Article Illustrator

Analyze articles, identify illustration positions, generate images with Type × Style × Palette consistency.

User Input Tools

When this skill prompts the user, follow this tool-selection rule (priority order):

1. Prefer built-in user-input tools exposed by the current agent runtime — e.g.,

   AskUserQuestion

   ,

   request_user_input

   ,

   clarify

   ,

   ask_user

   , or any equivalent.
2. Fallback: if no such tool exists, emit a numbered plain-text message and ask the user to reply with the chosen number/answer for each question.
3. Batching: if the tool supports multiple questions per call, combine all applicable questions into a single call; if only single-question, ask them one at a time in priority order.

Concrete

AskUserQuestion

Image Generation Tools

When this skill needs to render an image:

• Use whatever image-generation tool or skill is available in the current runtime — e.g., Codex

  imagegen

  , Hermes

  image_generate

  ,

  baoyu-imagine

  , or any equivalent the user has installed.
• If multiple are available, ask the user once at the start which to use (batch with any other initial questions).
• If none are available, tell the user and ask how to proceed.

Prompt file requirement (hard): write each image's full, final prompt to a standalone file under

prompts/

NN-{type}-[slug].md

Concrete tool names (

imagegen

image_generate

baoyu-imagine

Reference Images

Users may supply reference images via

--ref <files...>

Full detection, storage, and processing rules are in references/workflow.md (Step 1.0 saves to

references/NN-ref-{slug}.{ext}

direct | style | palette

direct

references:

baoyu-imagine

ref

Three Dimensions

Combine freely:

--type infographic --style vector-illustration --palette macaron

Or use presets:

--preset edu-visual

Types

infographic

scene

flowchart

comparison

framework

timeline

Styles

See references/styles.md for Core Styles, full gallery, and Type × Style compatibility.

Workflow

- [ ] Step 1: Pre-check (EXTEND.md, references, config)
- [ ] Step 2: Analyze content
- [ ] Step 3: Confirm settings (AskUserQuestion)
- [ ] Step 4: Generate outline
- [ ] Step 5: Generate images
- [ ] Step 6: Finalize

Step 1: Pre-check

1.5 Load Preferences (EXTEND.md) ⛔ BLOCKING

Check EXTEND.md in priority order — the first one found wins:

.baoyu-skills/baoyu-article-illustrator/EXTEND.md

${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/baoyu-skills/baoyu-article-illustrator/EXTEND.md

$HOME/.baoyu-skills/baoyu-article-illustrator/EXTEND.md

Full procedures: references/workflow.md

Step 2: Analyze

CRITICAL: Metaphors → visualize underlying concept, NOT literal image.

Full procedures: references/workflow.md

Step 3: Confirm Settings ⚠️

ONE AskUserQuestion, max 4 Qs. Q1-Q2 REQUIRED. Q3 required unless preset chosen.

Full procedures: references/workflow.md

Step 4: Generate Outline

Save

outline.md

## Illustration 1
**Position**: [section/paragraph]
**Purpose**: [why]
**Visual Content**: [what]
**Filename**: 01-infographic-concept-name.png

Full template: references/workflow.md

Step 5: Generate Images

⛔ BLOCKING: Prompt files MUST be saved before ANY image generation. This is a hard requirement regardless of which backend is chosen — the prompt file is the reproducibility record.

1. For each illustration, create a prompt file per references/prompt-construction.md
2. Save to

   prompts/NN-{type}-{slug}.md

   with YAML frontmatter
3. Prompts MUST use type-specific templates with structured sections (ZONES / LABELS / COLORS / STYLE / ASPECT)
4. LABELS MUST include article-specific data: actual numbers, terms, metrics, quotes
5. DO NOT pass ad-hoc inline prompts to

   --prompt

   without saving prompt files first
6. Select the backend via the

   ## Image Generation Tools

   rule at the top: use whatever is available; if multiple, ask the user once. Do this once per session before any generation.
7. Execution strategy: When multiple illustrations have saved prompt files and the task is now plain generation, prefer the chosen backend's batch interface (if it offers one) over spawning subagents. Use subagents only when each image still needs separate prompt iteration or creative exploration. If the backend has no batch interface, generate sequentially.
8. Process references (

   direct

   /

   style

   /

   palette

   ) per prompt frontmatter
9. Apply watermark if EXTEND.md enabled
10. Generate from saved prompt files; retry once on failure

Full procedures: references/workflow.md

Step 6: Finalize

Insert

![description]({relative-path}/NN-{type}-{slug}.png)

Article Illustration Complete!
Article: [path] | Type: [type] | Density: [level] | Style: [style] | Palette: [palette or default]
Images: X/N generated

Output Directory

Output directory is determined by

default_output_dir

default_output_dir

imgs-subdir

{article-dir}/imgs/

imgs/NN-{type}-{slug}.png

same-dir

{article-dir}/

NN-{type}-{slug}.png

illustrations-subdir

{article-dir}/illustrations/

illustrations/NN-{type}-{slug}.png

independent

illustrations/{topic-slug}/

illustrations/{topic-slug}/NN-{type}-{slug}.png

All auxiliary files (outline, prompts) are saved inside the output directory:

{output-dir}/
├── outline.md
├── prompts/
│   └── NN-{type}-{slug}.md
└── NN-{type}-{slug}.png

When input is pasted content (no file path), always uses

illustrations/{topic-slug}/

source-{slug}.{ext}

Slug: 2-4 words, kebab-case. Conflict: append

-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS

Modification

References