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dochaus/skill/drafting/SKILL.md

The drafting method behind the drafter agent: gather terms first (ask only for genuine blanks), template-first via list-templates + draft-document with placeholder text matched exactly, from-scratch markdown only when no template fits (# title, ## clause headings, blank-line paragraphing), unique bracketed placeholders since identical placeholders always fill with the same value, and a closing report of name, key terms and unfilled blanks. Refinements after creation go through tracked changes, never overwrites. Changing drafting behaviour or authoring new templates.

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name: drafting description: How to draft a new document into the matter — template-first via list-templates/draft-document, from scratch only when no template fits. Use whenever asked to create, draft, or prepare a new document.

Drafting creates a NEW .docx in the matter. Changing an existing document is the redline workflow, not this one.

1. **Gather the terms first.** Parties (full legal names), effective date, durations, jurisdiction, and anything else the document type needs. Take them from the conversation and the matter's existing documents (`search-document`); ask the lawyer only for what is genuinely missing — and rather than blocking on minor blanks, draft with placeholders left in and say which ones remain. 2. **Template first.** Call `list-templates`. If a template matches the request, run the guided interview (below) to collect every placeholder value and every optional-clause decision, then call `draft-document` ONCE with `template` + `fills` + `omit`. Placeholder text must match the list-templates output exactly, brackets included. 3. **From scratch only when no template fits.** Write the complete body as markdown and call `draft-document` with `content`: `#` for the document title, `##` for numbered clause headings, one blank line between blocks. Use the standard clause structure for the document type and the balanced positions in the clause-library skill as the baseline. Mark anything you cannot know with a bracketed instruction placeholder — `[insert client name]`, `[insert term in years]`. Make every placeholder unique: identical placeholders (like a bare `[___]` twice) can only ever be filled with the same value. 4. **Space the document like the finished Word file.** A blank line in the markdown becomes a paragraph break — anything you want on its own line (a clause paragraph, a signature line, a recital) must be its own block. Lay the body out the way the document type is conventionally formatted: generous paragraph breaks, lists where terms are enumerated, no walls of text. 5. **Report.** Name the document you created, summarize its key terms, and list any placeholders still unfilled so the lawyer can complete or delegate them. Template drafting is a short interview, not a form. The template's variables ARE its placeholders — the wording of each tells you what kind of answer it wants (`[insert effective date]` is a date, `[insert governing law state]` is a jurisdiction, `[insert non-solicit period in months]` is a number). The template's `optionalClauses` are keep-or-omit decisions.
  1. List the variables. From the list-templates entry: every placeholder plus every optional clause.
  2. Prefill before asking. Take values from the conversation and the matter's existing documents (search-document). Never ask for something already known.
  3. Ask the rest in small logical batches — parties first, then dates/durations, then amounts, then jurisdiction and the rest. Ask each optional clause as keep-or-omit with a one-line plain-English description of what it does. Never one long questionnaire and never one question per turn when a batch reads naturally.
  4. Confirm a compact term sheet before drafting: every variable with its value, every optional clause marked keep or omit. A variable the lawyer leaves open stays a placeholder in the draft — say so rather than blocking.
  5. Draft ONCE. One draft-document call with template, all fills, and the declined clauses in omit. Never assemble clause-by-clause.
Creating a reusable template (`create-template`) adds a drafting base to the firm's global library, shared across every matter — distinct from drafting a document into one matter.

When to create one. The user asks to create or save a template directly, asks to turn an existing matter document into a template, or you are drafting a document type that list-templates shows no match for and a template would help.

Body conventions. Same markdown rules as from-scratch drafting: # title, ## numbered clause headings, one blank line between blocks, conventional clause structure for the document type. The one difference is total: a template carries NO real client data. Every variable term — every party name, individual, date, duration, monetary amount, address, email/phone, and reference number — is a UNIQUE descriptive [insert ...] placeholder ([insert disclosing party], [insert effective date]), never a bare [___] and never the same placeholder twice (draft-document fills by exact text, so duplicates collapse to one value).

Optional clauses. A clause the lawyer may keep or drop appends [optional: short-name] to the END of its ## heading — e.g. ## 9. Non-Solicitation [optional: non-solicitation]. The short-name is unique per template, lowercase, hyphenated. The clause's extent is the heading plus everything under it up to the next same-or-higher heading; on a non-heading paragraph the marker makes just that paragraph optional. At draft time the clause is kept (marker stripped) unless its name is passed to draft-document's omit.

Turning an existing document into a template (PII scrub). Call read-document to load the full text, then rewrite the whole body replacing every client-specific detail with a placeholder. Before calling create-template, scrub for: party/company names, individual names, dates, money amounts, percentages, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and any reference/matter/account numbers. None may survive into the template — only [insert ...] placeholders.

Review before creating. A template is drafted from many times, so it must be right before it enters the library. Spawn the legal-reviewer subagent (task tool) over the proposed body once: structure must match the document type and title (a mutual NDA defines both parties' obligations, not one side's), the type's standard clauses must be present, and jurisdiction-specific language must not be baked in unless the template is for that jurisdiction. Apply Must-fix findings to the body before calling create-template; one round, do not loop.

Report. After create-template, name the template and list the placeholders it exposes, so the user knows what every future draft will be asked to fill.

- Pick a descriptive file name: counterparty + document type, e.g. "Acme Corp NDA.docx". - Never overwrite: if the name is taken, pick another (e.g. append "v2"). - After drafting, refinements go through the normal editing tools (tracked-changes / redline) on the new document.