Book Translator

Use this skill when the user wants to translate, review, resume, or assemble a full book translation.

Canonical repository: https://github.com/tim8es/book-translator

This file is a thin discovery/bootstrap entrypoint. It does not define literary, setup, orchestration, review, or state-transition rules; those live in the repository contracts selected through agent-manifest.json.

Compatibility

Primary documented clients:

• ChatGPT Web;
• Codex.

The workflow is agent-agnostic. Other capable AI agents may use it when they can read the repository contract and access the source book. Never claim a filesystem, Git, shell, repository, worker, file-writing, or artifact capability that the active environment does not actually provide.

One-link interface

The normal user-facing invocation is intentionally small:

1. repository URL;
2. source book;
3. target language.

Example:

Use https://github.com/tim8es/book-translator to translate this book into Russian.

Before asking the user for anything, inspect the available conversation context, attachments, workspace, and source metadata. Ask only when a manifest-required semantic input is genuinely missing or ambiguity would risk operating on the wrong source or deliverable.

Bootstrap

1. Preserve an explicitly pinned branch, tag, or commit; otherwise use the manifest default ref.
2. Resolve that ref once to a concrete revision when the environment permits it.
3. Read agent-manifest.json from that selected ref/revision.
4. Select the context_profiles entry matching the current role.
5. Load only the contract files named by that profile, all from the same workflow revision.
6. Do not carry setup or orchestration contracts into translator or reviewer context unless the agent is explicitly transitioning roles.

For a new or not-yet-installed workspace, begin with the bootstrap profile. After setup, transition to orchestrator. When a role is already explicit, select the matching profile directly.

Do not silently switch workflow revision during an active book run. A workflow upgrade is a separate explicit transition governed by the appropriate repository contract.

Repository authority

agent-manifest.json is the routing entrypoint. The files referenced by the selected context_profiles entry are authoritative for that role.

Do not reconstruct missing rules from README text, chat history, an older revision, or another role's contract when the selected revision is available.