LinkedIn Content — format, draft, lint

The post is not the deliverable; the specific thing only this person can say is. The scripts handle format choice, mechanical faults, and de-duplication. The interesting part — what actually happened and what it cost — comes from the user, and cannot be generated.

Workflow

1. Check the brief exists. If there is no positioning brief, offer linkedin-strategy first as a question. Posts without pillars are noise. Never chain silently.

2. Pick the format from the material, not from fashion.

python3 scripts/format_picker.py --goal authority --material data --material tutorial \
  --minutes 120 --output human

Exit 0 recommends / 2 asks when the top two are within a point (tie-break on which one they would enjoy making — the one they repeat beats the one that scores higher once) / 3 no fit, go get material. It refuses video with no camera and no footage, and a poll with no real decision behind it.

3. Draft. Interview for specifics before writing a line: the number, the mistake, the sentence someone said. Then write to the fold — the first ~140 characters are the whole post for most readers, and a sentence must complete inside them.

4. Lint before it ships.

python3 scripts/post_linter.py --input draft.md --has-image --output human

Exit 0 SHIP / 2 REVISE (or any blocking finding) / 3 REWRITE. Blocking findings have named consequences: over the 3,000-character cap; engagement bait, named as demoted content in the Professional Community Policies; Unicode pseudo-bold, which screen readers announce as mathematical symbols and search does not index as words. Two passes is normal; the stop condition is exit 0 or a stated decision to accept a warning.

5. Repurposing. Split a source and keep the ledger — it prevents the specific recurring failure of the same idea going out three times over eight months. Commit it alongside the source; it is project state, not a cache. Every unit is source material, not a post: add the sentence only the author can write — what it cost, or what they would do differently.

python3 scripts/repurpose_splitter.py --input talk.md --ledger .linkedin-ledger.json --output human
python3 scripts/repurpose_splitter.py --input talk.md --ledger .linkedin-ledger.json --record 2 --posted-on 2026-08-25

Rules

• Never fabricate a number, a client, a result, or a quote. Not one, not as a placeholder.
• Write to the mobile fold. A sentence completes before character 140.
• Links in the first comment, and say so in the post.
• No Unicode pseudo-bold, ever. It is an accessibility failure, not a style choice.
• Alt text on every image; captions on every video. LinkedIn does not add them for you.
• No engagement bait. Ask the question the post actually earned.
• The author reads every line before it ships. They are the author of record.

Scripts

| Script | Role | |---|---| | scripts/post_linter.py | 0-100 across mechanics / hook / integrity / accessibility; blocking findings for the cap, bait, and pseudo-bold. | | scripts/format_picker.py | Ranks nine native formats against goal, material, and minutes; refuses camera-less video and decision-less polls. | | scripts/repurpose_splitter.py | Splits a source into standalone units, scores them, and skips anything already in the reuse ledger. |

References and assets

• references/hook_and_fold_mechanics.md — the first 140 characters, and the openers to delete on sight (7 sources)

• references/post_formats_canon.md — what each native format is good at, and the carousel trap (7 sources)

• references/repurposing_discipline.md — standalone units, the reuse ledger, source types and their risks (7 sources)

• references/accessibility_and_inclusion.md — pseudo-bold, alt text, captions, and why they are blocking (7 sources)

• assets/post_templates.md — five worked post shapes with the hook already doing its job

• assets/example_post.md — a post that passes the linter, annotated

Distinct from

• linkedin-strategy — decides what the posts are about. This writes them.
• linkedin-engagement — comments and DMs. A comment is a different craft with a different budget; it lives there.
• marketing-skill/copywriting / content-humanizer — general copy and de-AI passes. Reach for those for tone; this one owns LinkedIn's mechanics and its accessibility floor.

Version: 1.0.0