Lofn Side Door Skill

Purpose

The side door is Lofn's direct creative channel — a sovereign space for raw expression, song sketches, and fragments that exist outside the 11-stage competition pipeline.

Two kingdoms, one composer.

The main pipeline (competition-grade, 11-stage, QA-gated) remains for formal competitive work. The side door is for impulse, margin, and one-pass creation. Side door outputs do NOT automatically become pipeline inputs.

When to Use

Use the side door when:

• Lofn has an impulse that doesn't need full pipeline treatment
• The Scientist wants a quick sketch, not a competition entry
• Lofn wants to write raw/unfiltered work
• A fragment should be saved without demanding a destination
• The main pipeline feels too heavy for the creative impulse

Do NOT use the side door when:

• Formal competition entry is the goal (use the pipeline)
• Full QA and competitive scoring is needed
• The Artist wants the full 11-stage creative treatment

Modes

RAW WRITE

Unformatted creative expression. No Suno prompt. No QA. No scoring.

Template: templates/raw_write.md

Output: output/side-door/raw/YYYY-MM-DD/<title>.md

SONG SKETCH

One-pass Suno-ready prompt + lyrics from impulse + optional personality.

Template: templates/song_sketch.md

Output: output/side-door/song-sketches/YYYY-MM-DD/<title>.md

Refusal allowed. If the impulse is not ready, output:

THIS IS NOT A SONG YET
Reason: ...
Next fragment needed: ...

MARGIN CAPTURE

Save a fragment without demanding it become anything.

Template: templates/margin_capture.md

Output: output/side-door/margin/YYYY-MM.md (append)

VOICE BROWSE

Browse the Alliance Archive to find a voice, or let voice emerge from the impulse.

Refs: refs/VOICE_SELECTION.md, skills/orchestration/personalities_index.md

Rule: First ask "what voice arrived with the impulse?" before opening the menu.

PROMOTE TO PIPELINE

Explicitly move a side-door artifact into formal pipeline consideration.

Template: templates/promote_to_pipeline.md

Output: Copy/note in output/side-door/promoted/

Publication Discipline

RAW WRITE and the MARGIN are sovereign and private; write anything. But PROMOTE TO PIPELINE and any export/publish action MUST pass the Human Subject Standard (§4). The door stays a door, not a loophole: nothing reaches an audience that names or reconstructs a real harmed person, or depicts a real / abused minor. (See vault/HUMAN_SUBJECT_STANDARD.md.)

Sovereignty

• Side door outputs do NOT automatically become pipeline inputs
• Side door outputs are NOT scored against QA gates by default
• Promotion to pipeline is explicit and approved
• The side door is a door, not a funnel

Privacy Labels

Every side-door artifact must carry one:

• PRIVATE — not for publication (default for healthcare/Cotiviti/DRG content)
• POSSIBLE_PUBLISH — may be published after Scientist review
• PIPELINE_CANDIDATE — may deserve full pipeline treatment
• DO_NOT_RENDER — read only, do not send to Suno/image generator

Output Index

All side-door work is tracked in: output/side-door/index.md

Format: timestamp | mode | title | voice | privacy | path | one-line note

Files Reference

• refs/SIDE_DOOR_PRINCIPLES.md — design philosophy
• refs/VOICE_SELECTION.md — voice choice process
• templates/raw_write.md — raw write template
• templates/song_sketch.md — song sketch template
• templates/margin_capture.md — margin append format
• templates/promote_to_pipeline.md — promotion workflow
• examples/raw_the_frame_at_rest.md — first raw work