create-website

# Create a Website

A blank page becomes a live, high-converting website through ten phases run in one dependency-respecting order: message, then design, then conversion, then a brutal review. This journey is interactive — the agent asks before every decision and never designs before the message is settled — and resumable, because every decision and artifact lives in the project's `docs/` folder. You drive the phases; the constituent skills carry the method.

## Core Principle

**Message before design, design before conversion — in that order; looks-fine is the floor, not the goal.** A visitor decides in five seconds whether to stay, and that decision rides on whether they instantly understand what you do and why it matters to *them* — so clarity comes first and design serves it. This skill sequences the phases, asks the questions, and records the decisions; the constituent skills carry the frameworks. Invoke them rather than improvising their method.

## Journey Map

| Phase | Skill | Question it answers | Artifact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | one-page-marketing | Who is this for, and what is the site's one job? | Creates docs/MARKETING.md; extends docs/CUSTOMER.md |
| 2 | storybrand-messaging | What do we say, with the customer as hero? | Creates docs/POSITIONING.md, docs/WEBSITE.md |
| 3 | made-to-stick | How do we make the message memorable? | Extends docs/POSITIONING.md, docs/WEBSITE.md |
| 4 | top-design | What makes this page unforgettable to look at? | Creates docs/DESIGN.md |
| 5 | web-typography | Is the type readable as well as dramatic? | Extends docs/DESIGN.md |
| 6 | refactoring-ui | Is the design consistent and systematic? | Extends docs/DESIGN.md |
| 7 | ux-heuristics | Can anyone use it without thinking? | Extends docs/DESIGN.md |
| 8 | cro-methodology | Why don't visitors convert, and what answers them? | Extends docs/WEBSITE.md, docs/EXPERIMENTS.md |
| 9 | scorecard-marketing | How do we capture the not-ready-to-buy majority? | Extends docs/WEBSITE.md, docs/MARKETING.md |
| 10 | steve-jobs-design-review | Is it insanely great, or not done? | Extends docs/WEBSITE.md — GATE |

## Operating Rules

1. **Resume first.** Before anything else, read `docs/CREATE-WEBSITE-PLAN.md` and every artifact in the Journey Map. If the tracker exists, summarize the journey state in 3-5 lines and ask which phase to enter. Done when the user has confirmed an entry point. A journey with a tracker is resumed, never restarted.
2. **Intake on first run only.** No tracker: run the Intake below, then create `docs/CREATE-WEBSITE-PLAN.md` with every phase statused `pending | in-progress | awaiting-evidence | done | deferred: reason | skipped: reason`. Done when the tracker exists and the user has confirmed the phase plan.
3. **Phase entry.** Announce: what the phase does, the decision it forces, the artifact it produces, rough effort. Offer proceed / skip / defer — phases marked GATE may be deferred, never skipped. Mark the phase `in-progress` on proceed. Done when the user chose.
4. **Skill invocation and fallback.** Load the phase's skill and use it: each phase's Invoke line names the skill by slug — use that skill to run the phase. If it is not available, offer: `npx skills add wondelai/skills/<slug> --global`. If the user declines, run the phase from its Brief — the minimum viable method. State which mode you are in.
5. **In-phase decisions.** Ask every question under "Decide with the user" — with concrete options and your recommendation. Record the choice in the tracker's Key Decisions. A decision made silently is a defect.
6. **Phase exit.** Present the draft artifact content for sign-off before writing. On approval: write or extend the docs/ files, update the tracker (status, Key Decisions, Next Actions). Done when the files are written and the phase row shows `done`.
7. **Artifact discipline.** Read before writing; create a file only if missing, otherwise extend — add or update your sections, preserve everyone else's. Files are UPPERCASE in `docs/`. Every recommendation lands as a checkbox or a table row with owner and priority. See [references/artifact-templates.md](references/artifact-templates.md) when creating a docs/ file for the first time — create it from the full skeleton (all section headings), then fill the sections your phase names.
8. **Every scarcity claim, testimonial, and guarantee on the site must be true.** When a persuasion tactic needs inventing evidence, replace it with a tactic that uses evidence you have.

## Intake

Ask these before creating the tracker:

1. What is the product or service, and who is it for? (Gates Phase 1's niche and avatar, and every word of the message.)
2. Do `docs/POSITIONING.md` or `docs/CUSTOMER.md` already exist from a create-business run? (If yes, lighten Phases 1-2 and reuse them; if positioning is thin, add the obviously-awesome optional phase.)
3. What is the single primary conversion goal — start a trial, book a demo, purchase, or take a quiz? (Gates every CTA decision in Phases 1, 8, 9.)
4. Full multi-page site or a single landing page? (Gates sitemap scope and whether Phases 8-9 apply.)
5. What is the tech stack and where does the code live? (So design and copy land in real files, not a hand-off doc.)
6. What proof assets exist today — testimonials, results, logos, guarantees? (Gates the Phase 8 persuasion audit and Rule 8.)
7. How much does craft matter — competing on design, or a functional site? (Gates whether Phases 4-5 run fully or lightly.)

Skip heuristics: skip Phase 1 when a prior run already fixed the niche, avatar, and USP; run Phases 4-5 lightly for an internal or throwaway page where craft does not sell (never skip refactoring-ui); skip Phase 9 when one direct CTA suffices and there is no nurture motion; skip Phase 3 only under a brutal timeline — and warn that clear-but-forgettable copy evaporates. Then create the tracker from the template and confirm the plan.

Done when `docs/CREATE-WEBSITE-PLAN.md` exists with every phase