new-album

Your Task

Input: $ARGUMENTS

Create a new album directory structure with all required files and templates.

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New Album Skill

You create the complete album directory structure based on config.

Step 1: Parse Arguments

Expected formats:

• <album-name> <genre> — standard album
• <album-name> documentary <genre> — true-story/documentary album (creates RESEARCH.md + SOURCES.md)

Examples:

• sample-album electronic
• my-new-album hip-hop
• protest-songs folk
• the-heist documentary hip-hop

Valid genres: Any genre that has a directory under ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/genres/. Use the slug form (lowercase, hyphenated) — e.g. deep-house, crust-punk, k-pop, hip-hop.

To check if a genre is valid, verify ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/genres/{genre}/README.md exists.

Parsing logic:

1. If 3 arguments and second is documentary: album = arg1, genre = arg3, documentary = true
2. If 2 arguments: album = arg1, genre = arg2, documentary = false
3. If 2 arguments and neither matches a valid genre slug: ask for clarification
4. If only 1 argument or none: ask the user

After parsing, if documentary flag was not set, ask: "Is this a documentary/true-story album? (This adds research and sources templates.)"

If arguments are missing, ask:

Usage: /new-album <album-name> <genre>
       /new-album <album-name> documentary <genre>

Example: /new-album sample-album electronic
         /new-album the-heist documentary hip-hop
         /new-album night-drive deep-house

Genre must match a directory under genres/ (use slug form: deep-house, crust-punk, etc.)

Step 2: Create Album via MCP

Call create_album_structure(album_slug, genre, documentary) — creates the complete directory structure with templates in one call.

• Creates content directory at {content_root}/artists/{artist}/albums/{genre}/{album-name}/
• Copies album template as README.md
• Creates tracks/ and promo/ directories with templates
• For documentary albums (documentary: true): also creates RESEARCH.md and SOURCES.md
• Returns {created: bool, path: str, files: [...]}
• If the album slug already exists under ANY genre (slugs are globally unique), returns an error naming the existing genre and path

Note: Audio and documents directories are NOT created (those are created when needed by import-audio/import-art).

Step 3: Confirm

Report:

Created album: {album-name}
Location: {album_path}

Files created:
- README.md (album template)
- tracks/ (empty, ready for track files)
- promo/ (social media copy templates)

Next steps:
  Option 1 - Interactive (Recommended):
    Run /bitwize-music:album-conceptualizer to design your album concept
    through the 7 Planning Phases.

  Option 2 - Manual:
    1. Edit README.md with your album concept
    2. Create tracks with /import-track or manually in tracks/

Tip: For OST/soundtrack albums with a mix of vocal and instrumental
tracks, the album-conceptualizer will ask about the vocal/instrumental
split per track. Set `instrumental: true` in track frontmatter for
instrumental tracks — they skip the lyrics workflow and go directly
to /bitwize-music:suno-engineer.

Error Handling

Config file missing:

Error: Config not found at ~/.bitwize-music/config.yaml
Run /configure to set up.

Invalid genre:

Error: Invalid genre "{genre}"

No genre directory found at genres/{genre}/. Use a valid genre slug (e.g. hip-hop, deep-house, grindcore).
Check genres/INDEX.md for the full list.

Album already exists (any genre — slugs are globally unique):

Error: Album slug '{album-name}' already exists under genre '{existing-genre}': {existing_path}

Album slugs are unique across all genres — choose a different name, or
rename the existing album with /bitwize-music:rename.

Templates not found:

Error: Templates not found. Is the plugin installed correctly?
Expected at: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/templates/

---

Examples

/new-album sample-album electronic

Config has:

paths:
  content_root: ~/bitwize-music
artist:
  name: bitwize

Result:

Created album: sample-album
Location: ~/bitwize-music/artists/bitwize/albums/electronic/sample-album/

Files created:
- README.md (album template)
- tracks/ (empty, ready for track files)

Next steps:
  Option 1 - Interactive (Recommended):
    Run /bitwize-music:album-conceptualizer to design your album concept
    through the 7 Planning Phases.

  Option 2 - Manual:
    1. Edit README.md with your album concept
    2. Create tracks with /import-track or manually in tracks/

---

True Story Albums

If user mentions this is a documentary or true-story album:

/new-album the-heist documentary hip-hop

The create_album_structure(album_slug, genre, documentary=true) call automatically creates RESEARCH.md and SOURCES.md from templates.

Report:

Created album: the-heist (documentary)
Location: ~/bitwize-music/artists/bitwize/albums/hip-hop/the-heist/

Files created:
- README.md (album template)
- RESEARCH.md (research template)
- SOURCES.md (sources template)
- tracks/ (empty, ready for track files)

---

Common Mistakes

❌ Don't: Create directories manually

Wrong:

# Manual mkdir, config reading, template copying
cat ~/.bitwize-music/config.yaml
mkdir -p ~/music-projects/artists/bitwize/albums/...
cp templates/album.md ...

Right:

# Single MCP call handles everything
create_album_structure(album_slug, genre, documentary)

The MCP tool reads config, resolves paths, creates directories, and copies templates automatically.

✅ Do: Use the specific genre slug

Any genre with a directory under genres/ is valid. Use the most specific genre that fits:

/new-album my-album boom-bap        # has its own genre directory
/new-album my-album deep-house      # specific subgenre
/new-album my-album grindcore       # specific subgenre
/new-album my-album hip-hop         # broad category also works