Batch Content Processing

Process multiple content requirements through the ContentForge pipeline as a sequential, checkpointed queue with priority-based scheduling and event-driven progress tracking. Each piece runs the full 10-phase pipeline (plus Step 0.5) with all 10 quality gates — batch mode changes the intake, not the standards.

When to Use

Use /contentforge:batch-process when:

You have 2+ content pieces to produce
You want hands-off production of a whole queue (each piece needs a pre-set title — batch runs are non-interactive)
You need priority scheduling (urgent pieces first)
You want per-piece progress visibility and resumability
You're running agency-scale production (10-50+ pieces)

What This Command Does

Intake Multiple Requirements — Read from the brand's tracking backend: local JSON (default), Google Sheets, Airtable, or a CSV file
Build Execution Queue — Validate rows and sort by priority
Sequential Orchestration — Run one full ContentForge pipeline per piece, in queue order; every phase of every piece is checkpointed, so an interrupted batch resumes where it stopped
Progress Tracking — Status table redrawn after each piece/phase event (piece started, gate passed, piece finished)
Error Handling — Automatic retry for transient failures (resuming from checkpoints), human escalation for persistent issues
Completion Report — Summary of all pieces: APPROVED, review_required, failed, with quality scores and output locations

Required Inputs

Tracking backend (per brand, via tracking.backend in the brand profile — local is the default):

Local JSON — requirements managed by scripts/local-tracker.py
Google Sheets — sheet with columns: Requirement ID, Content Type, Title, Target Audience, Brand, Word Count Target, Priority (1-5), Status
Airtable — base with the same fields

CSV (alternative intake):

requirement_id,content_type,title,target_audience,brand,word_count,priority,status
REQ-001,article,AI in Healthcare,Healthcare CIOs,acmemed,2000,1,pending
REQ-002,blog,10 Tips for Remote Teams,HR Managers,techcorp,1500,3,pending

Note: the title column doubles as the --title bypass — batch pieces skip interactive title curation and use it verbatim.

How to Use

Basic Usage

/contentforge:batch-process

Prompt: "Where are your content requirements? (local queue / Google Sheet URL / Airtable / CSV)"

With Direct Sheet URL

/contentforge:batch-process https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ABC123/edit

With CSV Upload

/contentforge:batch-process batch-requirements.csv

What Happens

Step 1: Queue Building

Load all requirements from source
Validate each row (required fields, brand exists, content type supported, word count within the type's canonical range)
Sort by priority (1=highest, 5=lowest)
Display queue summary: total pieces, priority mix, execution order

Step 2: Sequential Execution

Dispatch the agent — do not drive the queue inline. Call Task with subagent_type: contentforge:batch-orchestrator, passing the validated queue path, the backend, and the resume state. agents/09-batch-orchestrator.md owns queue traversal, per-piece checkpointing, retry policy and escalation; this skill owns source loading, row validation and the progress table.

Run one ContentForge pipeline per piece, front-to-back
Each pipeline runs the full protocol from skills/contentforge/SKILL.md — Step 0 init, title bypass, phases 1–8 with orchestrator-verified gates, per-phase checkpoints
When one piece finishes (or is escalated), the next starts automatically

Step 3: Progress Table (event-driven)

Redrawn after each piece/phase event — not on a timer:

CONTENTFORGE BATCH — 2/5 complete | 1 review_required | 0 failed
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
▶ REQ-003 | SEO Whitepaper       | Phase 4 (Validation)
✓ REQ-001 | AI in Healthcare     | APPROVED 8.4
✓ REQ-004 | FAQ Product Launch   | APPROVED 7.6
⚠ REQ-002 | Remote Teams Blog    | review_required (6.1)
· REQ-005 | Case Study Acme      | queued

Step 4: Completion Report

Total pieces processed
APPROVED count (reviewer composite ≥7.0, industry-adjusted, all dimension minimums met)
review_required count (5.0-6.9 after loop limits, or <5.0)
Failed count
Output locations: ~/Documents/ContentForge/{Brand}/ (+ Drive folder if configured)

Priority Scheduling

Priority Levels:

1 (Urgent): Processed first, deadline-driven (e.g., press release for tomorrow)
2 (High): Campaign-critical content
3 (Normal): Standard blog posts, articles
4 (Low): Evergreen content, no deadline
5 (Backlog): Nice-to-have, filler content

Execution Model

Sequential, one piece at a time — no concurrent pipelines. Shared per-brand state, API rate limits, and context limits make in-session parallelism unsafe; resilience comes from per-phase checkpointing instead.
Each piece is fully independent (own checkpoint run directory, own quality gates)
If a piece's pipeline fails, it's retried once (resuming from its checkpoints); if it fails again, it's marked for human review and the queue continues

Error Handling

Transient Failures (Auto-Retry)

API rate limits → the inner pipeline backs off and retries
Network timeouts → retry
Source URL temporarily unavailable → Gate 2 re-sourcing loop handles it

Persistent Failures (Human Escalation)

Brand profile not found
Requirement validation fails (missing required fields)
Reviewer score below the approval threshold after loop limits (2 per edge, 5 total)
Two consecutive pipeline failures on the same piece

Success criteria are canonical: a piece is "completed" ONLY if the reviewer decision is APPROVED (composite ≥7.0 per config/scoring-thresholds.json). Scores of 5.0-6.9 are review_required — never silently marked complete.

Requirements

Backends

Local JSON (default) — no integrations required
Google Sheets + Drive — optional, for sheet intake and Drive delivery
Airtable — optional, for base intake and attachments

Brand Profiles

All brands referenced in requirements must have existing profiles
Use /contentforge:brand-setup to create missing brands before batch processing

Output Structure

Local (always):

~/Documents/ContentForge/
└── {Brand}/
    ├── REQ-001_AI-in-Healthcare_v1.0.docx
    ├── REQ-002_Remote-Teams-Blog_v1.0.docx
    └── batch-summary-report.txt

Google Drive (if configured):

ContentForge Output/
└── {batch_id}/
    ├── Completed/ ...
    ├── Review/ ...
    └── failed-requirements.csv (if any)

Resuming an Interrupted Batch

Batch state lives in the tracking backend plus each piece's checkpoint run directory — both on disk. If the session dies:

Re-run /contentforge:batch-process — rows already completed/review_required/failed are skipped
The in-flight piece resumes from its last gate-passed phase via its checkpoints (see commands/resume.md)
Remaining pending rows queue normally

Troubleshooting

"Queue is empty"

Check the backend has rows with status=pending
Ensure the Sheet URL / base ID is correct and accessible

"Brand profile not found"

Run /contentforge:brand-setup for missing brands
Update the requirements source with correct brand names

"A piece is stuck in Phase X"

Likely an API rate limit; the inner pipeline auto-throttles and continues
If the session died, re-run the batch — the piece resumes from its checkpoint

Example Workflow

(SYNTHETIC EXAMPLE — fabricated for illustration; never reuse these numbers.)

Scenario: Agency needs 15 blog posts for 3 clients by end of week

Prepare Requirements
- 15 rows (local queue or Google Sheet)
- Columns: ID, type=blog, title, audience, brand, word_count=1200, priority=2

Run Batch Processing

/contentforge:batch-process https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ABC123/edit

Monitor Progress
- Status table updates as each piece moves through its phases
Review Outputs
- 14/15 APPROVED (scores 7.4-9.1)
- 1/15 review_required (6.2, citation issues) — feedback stored in its phase-7-review.json
Quality Check
- Spot-check 3 random pieces
- Fix the one flagged for review
Deliver to Clients
- All approved pieces in ~/Documents/ContentForge/{Brand}/

Integration with Other Skills

Before Batch: /contentforge:brand-setup for new brands
During Batch: status table auto-updates on events
After Batch: use outputs directly or run /contentforge:content-refresh for updates

Limitations

Sequential execution — one pipeline at a time (throughput comes from checkpointed resume, not concurrency)
All pieces must use existing brand profiles (no on-the-fly creation)
Every requirement needs a title (batch runs are non-interactive)
Backends: local JSON (default), Google Sheets, or Airtable

Agent Used

Batch Orchestrator Agent — see agents/09-batch-orchestrator.md

Related Skills

/contentforge:brand-setup — Create brand profiles
/contentforge:content-refresh — Update existing content
/contentforge:cf-variants — A/B test variations

batch-process

SKILL.mdskills/batch-process/SKILL.md