Content calendar

Content calendar

Most content calendars fail in one of two ways: a grid of empty boxes, or a list of vague themes ("thought leadership"). This one gets the structure right with a script (dates, channels, an even pillar mix) and then fills every slot with a topic specific enough to start writing today.

When to use

• Planning the next 2 to 8 weeks of posts, newsletters, or articles.
• "What should we post this month?", "build our content calendar", "plan LinkedIn for Q1".
• To turn one big piece into many, use repurpose-long-form and slot the results in here.

Inputs

Ask in one message, with these defaults:

1. Start date (next Monday) and weeks (4).
2. Channels and days. Default: LinkedIn Mon, Wed, Fri; newsletter Thu; blog Tue. Fewer channels done well beats many done badly. Suggest cutting if the team is one person and they ask for more than 4 pieces a week.
3. Pillars: 3 to 4 recurring themes (default: Product tips, Customer stories, Behind the scenes). Good pillars map to what the audience wants, not to departments.
4. Audience in one line, and what is coming up: launches, events, holidays, dates to skip.
5. Raw material: existing posts, docs, customer quotes, or notes in content/. Read them; good topics come from here.
6. Voice: follow brand.md if it exists.

Steps

1. Lay out the slots.

   node scripts/calendar.mjs content/calendar --start 2026-11-09 --weeks 4 --cadence "linkedin:mon,wed,fri newsletter:thu blog:tue" --pillars "Product tips,Customer stories,Behind the scenes" --skip 2026-11-26

   It writes content-calendar.csv, .md, and .json in content/calendar/. It will not overwrite an existing calendar; pass --name december for a new one, or --force only if the user says to replace it.

2. Place the fixed moments first: launches, events, and holidays go in the slots nearest their dates. Put a teaser 3 to 5 days before a launch and a recap after.

3. Fill every slot in the CSV: topic (specific, one sentence) and hook (the first line a reader sees). Match the pillar and the channel format:

   • LinkedIn post: one idea, a story or a lesson, 150 to 250 words.
   • Newsletter issue: one main piece plus two short links.
   • Blog article: a question people search for, 800 to 1,500 words.
   • Thread or carousel: a list of 5 to 8 steps or examples. Specific beats general: "How one clinic cut no-shows from 18% to 7% with a two-line text" beats "Customer success story".
4. Reuse on purpose. A blog article on Tuesday can feed Wednesday's LinkedIn post and Thursday's newsletter. Note the source in link.
5. Check the mix: no pillar twice in a row on the same channel, no more than one promotional piece in five, at least one piece a week that asks the audience a question.
6. Update the .md to match the filled CSV and show the first two weeks in chat. Ask what to swap.

See examples/content-calendar-filled.csv for what a finished week looks like.

Output format

# Content calendar: 2026-11-09 to 2026-12-04

20 pieces over 4 weeks. linkedin 12, blog 4, newsletter 4.

## Week 1 (from 2026-11-09)
| Date | Channel | Format | Pillar | Topic | Hook |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mon 2026-11-09 | linkedin | post | Product tips | The 2-line reminder text that halves no-shows | "Most reminder texts are too long. Ours is 2 lines." |

Guardrails

• Never schedule or publish anything. This plans; people post.
• Do not invent customer names, results, or quotes for topics. Use <customer story: need one> and list what material is missing.
• Keep the calendar realistic for the team size the user gave. Say so if the plan is more than they can produce.
• Do not overwrite a calendar that has topics filled in.

Content calendar

Plan a month of content in ten minutes. A script lays out every slot by date and channel with your themes rotated evenly, then Claude fills each one with a specific topic and an opening line you can start writing from.

Who it is for: founders, solo marketers, and small teams who post on LinkedIn, send a newsletter, and keep a blog, and are tired of staring at a blank grid.

Example

You say: "Plan the next 4 weeks. LinkedIn 3 times a week, newsletter Thursdays, blog Tuesdays. We launch two-way reminders on Nov 18. Skip Thanksgiving."

Claude runs:

node scripts/calendar.mjs content/calendar --start 2026-11-09 --weeks 4 --skip 2026-11-26

and fills in the topics:

You get content/calendar/content-calendar.csv (open it in any spreadsheet) plus a readable .md version. examples/content-calendar-filled.csv shows a finished week.

What it can access

• Reads your notes and drafts in content/ and brand.md for voice.
• Writes only inside content/calendar/.
• Runs one script, scripts/calendar.mjs (Node, no dependencies). No network.

Setup

None. Needs Node 18 or newer.