# Production rules

These rules apply across templates and authoring routes. **Required** rules protect content, provenance, implementation claims, rebuildable inputs and the explicit text/container constraints below. **Recommended** methods can change for a content reason; record the reason and relevant validation. Template parameters remain external. Follow explicit user instructions and settled authorization; these rules add no approval gate. C16–C28 are requirements, including where C04–C06 offer broader design recommendations. C27 permits controlled content-area repairs for an approved mockup while preserving its relative positions, visualizations, icons and text styling; C28 provides ImageGen for elements that native/SVG representation cannot conveniently reproduce faithfully.

## Understand and compose

- **C01 · Recommended:** consume the supplied audience, purpose, material boundary and page content plan, including the intended understanding, necessary premises and progression within the current page. Establish the production route, template and review rhythm from settled choices. If no plan is provided, form only the brief needed for the current authorized work; substantial report planning and example-derived content rules belong to the optional `report-structure` Skill. See [content handoff](content-handoff.md).
- **C02 · Required:** preserve facts, numbers, conditions, causal relationships and strength of conclusions. Distinguish source statements, inference and added material. Do not invent unknown values. Identify synthetic examples and retain traceable sources for material claims.
- **C03 · Required meaning and visual correspondence, recommended composition:** preserve the supplied page purpose, intended understanding, evidence and key steps. Every text, formula, label, visualization and meaningful decorative group serves the page, section and report goals. Make the association between each conclusion and its evidence visible, and check the actual page's progression and necessary context. Choose a suitable composition and reading order for those relationships; concrete layout methods may vary. Preserve demonstrated contributions and judgments without defaulting to limitations lists or preventive self-doubt. Do not silently change chapter order or move essential content to notes. Return meaningful omissions, contradictions or capacity conflicts to the content plan; do not create a parallel report-structure rule library. Summarize only within the authorized content scope and without changing meaning; C02 governs required content fidelity.
- **C04 · Recommended:** keep hierarchy, color semantics, terminology, units, legends, strokes, icon grammar and component scale consistent across pages. Use declared template exceptions where needed.
- **C05 · Recommended:** choose layout and columns from content relationships, then place components. Maintain grouping, alignment, spacing, reading order and moderate density. Add decoration for a purpose. Resolve excess content within the authorized content scope through the template's rewrite/layout/split policy or C27's controlled approved-mockup adjustments; retain fixed UI and declared shared typography/grid rules, including the project's scoped adjustments.
- **C06 · Recommended:** inspect suitable components and page-library examples before authoring. Read their rationale and method; adapt, combine or create as needed. Remove example content, update data and metadata, and preserve reference attribution.

## Materials and information graphics

- **C07 · Recommended priority, required paint contract for adjustable icons:** reuse suitable template icons; draw new simple icons as SVG/native shapes; use ImageGen for complex icon imagery; use external ready icons as a supplement. For an approved mockup preserve its icon identity under C25/C28 rather than substituting from this priority list. Reusable adjustable icons from every route must finish with the selected icon production contract: stable semantic parts, permitted whole/partial palette binding, fixed details and transparent structure. Generated or external source material is not exempt from that reusable contract; C28's disclosed project-local picture exception is a separate deliverable type. See [icon production](icon-production.md).
- **C08 · Required truthfulness, recommended selection:** choose photos, evidence figures, illustrations and decoration by their information role. Use supplied/trustworthy originals for exact identity and real evidence. Identify generated material; do not present it as official marks, real scenes or experimental results. Keep originals, derivative/generation provenance and needed production inputs. Preserve proportions and critical evidence when cropping.
- **C09 · Required data fidelity, recommended expression:** retain data, units, definitions, time range, missing-value policy and sources. Before drawing comparisons, check compatible objects, denominators/baselines, samples or workloads and statistical methods. Resolve differences with valid conversion, recalculation or comparable subsets where possible, retaining the basis. If they cannot be aligned, use separate views or a justified limited comparison and state the remaining scope; a difference label alone cannot justify a ranking. Select comparison, trend, distribution, composition or relationship views accordingly; normally avoid misleading truncation, meaningless dual axes and 3D ornament. Sources may live in notes/metadata; necessary conditions for interpreting the comparison remain visible. Do not introduce a forbidden footer. See [charts](charts.md) and [components](components.md).
- **C10 · Required semantics, recommended implementation:** nodes, links, arrows, groups and legends represent actual relationships. Distinguish peers, classification/containment, comparison, time/process, cause, condition/dependency, reasoning, data flow and control flow as relevant. Adjacency, grouping, correlation or time order alone does not establish cause; an arrow must express an identified relationship. Prefer native objects/SVG for technical diagrams; preserve code symbols, indentation and necessary context. State the actual formula object type.

## Implement and retain

- **C11 · Required:** implement text, shapes, connectors, tables and charts according to the selected route. Do not claim a full-page screenshot is editable completion. Use supported tools and disclose technical limits; do not silently change backend, depend on another installed Skill or introduce an online provider. [Native objects](native-objects.md) describes actual object support.
- **C12 · Required:** retain source data, page content/code, notes, assets, generation parameters, template version, environment and necessary metadata. When content changes, synchronize chart cache/workbook, SVG fallback and current previews. Use relocatable project paths. A cached export or final PPTX alone is not a rebuildable project. See [project workspace](project-workspace.md).
- **C13 · Required agreed execution, recommended organization:** follow the once-confirmed review/production/ImageGen choices and selected alternatives; do not silently replace a declined tool or Agent arrangement. Complete content, visual and implementation checks at the authorized granularity. Even an authorized batch needs page checks. Multiple authors share a frozen brief/style/content revision; the coordinator checks cross-page progression, terminology and appearance. Revisions preserve premises, key steps, evidence associations and content destinations across source, page, explanation PDF and notes. Apply the agreed post-revision review, using non-leading inputs and accurately distinguishing independent review from main-Agent self-check or skipped scope. Existing page-by-page authorization remains binding. See [execution and review](execution-and-review.md) and [page collaboration](page-collaboration.md).

## Verify, revise and deliver

- **C14 · Required:** before delivery, check missing pages, example residue, text overflow, occlusion, font substitution, chart data, asset resolution, alignment and object types as relevant to the change. Inspect actual current page renders. If a needed host check is unavailable, state it as unverified; old previews cannot replace new render evidence. Reuse unchanged evidence instead of repeating unrelated checks. See [PowerPoint checks](powerpoint-checks.md).
- **C15 · Recommended:** identify affected pages after shared-input changes and rebuild/recheck them. When order or allocation changes, synchronize stable page IDs, destinations, page references and notes with the content plan. Retain recoverable sources, provenance and accepted versions. Report versions, selected theme, object exceptions, evidence and remaining issues. Record content reasons and validation for departures from recommendations. Version new components/library entries independently; preserve frozen releases.

## Text and containers

- **C16 · Required:** keep a paragraph as one logical text block, preferably one native text frame with wrapping, line breaks and styled runs. If a technical constraint requires several native frames, use one complete content source, one overall frame, one reading order and one layout implementation to generate and update all fragments together. Independent line strings/positions, or merely grouping manually positioned frames, do not satisfy this rule.
- **C17 · Required:** small muted notes may supply background, data sources, ranges, measurement definitions and citation details. A condition that changes the core conclusion or required action belongs with the related main information, as do substantive chart explanations, key process conditions/timing and conclusions. Fix ambiguous or overstrong body text, supplement evidence or integrate necessary conditions before adding a disclaimer. Remove disclaimers that only anticipate hypothetical objections and do not aid understanding, judgment or action; retain specific useful warnings with proportionate emphasis. Do not hide necessary meaning in notes/metadata or promote ordinary provenance into a warning. Classify by meaning, not by a field named `detail`, `caption` or `source`. See [text hierarchy](text-and-containers.md#keep-substantive-explanations-visible).
- **C18 · Required:** different text functions inside one container, such as subheading and body, must have a perceptible distinction in declared size, weight and/or palette color. A font-family change alone is insufficient. Bind functions to named text roles and apply the same distinction to all instances.
- **C19 · Required:** every instance of a container type/variant uses the same shared layout implementation for padding, slots, text roles, wrapping, icon placement and alignment. Authors provide content and whole-container placement/bounds; the implementation computes internal geometry. Do not hand-position/nudge text or icons per instance. Resolve capacity through the shared layout's content-driven rules, a meaningful shared variant, rewriting or page/layout changes, never a one-off override. See [implementation and review](text-and-containers.md).
- **C20 · Required:** paragraph lines obey punctuation rules for line starts and ends. Do not leave a line containing only one substantive character, whether alone, followed by punctuation, or surrounded by punctuation; this applies to every line, including the final line. Keep closing punctuation with preceding content and opening punctuation with following content; preserve unbreakable marks and words. Reflow the complete logical paragraph under its shared layout, then check the actual rendered lines. Do not fix this by deleting/changing content, splitting independent text boxes, or introducing undeclared font sizes, character spacing or per-line offsets. See [paragraph line breaking](text-and-containers.md#paragraph-line-breaking-rules).
- **C21 · Required:** spacing is fixed by the template and shared component recipe for each relationship: text-to-container padding, heading-to-body distance, adjacent groups/columns and clearance around connectors, rules and formulas. For C27's approved-mockup reconstruction, the project may declare adjusted content-area values in its shared style/recipe; those become the fixed values for the affected type/variant and scope. Content callers cannot supply numeric gaps, thresholds, per-instance spacing overrides or invent variants. Check the active declared values, including unintended excess spacing, as well as collisions and actual glyph/edge clearance. Preserve intentional decorative contacts under their own template rules. Resolve capacity through reflow, supported whole-layout changes or C27's shared adjustment, with container/page overflow checks. See [fixed spacing](spacing.md).
- **C22 · Required:** distinguish separate semantic paragraphs visually with the active shared recipe's fixed paragraph spacing in addition to normal line spacing. Use the template value by default or the project's declared adjustment under C27. Preserve paragraph boundaries in complete source content. The shared implementation owns this value; content callers cannot adjust it. Use native before/after paragraph spacing where the text-frame route supports it, or consistently positioned paragraph frames. Do not add empty paragraphs, repeated line breaks or per-instance offsets to simulate spacing. Reflowing a paragraph must preserve the fixed separation from the next paragraph.
- **C23 · Required:** mathematical content uses an explicitly declared mathematical font and preserves symbols, operators, scripts, fractions and grouping. Keep ordinary prose in its own text role. Use native Office Math when native equations are required; ordinary Unicode text, linear compatibility text and formula images are different object types. Verify the declared math font and the actual equation structure/rendering; do not silently substitute the prose font or claim equation editability from its appearance. See [mathematics](mathematics.md).

Technical helpers enforce supported inputs, path safety, object consistency and capacity. They do not infer paragraph identity, explanation importance or semantic text roles, and do not automatically enforce every text/container rule across arbitrary source files. The paragraph helper checks the lines supplied to it and reflows supported plain text; it does not intercept arbitrary SVG or PowerPoint reflow. Inspect source and current native/rendered output; export success alone is insufficient.

## Buildable project, approved mockups and full-page hierarchy

- **C24 · Required:** when the user requests this Skill, create a buildable project with its project tools, or continue a valid existing Skill project. This includes one-slide requests and revisions, regardless of whether Git collaboration or relocation is requested. Retain the real builder, selected template/compiler, sources, content, data, assets, notes and environment; generate the delivered PPTX through the declared project build. Do not bypass the Skill with a one-off PPTX packager, manually stitch XML/ZIP or assemble the final deck by hand and backfill a nominal project. An empty skeleton, cached export or metadata-only check is insufficient: the current authorized page set must build successfully from its inputs. See [project workspace](project-workspace.md).
- **C25 · Required:** after the user confirms a mockup, reconstruct it as faithfully as possible, including its content, figures, graphics, grouping and relationship-bearing shapes. Preserve nodes, connectors, arrows, braces, enclosures, labels and other accepted elements; do not silently omit or simplify them because they are difficult to rebuild or seem expendable. As a rule, retain the accepted elements' relative spatial relationships, visualization forms, icon identities and text styling, including family intent, weight, color, emphasis, alignment and relative size hierarchy. Make necessary quality repairs to typography, wrapping, spacing, alignment, contrast, clipping and collisions while retaining that design and its relationship semantics. A removal, restyling or substantive rearrangement needs the user's instruction; ordinary fit repair under C27 does not authorize it. See [approved-mockup fidelity](visual-design.md#approved-mockup-fidelity).
- **C26 · Required:** after every page is completed, inspect the entire current rendered page for hierarchy from font size, font family, font weight, spacing and visual content grouping. Cover all text roles and the relationships across containers, not just isolated boxes. Confirm that the main message, sections, body and supporting detail are distinguishable and groups reflect the intended meaning. Repair failures and re-render before reporting the page complete. No clipping/overlap, a successful compile or a few differently styled objects alone does not establish hierarchy. See [full-page hierarchy check](visual-design.md#full-page-hierarchy-check).
- **C27 · Required:** to faithfully reconstruct an approved mockup, content-area font sizes, text/container dimensions, spacing and necessary fit/alignment adjustments may depart from the template's preset numbers through declared project-owned shared styles/recipes. Preserve C25's relative spatial relationships, visualizations, icons and text styling; retain fixed page UI and explicitly locked structures. Font-size changes must preserve readable roles and the accepted relative hierarchy. Prefer integer design parameters; when finer adjustment is useful, use consistent fixed steps in explicit units for each parameter class. Preserve necessary precision for derived scaling, unit conversion, font metrics and curve geometry. Apply shared changes consistently to repeated elements; do not round evidence values or invent per-instance overrides. After each adjustment, check text/content against its frame and container, then every visible object against the usable page and canvas, including actual glyphs/formulas, strokes, clipping and occlusion. Repair source and rebuild/reinspect the current render; passing box or build checks alone is insufficient. See [controlled adjustments and overflow](visual-design.md#controlled-adjustments-for-approved-mockups).
- **C28 · Required:** when an accepted element is impractical or cumbersome to express faithfully with native components or SVG, use the host ImageGen capability for that element, conditioned on the approved reference and preserving its visualization, icon/style identity and relationships. Deliver generated picture material with a transparent background and one color or a few clearly separated color roles. Retain the alpha mask or semantic layers/masks, adjustable/fixed color mapping, original and consumed asset, reference/prompt/provenance, and verify actual recoloring preserves structure and transparency. Keep other editable elements separate and disclose the picture exception; recolorability does not imply editable internal geometry. Do not simplify the accepted element, replace it with an unrelated symbol or flatten the entire page. Exact supplied identity/evidence assets and real data remain authoritative; generated material cannot invent or replace them. Follow explicit current user tool choices and report unavailable capabilities rather than silently dropping the element. See [ImageGen element reconstruction](visual-design.md#elements-that-need-imagegen).