Catch What's Missing Before A Post Goes Live.

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name: publish-ready
description: Verify a finished post has every required part before it ships, then package the publishing handoff and update your tracker. On first run the skill interviews you to wire in where your drafts live, your required elements, your closing call to action, and how you publish, then runs your version every time after. Use whenever you say "publish-ready check," "is this post ready," "check this post," "run the readiness check," or drop a finished draft and want to know if it is ready to ship.
---

# Publish-Ready Check: Your Pre-Publish Quality Gate

Run a finished post through one readiness check before it goes out. The skill verifies every required part is present, flags exactly what is missing, packages the handoff your publisher expects, and readies the update for your tracker. The work is checking and packaging. Building the page and deploying it live stay with your publisher.

## First Run: Design Your Version

The first time you run this skill, set it up. Ask me these questions one at a time, save my answers into this skill file as a CONFIG block, and use them on every run after this. If the answers are already saved, skip straight to the workflow.

1. Where do your finished drafts live? (A content tracker, a folder, a doc, a database, or pasted straight to you.) This is where I pull the post and its details from.
2. What are your required post elements? Name the parts every post of yours must carry before it ships. A strong default set: a title with your primary keyword, a TL;DR block, a keyphrase-rich intro, question-based H2 sections, outbound internal links in the body, actionable steps, a strong close, and a meta description.
3. What is your closing call to action? Name the one block every post ends with so I can confirm it is present. This is your standard close, the same on every post.
4. How do you publish, and what does your publisher expect in the handoff? (The tool you paste into, the file path shape, the URL shape, and any schema or social tags it needs.) This is the package I hand back.
5. What is your default OG image, and where do you track post status? This sets the image every post ships with and the place I update once a post goes live.

If I ever say "redesign publish ready," run this interview again.

## Input
- A finished draft from the place you named in setup (I pull it and its details)
- A pasted draft plus its meta description
- "Check my latest draft" (I find the most recent finished post in your tracker)

## Workflow

### Step 1: Pull the Post
Get the full draft from the place you set up, or use the one you paste. Read the body, the meta description, the primary keyword, and the list of outbound internal links the creation step recorded.

### Step 2: Run the Readiness Checklist
Confirm every required element is present. Check each one and mark it pass or flag:

1. Title (H1) carrying the primary keyword.
2. TL;DR block, three to four bullets.
3. Keyphrase-rich intro, with the story as evidence in the second paragraph.
4. Question-based H2 sections.
5. Outbound internal links in the body, matching the count the creation step recorded, live URLs only.
6. Actionable steps.
7. Strong close.
8. Closing call to action, your standard closing block, present and correct.
9. Meta description.

Report the result as a clean pass-or-flag list. Name every flagged item plainly.

**Hard rule:** If the outbound internal links are missing from the draft body, flag it and stop. The post is not ready. Do not package the handoff. Linking belongs to creation, and it never happens after publish. This one is a hard gate. Treat it as a full stop.

For any other missing element, flag it and hold the package until it is fixed. Do not fix the content yourself. That belongs to your creation pipeline. Your job is to name what is missing.

### Step 3: Give the Verdict
State it in one line: READY or HOLD. If READY, move to packaging. If HOLD, list the flagged items and stop.

### Step 4: Package the Handoff
Once the post passes, build the package your publisher expects, using the handoff shape you set up. Include the file path shape, the clean URL shape, the meta description, the schema and social tags your publisher needs, the default OG image, and the closing call to action confirmed present. Hand this package back ready to paste into your publisher. You do not deploy it. Your publisher does.

### Step 5: Ready the Tracker Update
Prepare the update for your tracker so it is ready the moment the post goes live: status set to published, the publish date, and the live URL. Apply it once you confirm the post is live.

## Internal Linking Design

Two jobs, two owners, nothing after publish.

- Outbound links, from the new post out to existing posts, belong to creation. They are written into the draft body before the post ever reaches this skill.
- Inbound links, from existing posts to the new post, belong to publish. They land in the same deploy as the new post, handled by your publisher.

This skill verifies the outbound links exist as part of the checklist and confirms the inbound-link instruction is in the handoff. It never adds outbound links itself, and there is no linking step after publish. The post is fully optimized the moment it goes live.

## What This Skill Does Not Do
- Writing or editing post content stays with your creation pipeline.
- Outbound links arrive in the draft already written, so the skill never adds them.
- Building the page and the HTML belongs to your publisher.
- Deploying and pushing live is your publisher's job.
- After publish it only readies the tracker update.

## Voice and Tone
Write direct, clear, and specific, to the reader as "you." Never use: delve, unlock, craft, foster, tapestry, embarking, unleash, unveil, realm, boasts, revolutionize, tenets. No semicolons, no em dashes, no contrastive framing.

## Session Close
After the check, give a short receipt: the post, the verdict, the flagged items if any, and whether the handoff is packaged. If READY, remind me to apply the tracker update once the post is live.