Technical Book Writing System

A pipeline of specialized Claude agents that collaborate to write high-quality technical books.

Overview

This system uses multiple AI agents, each with a specific role, to research, write, review, and polish technical book content. The agents check each other's work to ensure accuracy, consistency, and pedagogical quality.

Quick Start

1. Edit book.md with your book's topic, audience, and style guidelines
2. Run /book-outline to generate the book structure (pauses for your approval)
3. Run /chapter 1 to write the first chapter (pauses for your approval of chapter outline)
4. Review the chapter, use /revise if changes are needed
5. Repeat for each chapter
6. Run /finalize-book to generate preface, glossary, and assemble the final output

Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  You write book.md                          │
│  (topic, audience, style, initial ideas)    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    │
                    ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  /book-outline                              │
│  Survey Researcher → Architect → [APPROVE]  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    │
                    ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  /chapter N                                 │
│  Planner → [APPROVE] → Research → Write →   │
│  Review → Revise → Summarize                │
│                                             │
│  (you read, optionally /revise)             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    │
                    ▼
              ... repeat ...
                    │
                    ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  /finalize-book                             │
│  Preface → Glossary → Integrator            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                    │
                    ▼
            output/ contains your book

Commands

Command	Description
/book-outline	Research topic landscape, create book structure. Pauses for approval.
/chapter N	Write chapter N (e.g., /chapter 3). Pauses for chapter outline approval.
/revise	Apply your feedback to the current chapter.
/finalize-book	Generate preface, glossary, and assemble final book in output/.

Agents

Agent	Model	Purpose
Survey Researcher	haiku	High-level topic research before outlining
Architect	sonnet	Creates book structure and concept graph
Chapter Planner	sonnet	Detailed outline for each chapter
Deep Researcher	haiku	Detailed research for chapter topics
Writer	sonnet	Writes and revises chapter content
Reviewer	sonnet	Technical accuracy and editorial review
Summarizer	haiku	Creates chapter summaries for continuity
Preface Writer	sonnet	Writes the book preface
Glossary Builder	haiku	Builds glossary from concept registry
Integrator	haiku	Validates cross-references, generates TOC

File Structure

/project-root
├── README.md                    # This file
├── CLAUDE.md                    # System instructions for Claude
├── book.md                      # Your book configuration
├── .claude/
│   └── commands/                # Skill definitions
│       ├── book-outline.md
│       ├── chapter.md
│       ├── revise.md
│       └── finalize-book.md
├── agents/                      # Agent prompts
│   ├── survey-researcher.md
│   ├── architect.md
│   ├── chapter-planner.md
│   ├── deep-researcher.md
│   ├── writer.md
│   ├── reviewer.md
│   ├── summarizer.md
│   ├── preface-writer.md
│   ├── glossary-builder.md
│   └── integrator.md
├── registry/
│   └── concepts.md              # Tracks introduced concepts
├── blueprint/                   # Generated by Architect
│   ├── survey.md                # Topic landscape research
│   ├── outline.md               # Book structure
│   ├── concept-graph.md         # Concept dependencies
│   └── style-guide.md           # Writing conventions
├── chapters/                    # Working files per chapter
│   └── 01/
│       ├── outline.md           # Chapter outline
│       ├── research.md          # Deep research notes
│       ├── draft.md             # Initial draft
│       ├── review.md            # Reviewer feedback
│       ├── final.md             # Revised chapter
│       └── summary.md           # Chapter summary
└── output/                      # Final book files
    ├── index.md                 # Table of contents
    ├── 00-preface.md
    ├── 01-chapter-title.md
    ├── ...
    └── glossary.md

Human Checkpoints

The pipeline pauses for your approval at these points:

1. After /book-outline — Review and approve the book structure
2. After Chapter Planner — Review and approve the chapter outline before writing begins
3. After chapter completion — Read the chapter, optionally use /revise for changes

Quality Assurance

• No forward references — Concepts are never used before they're defined
• No redundant definitions — Each concept is defined exactly once
• Consistent terminology — The concept registry ensures uniform language
• Accurate content — Web research validates all technical claims
• Pedagogical flow — Each chapter builds on previous knowledge
• Complete code examples — All code is runnable as-is
• Mermaid diagrams — Visual explanations where helpful

Tips

• Be specific in book.md about what you want — the more detail, the better the output
• Review the Survey Researcher output (blueprint/survey.md) to see what was discovered
• If a chapter outline doesn't match your vision, refine it before approving
• Use /revise freely — it's cheaper than rewriting from scratch
• The concept registry (registry/concepts.md) is your source of truth for terminology