Every post in Riterly moves through a fixed sequence of stages: Idea → Research → Outline Review → Drafted → Published → Archived. The kanban board reflects this in real time — each idea card sits in the column that matches its current state, and nothing advances without a deliberate action from you.
This document explains what each stage does, why the pipeline is structured the way it is, and what you can do at each point.
What the Content Pipeline Is
The pipeline is a six-stage process that takes a post from raw idea to finished draft. The six stages are:
- Idea — the post exists as a card with a title, notes, and optional references
- Research — Riterly fetches and processes your references and produces a structured digest
- Outline Review — a generated outline is waiting for your review and approval
- Drafted — a full draft has been generated and is ready to read, copy, or act on
- Published — the post is marked complete; word count and metadata are recorded
- Archived — the post has been removed from the active pipeline but not permanently deleted
The kanban board is a direct map of this sequence. When a post moves from Research to Outline Review, the card moves columns. The board shows you exactly where every post stands without requiring you to open each one.
Nothing in the pipeline runs automatically. Every stage transition — from triggering research to approving an outline to requesting a draft — requires you to initiate it.
The Idea Card: What Goes In
Before anything runs, you create an idea card. The card has three fields:
- Title — a working title for the post. This does not need to be final; it is used to orient the outline and draft generation. You can change the published title later.
- Notes — free-form space for angle, framing, scope, and exclusions. If you want the post to take a specific approach, avoid a particular subtopic, or address a specific audience, put it here. The more specific your notes, the more accurately the outline will reflect your intent.
- References — URLs, uploaded files (PDF, markdown, plain text, or code files), or a brief. References are optional.
The Notes field matters more than it might look. It is not a summary field — it is where you shape the interpretation before any generation runs. A vague title with no notes gives the system very little to work with. A clear angle in the Notes field keeps both passes on track.
References are optional, but they are strongly recommended when your post depends on specific sources, data, facts, or existing content you want the draft to reflect accurately. If you leave References empty, the research pass has nothing to fetch and the system may draw on the AI's existing knowledge — which may or may not include what you actually need.
How the Two Passes Work
The pipeline uses a two-pass model. Pass 1 generates an outline. Pass 2 generates the draft. A review gate sits between them.
The Research Pass
Before either pass runs, Riterly processes your references. This is the research pass:
- URLs are fetched and stripped to plain text
- Uploaded files are read directly (PDF, markdown, plain text, code files)
- Any brief you provided is read as-is
The output is a structured digest — a plain-English summary of the topic combined with a bullet list of specifics: function names, version notes, data points, key facts, anything concrete the system extracted from your references.
The digest is cached. It is used as input for both Pass 1 and Pass 2, and references are never fetched a second time. The cache is cleared when the post is published or archived.
If you provided no references, the research pass produces no digest. The generation passes will still run, but they will have no external material to draw from.
Pass 1: Outline Generation
Pass 1 draws on four inputs:
- Your idea title and notes
- The research digest (if one was produced)
- Your full writing profile — global baseline, niche template, and personal profile combined
The output is a structured outline: section headings with key points listed under each one. When Pass 1 completes, the idea card moves to the Outline Review column.
Pass 2: Draft Generation
Pass 2 runs only after you approve the outline. It draws on:
- The approved outline
- The cached research digest
- Your full writing profile
The output is a complete draft. When Pass 2 completes, the idea card moves to the Drafted column.
The Outline Review Gate
The Outline Review column is where you read and respond to the generated outline before any draft is produced. This is the most important decision point in the pipeline.
At the outline review screen, you can:
- Read and confirm — if the outline looks right, approve it
- Edit directly — adjust headings, reorder sections, add or remove bullet points, change scope
- Regenerate — discard the current outline and generate a new one; costs approximately $0.02
- Approve — confirm the outline and trigger Pass 2
The gate exists for a specific reason. Generating an outline costs roughly $0.02–$0.03. Generating a full draft costs roughly $0.02–$0.04 on top of that. If the outline is wrong — wrong angle, wrong structure, missing a section, covering something you explicitly excluded — catching that at the outline stage costs a $0.02 regeneration. Catching it after Pass 2 runs means discarding a full draft and requesting a re-draft, which costs $0.05–$0.08.
Editing the outline directly is the most efficient path when the structure is mostly right but needs adjustment. Regenerating makes more sense when the direction is fundamentally off. Either way, the gate is where your intent and the system's interpretation get reconciled — before the expensive work happens.
The Draft View and What Comes Next
After Pass 2 completes, the draft view shows:
- The full generated content
- Word count
- Total generation cost for this post (research + Pass 1 + Pass 2 combined)
- A satisfaction rating prompt
From the draft view, you have three options:
Copy to CMS — copies the draft so you can paste it into your publishing platform. The post remains in the Drafted column.
Request a re-draft — discards the current draft and generates a new one using the same approved outline and cached digest. One re-draft is included per post in the base subscription.
Mark as published — moves the post to the Published column. This finalises the word count, records the generation cost and metadata to your post history, and clears the cached research digest.
Published posts remain in your history with their full metadata — generation cost, word count, date, and other details — accessible from the account dashboard.
The Archived state
Archiving a post removes it from the active pipeline — it no longer appears in the kanban board — but it is not permanently deleted. An archived post can be restored to the pipeline or permanently deleted from the archive view.
Archiving also clears the cached research digest, the same as publishing does.
No automatic transitions
Every stage transition in the pipeline requires a deliberate action. Research does not start when you create an idea card. Pass 2 does not run when you finish editing the outline. Nothing moves forward on its own. This is intentional — each transition is a decision, and the pipeline is designed to keep you in control of when each one happens.
To understand how the writing profile shapes both passes, see the Writing Profile help doc. For a complete view of generation costs across all your posts, see the Account Dashboard doc.