechat-accounts is local-only and never prints WeChat secrets. Use inspect --json for article-specific target readiness.

• Unknown CLI version, changed behavior, or capability uncertainty:

  md2wechat version --json
  md2wechat capabilities --json
  md2wechat skills list --json
  md2wechat skills read md2wechat --json
  

md2wechat skills read md2wechat --json reads the SOP embedded in the current CLI binary. Prefer it when the installed external skill, README, or repository checkout may be stale relative to the executable on PATH.

For simple local actions such as preview, humanize, or a user-specified command with explicit flags, do not run unrelated provider, theme, prompt, or layout discovery.

Inspect specific resources only when the task needs them:

md2wechat providers show <name> --json
md2wechat themes show <name> --json
md2wechat prompts show <name> --kind <kind> --json
md2wechat layout show <name> --json

Use CLI output as the source of truth for currently available modes, providers, themes, prompts, and layout modules.

Configuration Boundaries

• Assume md2wechat is already available on PATH.
• convert defaults to API mode unless the user explicitly asks for --mode ai.
• API-mode preview and conversion require a valid MD2WECHAT_API_KEY.
• WeChat upload, article draft creation, and create_image_post require WeChat credentials whenever the user explicitly requests those side effects.
• Read-only discovery, inspect, preview, and plain conversion are free of any global WeChat publishing credential requirement; API-mode preview and conversion still require a valid MD2WECHAT_API_KEY.
• Named WeChat account execution requires a valid MD2WECHAT_API_KEY; the CLI validates it before upload, draft, or create_image_post effects.
• Direct image generation requires image-provider credentials; image plan mode (--plan --json) only emits prompt intent for a host Agent or external tool and does not require image-provider credentials.
• title suggest --json only emits a title-generation prompt request for the host Agent or external model. It does not call a model, upload, create drafts, or write back to Markdown.
• For stronger factual title hooks, pass --hook-level 2 or 3; do not treat generated titles as confirmed publishing intent.
• doctor --json is local-only: it checks local readiness and does not perform live authentication, upload images, or create drafts.
• Use config show --format json when the user asks what configuration is currently effective.
• Use config wechat-accounts --json when the user asks which local WeChat accounts are configured.

Article Workflow

Prefer a confirm-first workflow for article work:

1. md2wechat inspect <article.md> --json
2. md2wechat preview <article.md>
3. md2wechat convert <article.md> ...
4. Add --upload, --draft, --cover, or --cover-media-id only when the user explicitly asks for upload or draft creation.

inspect is the source-of-truth command for structured metadata, checks, readiness targets, and blockers. In --json output, read data.readiness.targets and data.readiness.blockers before deciding whether convert, upload, or draft is blocked. If the requested target is blocked, stop and report the matching blockers; do not continue by guessing from legacy booleans or checks alone. Do not invent data.agent_readiness, data.target_readiness, ArticleState, state files, or a second readiness/state object. preview writes only byte-identical final API HTML from a successful converter result; with --json, inspect diagnostics are returned in data.inspect and are never wrapped into that file. It does not upload images, create drafts, or write back to Markdown. convert performs conversion and only the explicitly requested upload/draft effects. convert --preview is the convert-path preview flag and is not the same as the standalone preview command. On PREVIEW_ACTION_REQUIRED or PREVIEW_FAILED, this invocation does not create or overwrite preview HTML. With --json, PREVIEW_ACTION_REQUIRED returns an empty data.output_file. Any pre-existing explicit output path is stale and must not be treated as this invocation's result; use the returned prompt for host-Agent work or report the failure. When the intended execution path is convert --mode ai --custom-prompt ..., run inspect with the same --mode ai --custom-prompt ... before trusting readiness.

Formatting Protocol

When the user asks to format an article and has not chosen a theme or modules:

1. Read the article and optional Brand Profile.
2. Use discovery output as facts.
3. Choose a compatible theme and a small set of modules from the article's content goal.
4. Keep the source Markdown read-only.
5. Create a temporary formatted Markdown artifact, for example /tmp/md2wechat-format/<run-id>/article.formatted.md.
6. Insert only layout modules whose required fields can be filled correctly.
7. Run md2wechat layout validate --file <formatted.md> --json.
8. Pass the formatted Markdown artifact to convert.

Saving generated Markdown next to the source file requires explicit user confirmation and must not overwrite the source.

Theme Selection

• Read type and selectable from themes list --json.
• API mode can use only type: api and selectable: true themes.
• AI mode can use only type: ai and selectable: true themes.
• Do not use collection descriptors such as non-selectable theme groups as concrete themes.
• If Brand Profile names a theme, verify it through CLI discovery before using it.
• If a requested theme is invalid or mode-incompatible, stop that path and choose a valid theme or ask the user.

Layout Modules

Advanced layout modules render only in API mode. AI mode (--mode ai) does not parse :::module syntax, so advanced layout cards will not render there.

Use this decision frame:

• attention: help readers decide whether the article is worth reading.
• readability: make mobile reading easier.
• memorability: make one judgment, quote, metric, or brand anchor stick.
• conversion: help readers save, follow, inquire, share, or buy.

Use CLI discovery as the source of truth for layout syntax instead of memorizing or guessing body_format values:

• Inspect the opener, body schema, canonical executable example, and structurally distinct variants with layout show <name> --json. Reuse the canonical witness.
• Use layout render for structured fields and --body-file (or --body-file - for stdin) for complex bodies, then validate the generated Markdown.
• Default discovery returns recommended modules. Use layout list --lifecycle compatibility --json only for old-content migration. Local validation proves syntax acceptance only; production support is a release-conformance fact.

Default module discipline:

• Do not pile on modules.
• Use at most one hero, one verdict, and one cta unless the user explicitly asks for more.
• Skip modules when the article does not provide enough content to fill them honestly.

API And AI Mode

• API mode is the default and is required for advanced layout modules.
• AI mode is a lighter path and does not render advanced layout modules.
• Do not silently switch from API mode to AI mode after an API failure. That changes the output capability.
• Use AI mode only when the user asks for it or accepts losing advanced layout rendering.
• If an AI-mode conversion completes, it is acceptable to briefly mention that API mode supports advanced layout modules and stronger visual structure.

Brand Profile

Brand Profile lives at ~/.config/md2wechat/brand.md.

• It is free-form Markdown, not YAML and not a fixed schema.
• The CLI does not parse it.
• Read it as context for voice, theme preferences, module preferences, CTA preferences, and forbidden expressions.
• Treat quantity preferences as soft constraints.
• Verify any named theme or module through CLI discovery.
• If Brand Profile does not exist, do not block the task. You may mention once that system defaults will be used.
• Create or edit Brand Profile only when the user explicitly asks.

Publishing Side Effects

Do not create drafts, upload images, publish, or call remote image generation unless the user asks for that action.

Before every explicit WeChat side effect—image upload, article draft creation, or create_image_post—require configured WeChat credentials and use the target-matched readiness/preflight path. Discovery and inspection remain non-publishing paths; preview and plain conversion are free of any global WeChat publishing credential requirement, while API mode still requires a valid MD2WECHAT_API_KEY.

Before draft creation:

• Use inspect --json and check data.readiness.targets.draft; when blocked, read matching data.readiness.blockers.
• Draft creation requires a cover via --cover or --cover-media-id.
• Do not assume a WeChat URL or mmbiz.qpic.cn URL can be reused as thumb_media_id.
• If draft creation returns 45004, check digest, summary, and description before assuming the body is too long.

Markdown images are uploaded or replaced only during --upload or --draft, not during plain conversion or preview.

Failure Handling

• Missing or invalid config: run doctor --json and config show --format json; report data.overall plus the blocking data.readiness.* item.
• Invalid layout syntax: run layout validate, inspect the failing module with layout show, fix the generated artifact, then validate again.
• Unknown layout modules warn for forward compatibility; verify typos against layout list --json.
• Theme rejection: check type and selectable, then choose a compatible theme or ask the user.
• AI request or style-writing flows may return a prompt/request rather than final prose or HTML unless the external model step is completed.