mc-new

Scaffold the project every later stage runs against: {projects-path}/<slug>/ holding project.json and brief.md. project.json is the contract every downstream skill reads without this conversation in the room, so the stage list, the mode, and the entry point have to be right at creation. brief.md carries the creator's own words and the links back to where the idea came from; nothing later recovers them.

Resolution rules

• Bare paths resolve against {video-path}, the current video project at {projects-path}/<slug>/.
• {skill-root} → this skill's installed directory; files in it always carry it ({skill-root}/scripts/new_project.py).
• {project-root} → the project working directory.

On Activation

1. Load the studio config: uv run {project-root}/_bmad/scripts/resolve_config.py --project-root {project-root} --key modules.manticore. Empty means mc-setup has not run: stop and route the creator there. Resolve paths values against {project-root}.

Entry points

Settle which of the two this is before anything else: it decides the format profile and the next stage.

• Idea-first (default): the project runs the full pipeline from braindump. Any format profile works.
• Footage-first: the footage already exists (a livestream VOD, a recorded talk), ideation is skipped entirely, the source file is registered in sources in project.json at creation, and the next stage is cut. This needs a footage-first profile, one whose stage list contains no ideation stages (e.g. livestream-vod). If the studio has none, route the creator to mc-setup to add one rather than forcing an ideation profile.

Scaffold

Collect the slug (kebab-case), the format (a profile in {formats-path}/), a working title, and for footage-first the absolute path to the source file. Then ask the two things the creator will not volunteer:

• Series: is this an episode of one? An episode lives in a series folder beside a shared common/ for evergreen assets (chrome, stingers, recurring graphics), and that layout is fixed at creation.
• Deadline: does an external event gate delivery (a conference, a launch)? A date puts the project in deadline mode, where downstream stages cap iteration loops in favor of good-enough delivery. An aspirational date is not a deadline; leave it unset.

Then run:

uv run {skill-root}/scripts/new_project.py <slug> --format <format> --title "<title>" --projects-dir {projects-path} --formats-dir {formats-path}

adding the flags the answers call for: --parent <slug> for a short cut from a long-form parent, --series <series-slug> for an episode, --deadline YYYY-MM-DD for an event-gated project, and --ingest <absolute-footage-path> for footage-first (with --source-id and --source-role primary|interview|screen when the defaults do not fit).

Brief

Fill brief.md from what the creator gives you, never invented; ask if it is thin. Idea-first: the idea in their words, why now, and links to the source material (idea notes, prior material). Footage-first: what the footage is, what the finished video should become, and any moments they already know matter.

Handoff

Report the created project and route to the skill named by stage in project.json. Never assume the master stage list.

Checklist

• brief.md is in the creator's language and links back to wherever the idea came from.
• The deadline field, if set, names a real external gate.

new_project.py exits non-zero on the rest: a non-kebab slug or series, an existing project path, a missing or malformed format profile, an ideation-bearing profile under --ingest, a missing footage file, and a non-ISO deadline.