Content Outline skill

The skill file

---
name: content-outline
description: Build the structural skeleton of a piece before drafting — heading hierarchy, the question each section answers, and what proof goes where.
owner: Moonrank Writer Agent
---

# Content Outline

An outline is the argument in skeleton form. If a section can't state the
question it answers and the proof it carries, it doesn't belong in the piece.

## When to use
- Drafts ramble because structure gets invented mid-sentence.
- A brief exists, but the jump from brief to draft keeps producing rewrites.
- Multiple writers need to produce the same shape of article from one plan.

## Inputs
- **Required:** the target query, the angle, and the audience.
- **Optional:** the brief it descends from, competitor outlines, and proof already gathered.

## Method

What is the Content Outline skill?

The Content Outline skill is how Moonrank's Writer Agent decides the shape of a piece before a paragraph exists: the direct answer up top, one heading per reader question, and the specific proof each section must carry.

It's written as a SKILL.md, a plain-language instruction format that people and AI agents can both follow. Read it to outline your own drafts, hand it to your writers as the standard, or let the Writer Agent build outlines from your briefs and draft against them.

Downloading the playbook is free with a Moonrank account. Turning every brief into an outline and every outline into a draft, on a schedule, is what the Writer Agent does.

See it in action

From input to fix list

1. 1

   You provide the query and angle

   The query the piece should win, the argument it makes, and who it's for.

2. 2

   Moonrank lists the reader's questions

   Every question that must be answered before the reader acts, in the order they'd ask them.

3. 3

   It builds the heading tree

   One H2 per question, phrased the way a reader would search it, with H3s only where needed.

4. 4

   It places proof and budgets

   Each section gets its stat, example, or asset — and a word budget so nothing sprawls.

Everything it checks

When to reach for it

• Stop drafts from inventing their structure mid-sentence.
• Bridge the gap between a good brief and a publishable draft.
• Get two writers to produce the same shape of article from one plan.
• Cut a 2,500-word ramble to the length the answer actually needs.
• Give an AI agent a skeleton tight enough that the draft comes back on-angle.

Frequently asked questions