--- reliability: 3.8 # 5 − identity refs .3 − master art .3 − template batch .3 − tease cards .3; media kit + description are LLM/deterministic; 5 stages, no length penalty; cap ceiling: every deliverable is typography-first — text-in-image is the binding constraint, route through ideogram-v4 / mai-image-2.5 --- # Podcast launch — agent playbook > Paste this whole file (with the BRIEF filled in) into Claude cowork, chat, or Code. The agent walks through it with you and stops for your approval at every step that matters. ## What you'll get A complete launch package for a new podcast — the master show artwork that lives on Spotify and Apple forever, plus the templates you'll re-use for every episode going forward: - **Master show artwork** — 3000×3000 (the spec for Spotify, Apple, Overcast). The artwork that defines the show. - **6 episode-cover templates** — episode artwork with placeholder slots for episode number and title. Consistent show identity across every episode. - **Audiogram template** — both 16:9 and 9:16 versions, with placeholder waveform area. Auto-handles the cross-episode visual identity. - **3 social tease cards per episode** — quote card, question hook, key moment. Template + 3 sample episodes filled in. - **Sponsor media kit** — 1-page PDF with show stats, audience profile, and visual identity for outreach. - **Show description copy** — Spotify / Apple-ready show description with the right keywords. **Time**: ~20 minutes wall clock. **Your attention**: about 5 minutes across 5 quick approvals. **Cost**: $1.10 – $2.50 end to end. ## Tell the agent about the show ```yaml show_name: # e.g. The Quiet Boom show_tagline: # e.g. Conversations with the people building the next decade quietly host_names: # 1-3 hosts, e.g. Maya Chen, Aaron Park show_topic: # e.g. interviews with operators building durable companies, not loud ones season_number: # e.g. 1 episode_count: # planned for this season, e.g. 12 brand_palette: # 4 hex colors, e.g. #1A1F2E #C9A86B #F0E6D2 #1A1A1A show_aesthetic: # true-crime moody / comedy bright / educational warm / business sharp / interview intimate ``` ## Quality controls (new — auto-applied) This playbook leverages the closed quality loop. The agent applies these by default; you don't have to ask: - **Cost upfront.** Before any multi-step batch fires, the agent calls `submit_plan` with `confirm:false` and shows you the proposed steps + total cost. Nothing runs until you approve. - **Auto-retry on weak shots.** The server default is `quality_threshold: 0.7`. For the master show artwork the playbook step tells the agent to pass `quality_threshold: 0.85` — this image is the front door of your podcast and lives on every directory forever. Auto-retry fires once on any try Gemini Vision grades below 0.85. - **Critic verdict on the result.** When the episode-template batch finishes, the agent reads the `critique` field on the response (verdict: ship / iterate, plus per-template visual-consistency flags) and surfaces it for your review. - **One-click recovery.** If a step fails, `get_plan` returns a `recovery` hint pointing at `replan({plan_id})` — the agent classifies the failure and proposes a recovery plan you can approve. - **End-of-project scorecard.** The final wrap-up calls `get_scorecard({project_id})` with succeeded count, mean quality score, critic verdict, total cost, and wall time. You can override any of these per step. ## How the agent should run this (interaction contract) 1. **CONFIRM (one message, ≤1 question):** restate in 1 line ("launch kit for : master art + 6 episode templates + audiograms + 9 tease cards + media kit, ~$1.10–2.50, ~20 min") + real choices: show aesthetic (the 5 named looks) · 6 vs 4 episode templates · skip the media kit if pre-monetization. One question max — usually "which aesthetic?". 2. **PREVIEW CHECKPOINT:** the Step 1 identity references (2 comps, ~$0.10) BEFORE the master art and the 8-asset template batch — the identity propagates into everything; redirect taste here, not after $1.50 of templates. 3. **NARRATE:** per batch: "master art rendering (ideogram-v4, ~90s)…", "template batch 5/8 done (job …)"; poll `get_create_media` every 10–15s; never silent >2 min through the 8-asset batch. 4. **FAIL GRACEFULLY:** show-name text garbles → retry once → swap `ideogram-v4` ↔ `mai-image-2.5` → `gpt-image` → last resort: textless motif art + the title overlaid in post (`hyperframes-lower-third` — guaranteed-crisp type). Template batch verdict=iterate → re-render ONLY the drifted templates, never all 8. ≤2 retries per asset; 5 good templates beat 8 redone ones. 5. **DELIVER:** the kit + one honest line ("zoom the master art to 100% and check every letter of '' before uploading — it lives on Spotify forever; templates verified consistent") + ONE next step ("upload the master to your podcast host; it propagates in ~24h"). ## How this works Five gates. The killer move is locking a single visual identity (show palette + typography + aesthetic) and then propagating it across the show artwork, the episode templates, the audiogram, and the social tease cards. Every future episode you publish drops into these templates — the visual identity handles itself. ## The steps ### Step 0 — Confirm the brief The agent reads back the BRIEF — show name, tagline, hosts, topic, season, episode count, aesthetic — so you catch typos before any artwork renders. **STOP**: "Brief looks right? (approve / edit [field] [new value])" ### Step 1 — Lock the show identity (~1 min, ~$0.10) The agent builds a brand kit from your `brand_palette` and `show_aesthetic`. It infers a typographic style (true-crime moody → high-contrast serif on near-black; comedy bright → rounded sans on saturated background; educational warm → editorial serif on cream; business sharp → modern sans on deep navy; interview intimate → soft serif on warm beige) and 6-8 voice keywords from your show_topic. Renders 2 reference compositions in the locked look — one cover-style, one episode-card-style — so you can see what the show world looks like before the master art. > **For the agent**: this is the identity gate. `brand_kit_create` (palette + typographic style + voice keywords + reference compositions) then `set_active_brand_kit` so every template afterward auto-inherits both. **STOP**: "Approve the show identity, or refine? (approve / refine [direction])" ### Step 2 — Master show artwork (~2 min, ~$0.30) The 3000×3000 master artwork — the image that goes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, every podcast directory, forever. Show name in your locked typography, tagline below, a visual motif that fits your show_aesthetic, brand-colored. No host faces on the master art (industry best practice — keeps it episode-agnostic and ages well). > **For the agent**: pass `quality_threshold: 0.85` on this — auto-retry fires once if Gemini Vision grades below 0.85. Use `mai-image-2.5` (photoreal + branding text) or `ideogram-v4` (best typography for poster/cover layouts) so the show name comes out crisp, not hallucinated letters. This is the highest-stakes single image in the whole playbook. **STOP**: "Approve the master artwork, or refine? (approve / refine [direction])" ### Step 3 — Episode cover templates + audiogram template (one approval gate, ~4 min, ~$0.50) Before step 3, the agent calls `submit_plan` with steps {episode templates × 6, audiogram 16:9 × 1, audiogram 9:16 × 1} and shows the total cost (~$0.50 typical). You approve once for the whole batch. The 6 episode cover templates are 3000×3000 (same spec as the master) but with placeholder slots for "Ep. {N}" and "{Episode title}" overlaid in your locked typography. Each template uses a slightly different background motif so you can rotate them across episodes for visual variety while staying on-brand. You'll fill in episode number + title manually (or via the audiogram template) for each release. The audiogram template is the visual you wrap around your audio waveform for IG / TikTok / YouTube Shorts: - **16:9 horizontal** for YouTube - **9:16 vertical** for IG Reels and TikTok Both have a placeholder waveform area in the middle, show artwork in the corner, and episode title + number overlay. When you publish a new episode, you drop the audio in, the waveform renders, the rest is automatic. > **Critic verdict** — the 6-template + 2-audiogram batch returns a `critique` field with cross-template visual-consistency flags. If verdict=iterate, surface the drifted templates so the user can target a re-render at exactly the ones that drifted instead of redoing all 8. **STOP**: "Approve the templates, or redo one? (approve / redo [which one] [direction])" ### Step 4 — Social tease cards (~3 min, ~$0.30) For the first 3 episodes, the agent fills in the template with sample content to show how it works in practice. For each sample episode, 3 tease cards: - **Quote card** — a pulled quote from the guest in large typography on the brand background - **Question hook** — "Why did X build Y the quiet way?" — the curiosity gap that drives plays - **Key moment** — a teaser frame with a timestamp ("18:42 — the part where everything changes") 9 cards total (3 episodes × 3 formats). All locked to the show identity. > **For the agent**: these cards are typography-first — render with `ideogram-v4` or `gpt-image` so the quote and hook text stay crisp. Pass `quality_threshold: 0.85`. These also serve as the "fill in the template like this" reference for every future episode. **STOP**: "Approve the social tease cards? (approve / refine [which one] [direction])" ### Step 5 — Sponsor media kit + show description (~2 min, ~$0.10) A 1-page sponsor media kit PDF — show artwork at the top, tagline, host bios, audience profile (you supply demo info or the agent uses your show_topic to draft a believable target audience), show stats (you'll fill in real numbers after launch), and a sample episode-tease card. Brand-colored. This is what you email to potential sponsors and ad networks. Saved to `public/launches/{show-slug}-media-kit.pdf`. The agent also writes the show description — the 100-200 word block that goes in the "About" field on Spotify and Apple. Confident, specific, uses the right podcast-discovery keywords from your topic without keyword-stuffing. **STOP**: "Approve the media kit + description? (approve / refine [which one] [direction])" ### Final step — scorecard wrap-up After all deliverables ship, call: ``` get_scorecard({ project_id: "{the project id from earlier steps}" }) ``` The response is a one-page report card: ``` Scorecard for cjob_xxx {N}/{N} scenes shipped — critic: SHIP (or ITERATE) Title: Steps: N/N succeeded (100%) Quality: mean X.XX · M/N passed · K retries Critic: SHIP/ITERATE Cost: $X.XX actual (est $Y.YY) · Ts wall time Viewer: ``` Paste the scorecard into your show-production channel so your producer and editor see the actual quality numbers before launch. ## When you're done The agent prints: ``` ✅ Master show artwork (3000×3000): ✅ Episode cover templates (6): ✅ Audiogram template 16:9: ✅ Audiogram template 9:16: ✅ Social tease cards (9): ✅ Sponsor media kit (PDF): public/launches/{show-slug}-media-kit.pdf ✅ Show description: Total spent: $X.XX Total wall-clock: MM:SS ``` ## What to do next 1. **Upload the master artwork** to your podcast host (Buzzsprout, Transistor, Captivate, etc.). It propagates to Spotify and Apple within ~24 hours. 2. **Paste the show description** into the "About" field on every podcast directory. 3. **Hand the episode templates + audiogram template to your editor** — they drop in the episode number, title, and waveform for every release. 4. **Push the sponsor media kit** to your outreach list when you're ready to monetize. Start with 5-10 podcast-friendly brands in your niche. 5. **Save the brief** — when season 2 launches, just bump `season_number` and keep everything else. The show identity stays. The templates stay. The brand compounds.