Concept

Content Tree — Concept Spec

Jason's content-structuring framework. Tree metaphor to organize a client's content universe from niche down to individual post ideas.

Status: LOCKED v1.0 — 2026-05-07. All open questions resolved. App build spec → _ops/loom/SPEC.md.

Vocabulary (LOCKED 2026-05-07)

Tree levels (per-client hierarchy)

Level	Name	What it is	Count per client
1	Trunk	The niche	1 — fixed, never changes
2	Branches	Content pillars (brand-specific thematic specialties)	3–5 — stable, rarely added
3	Leaves	Content topics — the subject area; can be addressed many ways	many per pillar — append over time
4	Fruits	Specific content ideas — the hook/angle applied to a topic	multiple per leaf — grow constantly

Leaf vs. Fruit distinction (locked): A leaf is the abstract subject area (can be addressed many ways). A fruit is the specific idea — the concrete hook or angle derived from that topic. One leaf generates many fruits.

Key distinctions:

Pillars ≠ Categories. Every brand has similar categories (education, personality, etc.). Each brand has unique pillars tied to its actual specialty.
Topics recur. One brand doesn't address 1000 unique topics. Same topics spawn many fruits via different angles.

Architecture boundary (LOCKED 2026-05-07)

The Loom owns the tree. It maps the idea space — what exists to talk about.

Plankton picks fruits off the tree and decides everything downstream: medium, format, production style, season assignment, distribution, scheduling.

The fruit is the ingredient. Plankton decides how it gets cooked.

Consequence: fruits in The Loom carry no medium, format, or season data. Those are Plankton's job. The Loom's fruit is the idea — nothing more.

Data model (LOCKED 2026-05-07)

trunk: "mortgage brokerage for Quebec first-time buyers"

branches:
  - id: branch-01
    name: "Decoding mortgage jargon"
    created_at: "2026-05-07"
    leaves:
      - id: leaf-01
        name: "Fixed vs. variable rates"
        created_at: "2026-05-07"
        fruits:
          - id: fruit-01
            title: "Why everyone is wrong about variable rates right now"
            angle: "contrarian"
            notes: ""
            created_at: "2026-05-07"
          - id: fruit-02
            title: "Fixed or variable — a decision framework by scenario"
            angle: "educational / decision tool"
            notes: ""
            created_at: "2026-05-07"

Fruit fields:

title — the idea/hook (required)
angle — the specific lens or framing (optional; sometimes baked into the title)
notes — any context worth carrying (optional)
created_at — timestamp (required; tree is append-only, no hard deletes)

No medium. No format. No season. No goal. All assigned in Plankton.

Tree behavior (LOCKED 2026-05-07)

Node	Mutability
Trunk	Fixed — changing the niche = new client profile
Branches	Stable — can be renamed or added, rarely
Leaves	Append-friendly — start comprehensive from deep dive, grow over time
Fruits	Grow constantly as ideas are generated

Soft-delete only across all levels. Archive, never hard-delete. Every node has created_at.

Relationship to existing client files

pillars.md — subsumed. Branches in the tree are the canonical pillar source. pillars.md becomes a flat export or is deprecated once The Loom is built.
content-calendar.md — complementary, not replaced. Tree = ideation layer. Calendar = scheduling/execution layer. Plankton bridges them.

Cross-cutting dimensions (Plankton territory — not in The Loom)

These dimensions exist and are important — but they belong to Plankton, not the tree.

Term	What it is	Lives in
Medium	The container	Reel / Carousel / Story / Static / Long-form
Format	Strategic content archetype	How-To / Value Bomb / Viral/Trend / etc.
Production Style	Shooting approach	Talking head / Whiteboard / B-roll + VO
Season	Grow / Nurture / Sell	Plankton assigns based on current strategy phase