Content Capture - From Work to Published Content

Purpose

You just built something, solved a problem, or discovered an insight. It's interesting, but you don't know how to talk about it yet. This skill acts as a journalist interviewing you to extract:

• What you accomplished and why it matters
• Who else cares and how to frame it
• What visuals prove it worked
• Draft content ready for publishing

Problem solved: "I do interesting work but it never becomes content" Time: 10-18 minutes from session work to ready-to-publish draft

When to Use

Use /capture-content when you've:

• ✅ Solved a significant problem (not trivial bug fixes)
• ✅ Built or updated a system
• ✅ Discovered an interesting tool/workflow through hands-on testing
• ✅ Had a meaningful realization with concrete examples
• ✅ Completed interesting analysis or synthesis work
• ✅ Work is 20+ minutes of substantive effort
• ✅ Content can be shared publicly

When NOT to Use

Skip /capture-content when:

• ❌ Session was purely exploratory (no concrete outcome)
• ❌ Work is confidential, under NDA, or company-proprietary
• ❌ You haven't actually completed anything yet (premature capture)
• ❌ Less than 10 minutes of substantive work
• ❌ Content would require extensive private context to understand
• ❌ Just reading documentation (no original work produced)
• ❌ Creating long-form blog posts (use direct writing instead)
• ❌ Quick status updates (write directly, no interview needed)

Quick Reference

Interview Process

The skill asks 8-12 questions across 4 phases:

Phase 1: What Happened (3-4 questions)

• What were you working on?
• What specific tools/approaches did you use?
• Walk me through the key moment

Phase 2: Why It Matters (2-3 questions)

• What surprised you?
• Why is this different from usual?
• Who else struggles with this?

Phase 3: Content Strategy (2-3 questions)

• What's the single most important insight?
• Is this "behind-the-scenes" or "framework teaching"?
• What would make someone else care?

Phase 4: Visual Capture (1-2 questions)

• What should be screenshotted?
• Would a screen recording add value?

See [reference.md](./reference.md) for complete interview flow example.

Output Formats

After the interview, generates:

Twitter/X Thread (7-12 tweets)

• Hook, process breakdown, key insight, call to action
• Character validation shows over-limit tweets
• Publishing via bird CLI integration

LinkedIn Post (1,800-2,100 characters)

• Concrete opening, process, insight, implication

Quote-Tweet Addition (for synthesis content)

• Technical commentary, implementation experience

Screenshot/Video Script

• What to capture, how to annotate, what to highlight

Usage

/capture-content                    # Full interview
/capture-content quick              # Shorter version (6-8 questions)
/capture-content synthesis          # For synthesis/framework content
/capture-content "solved bug"       # With context hint

Publishing Workflow

1. Interview (3-5 min): Answer questions in Claude Code
2. Draft generation: Skill generates content + character analysis
3. Validation: bird-save-draft.sh shows over-limit tweets
4. Review: Trim over-limit tweets, capture visuals
5. Publish: bird-publish-draft.sh posts threaded tweets
6. Track (24-48h later): bird-track-engagement.sh measures performance
7. Optimize: High performers feed into synthesis priority queue

See [examples.md](./examples.md) for complete workflow examples.

Common Mistakes

1. Capturing too early

• ❌ Running /capture-content before work is complete
• ✅ Wait until you have a concrete outcome or insight

2. Over-explaining private context

• ❌ "Our proprietary system for handling X that does Y..."
• ✅ "A caching system that solved Z problem..."

3. Generating content without clear audience

• ❌ "I did this thing and it was interesting"
• ✅ Interview guides you to "Who else struggles with this?"

4. Skipping character validation

• ❌ Publishing tweets over 280 characters (they get rejected)
• ✅ Always run bird-save-draft.sh first to see character counts

5. Not tracking engagement

• ❌ Publishing once and never reviewing what worked
• ✅ Track after 24-48h to inform next topics

6. Answering generically

• ❌ "I used AI tools to help" (vague, no insight)
• ✅ "I used Claude Code + bird CLI + jq for..." (specific, actionable)

7. Skipping visuals

• ❌ Text-only threads without proof
• ✅ Screenshots show the actual work, not stock images

Integration

Automatic Detection:

• Hook detects 3+ signals in session transcript ("solved", "created", "implemented")
• Prompts at session end: "🎯 CONTENT CAPTURE OPPORTUNITY DETECTED"
• Suggests running /capture-content while context is fresh

Publishing Tools:

• bird-save-draft.sh - Character validation for Twitter limits
• bird-publish-draft.sh - Threaded tweet publishing via bird CLI
• bird-track-engagement.sh - Metrics tracking and synthesis priorities

Performance Optimization:

• High engagement (50+ score) → Added to synthesis priority queue
• Signals validated audience interest
• Prioritize similar topics for next content

Requirements

• Claude Code v2.1.0+
• bird CLI v0.5.1+ (npm install -g @steipete/bird)
• jq (brew install jq)
• Twitter/X account (logged in via browser for cookie auth)

Installation

See [../README.md](../README.md) for complete installation instructions.

Troubleshooting

See [troubleshooting.md](./troubleshooting.md) for common issues and solutions.

Credits: Based on elrolio's content capture system License: MIT Category: workflows/content-capture