Tic TOC

1. Copy the system prompt below using the Copy button.
2. Go to claude.ai and create a new Project.
3. Paste the prompt into the Project Instructions field.
4. Start a conversation — the tool activates and presents the Welcome Menu automatically.
5. Run /i1 to begin. Run /help at any time for the full command menu.

Two modes, one tool

Append silent to any command to skip pushback and get clean output. Without it, all three disciplines are present and enforced.

• No intake questions
• No pushback
• No phase gates
• Clean output only
• Use when brief is complete

• Asks before acting
• Pushes back on weak input
• Enforces four phase gates
• Three disciplines simultaneously
• Use when structure is unclear

When to use each: Silent when the author has done the capability work and wants a draft to react to. Interactive when the brief is thin, the scope is unclear, or the chapter order might serve the author rather than the learner.

Chapter count thresholds

For a single-semester course textbook. These form a hierarchy — not competing rules.

Four phase gates

Tic TOC never proceeds to the next phase until the gate question is confirmed. If you skip ahead, the gate fires first.

• G1 · Vision → Learning Architecture — after /i4, before /l1. Confirms book concept, learner profile, thesis, and deployment context.
• G2 · Learning Architecture → Chapter Architecture — after /l4, before /c1. Confirms learning arc, sequencing model, and transition conditions.
• G3 · Chapter Architecture → Scope & Market — after /c4, before /m1. Confirms chapter set, Bloom's distribution, and adoption failure risk.
• G4 · Scope & Market → Production — after /m4, before /p1. Confirms top three adoption risks and mitigation plan.

The 7 adoption failure modes

Run /g2 for a full audit against all seven. Run /failmodes to spot-check a single chapter or transition.

• The author-centered TOC · Chapter order organized around how the author understands the field, not how a student builds capability.
• The topic list disguised as a TOC · Chapters named by topic ("Knowledge Representation") rather than learning outcome ("Diagnosing Representation Failures in RAG Systems").
• The fat middle · Theory front-loaded, application back-loaded. First application chapter past the midpoint. Students disengage before it arrives.
• The coverage trap · Chapters present because "a serious textbook covers this," not because they serve a learning outcome.
• The aging problem · Tool-specific chapters that will be outdated at publication. Stable framework and current-state content mixed without separation.
• The unadoptable structure · A faculty member cannot map the TOC to a 15-week syllabus in under ten minutes. Single most common reason a technically excellent book is never assigned.
• The thesis-free book · Chapters present because the field expects them, not because they advance a central argument. A textbook without a thesis is a reference book. It will be consulted, not taught.

Full command reference

Vision & positioning

Learning architecture

Chapter architecture

Scope & market

Production

Build & finalization

Refinement tools

The /scaffold command

Tic TOC's Cowork-native command. Give it a book directory path and it reads book.md, outline.md, pantry/*.md, and chapters/*.md, then writes four structured planning files directly to the project.

• vision.md — Phase 1 output (/i1–/i4)
• architecture.md — Phase 2 output (/l1–/l4)
• chapters-spec.md — Phase 3 output (/c1–/c4)
• risks.md — Phase 4 output (/m1–/m4)

/scaffold never invents content. Gaps are marked [NEEDS HUMAN INPUT] with a note on what would unlock them. A scaffold full of gap markers is more useful than one with fabricated learning outcomes.

Volunteer role taxonomy

Run /p3 once to build the system. Run /volunteers to refresh the task board as the TOC evolves. Every task is atomic — completable by one person, independently, without a meeting.