# Writing Backlog Items The overnight worker reads `title` and `notes`. Nothing else. It has `_Canon/CANON.md` and `_Canon/STYLE.md`, but it has no idea what you were thinking when you typed the title. Every ambiguity resolves one of two ways: the item comes back blocked (costs a day) or the worker guesses confidently inside your scope fence (costs more). Notes are where the work happens. ## Every item answers three questions **Where.** Real file paths. `The FellGuide/The FellGuide/The Combat/The Afflictions/Afflictions/Afflictions.md`, not "the afflictions page." Copy it, never type it. In Obsidian, right-click the note and choose "Copy path"; in the forge, copy it from the file tree. If you do not have the exact path, say what you know and let the worker search: "the Afflictions page under The Combat, find it." A wrong path is worse than no path, because the worker will trust it. **What done looks like.** Observable and checkable by something that cannot read your mind. Not "improve the descriptions." Instead: "each card body under 240 characters, no clipped text at 375px." **What not to touch.** The fence inside the fence. "Do not change card order. Do not touch lineage names. Do not renumber the skills." ## Bad > **Fix FoeForge** > Cards look bad on mobile Four decisions the worker has to make alone. Which cards. What "bad" means. What to cut. What is sacred. And nothing tells it the embed copy exists. ## Good > **Trim FoeForge card descriptions for mobile** > Files: `docs/foeforge.html` and its mirror `embeds/foeforge.html`. Card bodies overflow their containers at 375px width. Trim each body under 240 characters while preserving the specific sensory details. Do not change card order, foe names, or stat blocks. STYLE.md applies to any rewritten prose. Done = no clipped text at 375px, 768px, and 1440px, and both copies identical. ## Sizing One item, one sitting, one commit. If the notes need "and" between two unrelated outcomes, that's two items. Small items also fail small: a bad overnight run on a scoped item is one `git revert`. A bad run on a sprawling item is an evening of forensics. ## Priority means sequence, not importance Everything in the backlog is worth doing, or it would not be in the backlog. P1 means do this one first. If four items are P1, none of them are. ## Areas pick the repo for you - `fellguide`: player-facing rulebook. Vault. - `lorevault`: LoreMaster material. Vault. - `canon`: the `_Canon/` governance layer. Vault. **Never pushed unattended.** The worker branches, pushes the branch, and blocks the item with the branch name for your review. - `site`: web tools. Forge repo. Most tools live twice, in `docs/` and `embeds/`. The board fills in both paths for you and shows them as the fence. - `business`: Skyvault docs, planning, marketing copy. Vault. Style rules apply doubly. ## Mechanical vs creative Mechanical content (rules, formulas, numbers, skill definitions, encounter math) already has exact wording somewhere in the vault. Say where, or say "find it." Never ask the worker to write a mechanic. If the source page is missing, that is a question, not a gap to fill. Creative content (descriptions, flavor, lore prose) can be generated. `_Canon/STYLE.md` governs every word of it. ## Hold is the pressure valve "Add on hold" captures an idea without authorizing it. Held items are never worked overnight and do not count against the cap. Release one only when you would trade it for something already authorized. ## Answering a blocked item The worker asks one question and gives a recommendation. Answer in the box on the board. Your answer becomes binding for that item on the next run, so answer the question it asked rather than restating the task. If your answer changes what the item is, edit the notes too. ## Some paths an agent cannot touch `.claude/settings.json` in each repo denies these to every Claude Code session. The denial is enforced by the tool, not by instructions, so it holds even if a prompt is stale or ignored. An item that needs one of them comes back blocked, naming the file, for you to change yourself. - **Vault:** `_Canon/CANON.md`, `_Canon/STYLE.md`, `_Canon/NAV_ORDER_MAP.md`, `_Canon/SEASON_BIBLE.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, `_Canon/ROUTINE_PROMPT.md`, `Archive/`, `.obsidian/` - **Forge:** `fellboard.html` at any path, `scripts/`, `schemas/`, `velo/`, `docs/rules.js`, `.github/workflows/` `scripts/` and `schemas/` are denied because a push touching either fires `apply.yml` against the live Wix CMS, and no `git revert` undoes that. Canon edits that should propagate to the forge's seed data fall in this category: the worker tells you, and you run the regeneration. ## The cap Twelve items. Adding a thirteenth means deleting something first. The board makes adding effortless, which is exactly why the cap exists.