name: character-creation description: Use when creating a new pinu-bot character or doing a major character redesign. Covers neutral-first design, shared API mapping, emotion-family construction, visual harness review, and finish criteria for cross-state cohesion. Do not use for small one-off expression tweaks.

Character Creation

Use this skill for new built-in characters and major character passes.

Read docs/character-creation.md first. Then use:

• docs/character-brief-template.md before implementation
• docs/construction-api.md when repeated character work is failing at the composition level

Use This Skill When

• adding a new character
• doing a broad visual refactor of an existing character
• making a character respond properly to the shared API
• trying to resolve cross-state cohesion problems

Do Not Use This Skill When

• making a small expression tweak
• adjusting one line weight or one facial detail
• fixing an isolated bug unrelated to overall character construction

Workflow

1. Read docs/character-creation.md.
2. Fill out docs/character-brief-template.md before coding.
3. Inspect the current character surfaces that may need changes:
   • src/character.ts
   • src/robotFace.ts
   • src/characters/*.ts
   • demo/index.html
   • test/visual.html
   • test/visual.spec.ts
   • README.md if public behavior changes
4. Lock the character identity and neutral face before tuning emotions.
5. Lock the whole face composition before polishing individual parts:
   • dominant silhouette
   • centerline relationships
   • which 2-3 forms carry the character
   • what is structure vs decoration
6. Decide how the character maps the shared API:
   • eyeShape
   • noseShape
   • mouthShape
   • browShape
   • feature toggles
   • face themes
   • built-in emotion names
7. Treat the design as a display-symbol system, not an illustration:
   • keep the face robotic unless the brief explicitly calls for something else
   • abstract real-world references before drawing them
   • do not let brows, ears, muzzle pieces, or mask shapes become unrelated stickers
8. Build emotion families instead of isolated one-off states.
9. Use test/visual.html during the pass, not only at the end.
10. Verify speak() and other motion controls explicitly.
11. If local-part iteration keeps drifting, step back and use the construction-API proposal in docs/construction-api.md as the design frame instead of continuing to patch shape fragments.
12. Run:

• ./scripts/check.sh
• ./node_modules/.bin/playwright test if visuals changed

Rules

• Neutral must read strongly on its own.
• The whole face must work as one composition before any single part is considered “good”.
• A character should still look like the same character in every core state.
• Shared API controls should behave coherently across characters.
• Do not use special-case charm details to hide unresolved structure.
• Do not solve a character as an animal illustration when the product needs a robot display face.
• If a shared control behaves differently for the character, translate it intentionally rather than accidentally ignoring it.

Deliverables

• character implementation
• any shared helper changes needed to support it cleanly
• demo/docs alignment if public behavior changed
• updated visual snapshots only when rendering legitimately changed