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Every stage gets its own folder

Break every workflow into stages where each output is the next input. Every gate is a folder. The cost of going back becomes the cost of one stage, not one workflow.

4 parts / Hover to explore. Click to read.

Break every workflow into stages where each output is the next input. Every gate is a folder. The cost of going back becomes the cost of one stage, not one workflow.

STAGE A FOLDER
input -> work -> output -> check
                            |
                          accept
                            v
STAGE B FOLDER
accepted A output = B input

Changed input? Recheck dependants.
Only an accepted output crosses into the next stage. Keeping each stage's files makes targeted reruns possible, but dependent results still need checking after a change.
ICM stage skeleton — drop-in folder template, 01_prompts to 05_finalSTAGE.md — per-stage README template with rerun command
Five-stage video pipeline with a QC gate between every stage.
Prompts, images, clips, script, final cut. Check the result before moving to the next stage.

Ask for the finished thing in one go and it can almost work. Then you change the script and discover that the whole process wants to run again.

I split the work into stages and keep each stage's files. The output you approve becomes the next stage's input. That gives you somewhere specific to return to when a part needs changing.

Give each stage a result you can check

A single stage: input arrow, stage box, output arrow, QC checkmark beneath.
One stage takes an input, produces an output and exposes it for a quality check.

For this video workflow, the order is:

  1. Write the prompts, then check them.
  2. Generate images from those prompts, then check the images.
  3. Generate clips from the approved images, then check the clips.
  4. Write the script over the clips, then check the script.
  5. Assemble the final cut.

A quality gate is a decision about the actual output. Having a folder called qc doesn't make that decision for you.

Make the handoff visible on disk

Stage N's output folder wired into stage N+1's input folder, repeated across the pipeline.
The output accepted at one stage becomes the next stage's input. Keep the handoff explicit.

Each stage owns a folder with its input, output and quality-check material. The accepted output of one stage is exactly the next stage's input. Only that output crosses the stage's data boundary.

Folder tree showing each stage as its own directory with input, output, qc subfolders.
Separate folders preserve the work and show where a stage can be rerun.

If the script is wrong, I can revise it without generating the clips again. If a clip needs changing, I can return to its stage without rewriting a prompt that already works. Later outputs that depend on the changed file still need checking.

Start with the folder skeleton

my-video/

📂 input/

Brief, references, mood board (manual drop-in)

📂 output/

Prompt set, one .txt per shot, named to match the shotlist

📂 qc/

  • Each prompt reads as a directed shot, not a vibe
  • Naming aligns with the shotlist
  • No banned terms or brand drift

📄 STAGE.md — rerun

$ regenerate prompts from brief.md
Click a stage to see its input, its output, and the QC list that lives beside it. Same shape every time.

The skeleton supplies the five stages. The STAGE.md template records what a stage does and how to rerun it.

↓ICM stage skeleton (zip)↓STAGE.md template

Try it on one workflow you already repeat. Name the accepted result at each step and keep it. The useful saving is being able to redo the affected work while retaining the parts that still hold up.

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