Editorial Calendar Reference

Overview

Editorial calendars are YAML files that define the content schedule for a given quarter. They specify what content to create, when to publish it, and provide context for AI-assisted generation.

File Location

calendar/
├── 2026/
│   ├── q1.yml    # January 1 - March 31
│   ├── q2.yml    # April 1 - June 30
│   ├── q3.yml    # July 1 - September 30
│   └── q4.yml    # October 1 - December 31
└── schema.yml    # Validation schema (optional)

File Format

Top-Level Structure

# 2026 Q1 Editorial Calendar
# Theme: "AI-Assisted Development & Smart Agriculture"
# Focus: Active projects + weekly news curation

quarter: "2026-Q1"
theme: "AI-Assisted Development & Smart Agriculture"
goals:
  - Establish bi-weekly publishing cadence
  - Weekly news/trends roundup (Fridays)
  - Deep-dive active projects (git-adr, claude-spec, agriculture tools)
  - Build engaged community around AI development workflows

recurring:
  # Recurring content series definitions

months:
  january:
    # Monthly content schedule
  february:
    # ...
  march:
    # ...

news_sources:
  # News source definitions for weekly roundups

Field Reference

Root Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
`quarter`	string	Yes	Quarter identifier in format “YYYY-Q#”
`theme`	string	Yes	Overarching theme for the quarter
`goals`	list[string]	Yes	3-5 strategic goals for the quarter
`recurring`	object	No	Recurring content series definitions
`months`	object	Yes	Monthly content schedules
`news_sources`	object	No	External news sources for curation

Recurring Content

recurring:
  weekly_digest:
    name: "Friday Roundup"
    description: "Curated news on AI development, agriculture tech, and open source"
    schedule: every_friday
    type: social
    platforms: [twitter, linkedin, bluesky]
    content_sources:
      - ai_development: ["Anthropic blog", "OpenAI news", "HuggingFace", "LangChain"]
      - agriculture_tech: ["AgFunder", "Precision Ag", "AgriTech Tomorrow"]
      - developer_tools: ["GitHub blog", "Dev.to", "Hacker News"]
    format: |
      🗞️ Friday Roundup - Week 

      🤖 AI Development:
      - 
      - 

      🌾 Agriculture Tech:
      - 

      🛠️ Developer Tools:
      - 

      What caught your attention this week?

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Display name of the series
`description`	string	Series description for context
`schedule`	enum	`every_friday`, `every_monday`, `bi_weekly`, `monthly`
`type`	enum	`blog`, `social`, `video`, `newsletter`
`platforms`	list[string]	Target platforms
`content_sources`	object	Categorized source lists
`format`	string	Template with `` placeholders

Monthly Structure

months:
  january:
    theme: "New Year Planning & git-adr Launch Campaign"
    posts:
      - # Post 1
      - # Post 2
      # ...

Field	Type	Description
`theme`	string	Monthly sub-theme
`posts`	list[Post]	Ordered list of content items

Post Object

Complete Example

- week: 2
  type: blog
  title: "The State of AI Coding Assistants in 2026"
  description: "Comparing Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and emerging tools"
  topics:
    - ai-development
    - tools
    - industry-analysis
  status: planned
  due_date: 2026-01-09
  publish_date: 2026-01-13
  platforms: [blog, twitter, linkedin]
  priority: high
  pillar: ai-development
  word_count: 2000
  cta: "What's your preferred AI coding setup?"
  repo: zircote/git-adr
  news_integration: true

Post Fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`week`	integer	Yes	-	Week number within the month (1-5)
`type`	enum	Yes	-	Content type (see below)
`title`	string	Yes	-	Content title
`description`	string	Yes	-	Brief description for context
`topics`	list[string]	No	[]	Topic tags for categorization
`status`	enum	No	`planned`	Lifecycle status
`due_date`	date	No	-	Draft completion deadline (YYYY-MM-DD)
`publish_date`	date	No	-	Target publication date (YYYY-MM-DD)
`platforms`	list[string]	No	[`blog`]	Publication platforms
`priority`	enum	No	`medium`	Priority level
`pillar`	enum	No	-	Content pillar category
`word_count`	integer	No	1500	Target word count for blogs
`cta`	string	No	-	Call-to-action text
`repo`	string	No	-	Related GitHub repository (owner/name)
`news_integration`	boolean	No	false	Include current news in content

Enumerated Values

Content Types

Value	Description	Typical Word Count
`blog`	Long-form blog post	1000-3000
`social`	Social media post	50-280
`video`	Video content	N/A
`newsletter`	Email newsletter	500-1000

Status Values

Value	Description	Next Status
`planned`	Scheduled, not started	`in-progress`
`in-progress`	Draft being written	`review`
`review`	Ready for review	`published`
`published`	Live on website	-
`skipped`	Intentionally not published	-
`rescheduled`	Moved to future date	-

Priority Levels

Value	Description	Flexibility
`critical`	Must publish on date	None
`high`	Target date preferred	1-2 days
`medium`	Flexible within week	3-5 days
`low`	Can be rescheduled	Unlimited

Content Pillars

Value	Description	Target %
`developer-tools`	git-adr, claude-spec, marketplace	25%
`ai-development`	AI workflows, LLM tools, industry	42%
`agriculture-tech`	NSIP, LambLedger, IoT	23%
`community`	Retrospectives, announcements	10%

Platforms

Value	Character Limit	Notes
`blog`	Unlimited	Jekyll site
`twitter`	280	Threads supported
`linkedin`	3000	Article format available
`bluesky`	300	Growing platform
`mastodon`	500	Instance-dependent
`youtube`	N/A	Video content

News Sources Section

news_sources:
  ai_development:
    - name: "Anthropic Blog"
      url: "https://www.anthropic.com/news"
      rss: true
    - name: "OpenAI Blog"
      url: "https://openai.com/blog"
    - name: "HuggingFace Blog"
      url: "https://huggingface.co/blog"
    - name: "LangChain Blog"
      url: "https://blog.langchain.dev"

  agriculture_tech:
    - name: "AgFunder News"
      url: "https://agfundernews.com"
    - name: "Precision Ag"
      url: "https://www.precisionag.com"
    - name: "Future Farming"
      url: "https://www.futurefarming.com"

  developer_tools:
    - name: "GitHub Blog"
      url: "https://github.blog"
    - name: "Dev.to"
      url: "https://dev.to"
    - name: "Hacker News"
      url: "https://news.ycombinator.com"

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Display name of source
`url`	string	Source URL
`rss`	boolean	Whether RSS feed is available

Content Summary Comments

Each calendar should end with a summary comment block:

# Q1 Content Summary:
# - 18 blog posts (6 AI industry analysis, 12 project/technical)
# - 12 Friday Roundup news digests
# - Balanced mix: 45% AI development/industry, 25% dev tools, 20% agriculture, 10% community
#
# AI Industry Topics Covered:
# - State of AI coding assistants comparison
# - LLM context windows practical guide
# - AI agents evolution and patterns
# - MCP protocol ecosystem analysis
# - AI in production lessons
# - AI developer toolkit survey

Validation

Required Fields Checklist

For each post:

week is 1-5
type is valid enum
title is non-empty
description is non-empty
due_date before publish_date (if both present)
publish_date is within the quarter’s date range

Date Validation Rules

Due Date: Business day before or same as publish date
Publish Date: Within the quarter’s calendar range
Week Alignment: Week number should roughly match the date

Schema Validation

Use the optional calendar/schema.yml to validate:

# Example validation command (requires yq or similar)
yq eval 'select(. != null)' calendar/2026/q1.yml

Examples

Minimal Blog Post

- week: 1
  type: blog
  title: "2025 in Review"
  description: "What I built and learned this year"
  status: planned

Full Blog Post

- week: 3
  type: blog
  title: "AI-Powered ADR Drafting with git-adr and Claude"
  description: "How git-adr integrates with Claude Code for architecture decisions"
  topics:
    - git-adr
    - claude-code
    - ai-development
  status: planned
  due_date: 2026-01-16
  publish_date: 2026-01-20
  platforms: [blog, twitter, linkedin]
  priority: high
  pillar: ai-development
  word_count: 1800
  cta: "Enable AI drafting in your git-adr workflow"
  repo: zircote/git-adr
  news_integration: false

- week: 2
  type: social
  title: "Friday Roundup - Week 2"
  description: "Weekly curated news digest"
  status: planned
  publish_date: 2026-01-10
  platforms: [twitter, linkedin, bluesky]
  news_integration: true

Video Content

- week: 3
  type: video
  title: "Demo: Drafting an ADR with AI in 60 Seconds"
  description: "Quick walkthrough of git-adr's AI drafting feature"
  topics: [git-adr, demo]
  status: planned
  due_date: 2026-01-18
  platforms: [youtube, linkedin]
  priority: medium

Updating Calendars

Adding New Content

Open the appropriate quarter file
Find the correct month and week
Add new post object with required fields
Ensure week numbers are sequential
Update summary comment if totals change

Rescheduling Content

# Before
- week: 2
  type: blog
  title: "Original Title"
  status: planned
  publish_date: 2026-01-13

# After
- week: 2
  type: blog
  title: "Original Title"
  status: rescheduled
  publish_date: 2026-01-20  # New date
  rescheduled_from: 2026-01-13  # Original date
  rescheduled_reason: "Needed more research time"

Marking Complete

# After publishing
- week: 2
  type: blog
  title: "Published Post"
  status: published
  publish_date: 2026-01-13
  published_url: "https://www.zircote.com/blog/2026/01/13/published-post"