Session Creation Skill

The Starting Point of Every Journey

This skill handles creating new session directories with all required scaffolding.

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Purpose

Initialize properly-structured session directories ready for content creation.

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Quick Command

./scripts/utilities/create_new_session.sh "session-name"

Or use the slash command:

/new-session session-name

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Directory Structure Created

sessions/{session-name}/
├── manifest.yaml          # Session configuration
├── notes.md               # Design notes and references
├── midjourney-prompts.md  # Image generation prompts
├── working_files/
│   ├── script_production.ssml  # Full script with SFX
│   └── script_voice_clean.ssml # TTS-ready script
├── images/
│   ├── uploaded/          # Final images for video
│   └── stock_cache/       # Downloaded stock images
└── output/
    ├── video/             # Assembled video files
    └── youtube_package/   # Upload-ready package

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Naming Conventions

Session Names

| Rule | Example | |------|---------| | Use kebab-case | inner-child-healing | | Lowercase only | deep-sleep-forest | | Descriptive but concise | confidence-morning-boost | | Include outcome if clear | anxiety-release-theta |

Avoid

• Spaces: inner child healing ❌
• Underscores: inner_child_healing ❌
• CamelCase: InnerChildHealing ❌
• Numbers at start: 001-session ❌

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Manifest Template

# manifest.yaml
session:
  name: "Session Name"
  slug: "session-slug"
  duration_target: 25  # minutes
  depth_level: "Layer2"  # Layer1, Layer2, Layer3, Ipsissimus

  # Core content
  desired_outcome: "healing"  # healing, transformation, confidence, etc.
  theme: "Description of the journey theme"
  archetypes:
    - "Guide"
    - "Healer"

  # Audio settings
  voice:
    voice_id: "en-US-Neural2-H"
    speaking_rate: 0.88
    pitch: 0

  binaural:
    carrier_frequency: 200
    start_hz: 10
    end_hz: 4

  # Metadata
  youtube:
    title: "Title for YouTube"
    description: "YouTube description..."
    tags:
      - "hypnosis"
      - "meditation"

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Full Pipeline Command

For complete session creation through packaging:

/full-build session-name

This runs:

1. Session directory creation
2. Manifest generation
3. SSML script generation
4. Audio build (voice + binaural + mix)
5. Hypnotic post-processing
6. Scene image generation
7. Video assembly
8. YouTube packaging

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Manifest Generation

Generate manifest from topic description:

/generate-manifest session-name

Provide:

• Topic/theme description
• Target duration
• Desired outcome
• Any specific archetypes or imagery

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Quality Gates

After Creation

• [ ] Directory structure complete
• [ ] manifest.yaml has all required fields
• [ ] Session slug matches directory name
• [ ] No template placeholders remaining

Before Script Generation

• [ ] Manifest validated
• [ ] Outcome defined
• [ ] Duration target set
• [ ] Archetypes selected

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Knowledge Base Check

Before creating a new session, check lessons learned:

cat knowledge/lessons_learned.yaml | head -50

Apply insights from past sessions:

• Successful themes
• Optimal durations
• Effective archetypes
• Audio settings that work

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Next Steps After Creation

1. Edit Manifest: Customize manifest.yaml with session details
2. Generate Script: /generate-script session-name
3. Create Images: Generate prompts or use stock images
4. Build Audio: /build-audio session-name
5. Build Video: /build-video session-name

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Related Resources

• Skill: tier3-production/ssml-generation/ (next step)
• Doc: docs/CANONICAL_WORKFLOW.md
• Script: scripts/utilities/create_new_session.sh
• Schema: config/manifest.schema.json