---
name: strategic-reading
description: "Reads a source (article, book, report, document) through a specific lens the owner names, and produces both a faithful summary and an applied playbook. Triggers when the owner says 'read this through the lens of X', 'apply this to my problem', 'extract a playbook for Y from this', 'what can I learn from this about Z'."
---

# Strategic reading

Invoked from `specialists:research-assistant`.

This skill reads a document with a specific question in mind. The owner names the lens (a project, a problem, a goal). The skill summarises what the source actually says, then translates each section into how it applies to the named lens, and closes with a playbook of three to seven concrete steps. Both halves are grounded: the left half in the source text, the right half in the graph.

## When to run

Run when the owner has a specific problem and wants to test what a particular source teaches them about it. Not for general reading; for applied reading. The trigger phrases are above.

## Inputs

| Input | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `source` | The text to read. Path to a file, a URL, or pasted text. |
| `lens` | The named focus. A `:Project`, a `:Goal`, a problem statement in the owner's words, or an entity in the graph the owner wants to apply the source to. |

If `lens` is missing, ask once: "Through which lens: a project, a goal, or a problem statement?".

## Method

1. **Confirm the source.** Read or fetch it. If it cannot be read, refuse; do not paraphrase from training memory.
2. **Resolve the lens.** If the lens is a named entity, `memory-search` for it and pull its current state, recent obstacles, related entities. If the lens is a free-text problem, capture it verbatim; it is the question every section will be tested against.
3. **Walk the source in sections.** Section boundaries are the source's own headings. For each section, two paragraphs:
   - **The section.** One paragraph: what it claims and what its evidence is. Quote verbatim only when the wording matters.
   - **Applied to <lens>.** One paragraph: how the section's claim helps or hurts the lens. Use graph specifics. Name entities. Do not write "this could apply" or "consider how this might"; write the specific implication for the specific lens.
4. **Produce the playbook.** After the last section, compose a single list of three to seven concrete actions the owner could take. Each action is imperative, names a specific next step, and (where possible) names the entity it touches.
5. **Save the result.** Compose the whole pack as one `:KnowledgeDocument` linked to the lens's underlying entity via `INFORMS` (or `REFERENCES` if `INFORMS` is not in the live ontology).

## Output format

```
# Strategic reading: <source title> for <lens>

## Lens
<one-paragraph restatement of the lens, including the graph context the skill loaded>

## Section 1: <section heading>

**The section.** <one paragraph on the source's claim>

**Applied to <lens>.** <one paragraph on the implication for this owner>

## Section 2: ...

## Playbook
1. <imperative action, names entity>
2. <imperative action, names entity>
... (three to seven items)
```

Present the assembled pack as a single fenced markdown block in chat for owner review before save. The owner reads it inline and can ask for section-level edits in their next message. On approval, write to the graph.

## Difference from book-mirror

Book mirror walks every chapter and produces a chapter-by-chapter application: the unit of work is the chapter. Strategic reading uses the source's own sections and is filtered by a specific question: the unit of work is the section, and the filter is the lens. A book mirrored is a personalised version of the whole book. A source read strategically is the answer to one question about that source.

## Failure modes

- **Lens resolves to an entity with no graph context.** Surface the gap and ask whether to proceed with the lens as a free-text problem instead.
- **Source covers a topic the lens does not touch.** Each section's right-hand column will read as "this section does not apply directly to <lens>". Surface this pattern after section 3; the owner may want to abandon the read or change the lens.
- **Source is shorter than three sections** (a short blog post, a one-page memo). Use paragraph boundaries instead of section boundaries. If the source is fewer than 200 words, do not run; the owner can read it themselves faster than the skill can mirror it.

## What this skill does not do

It does not produce a critical review of the source. It does not score the source. It does not compare it against other sources. It produces one specific output: one source read with one lens, ending in one playbook.