A name is the beginning.
Evidence makes the guide.

Every person, book, and channel goes through the same eight gates. You can see what exists, what is missing, and what happens next.

Follow the new guidesSee the full process

Alysa Liu & the Isaacson biographies

5 new guides in onboarding; 3 already have chat. Existing chat access does not certify that every gate below has passed. This batch covers the seven individual biography subjects; the central figures in group books need a separate scope audit.

Alysa Liu

Sport and self-direction

Sourcing · chat not enabled

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Decide whether to pause, return, or change the terms of a demanding pursuit.

Next: Verify first-person interviews and permitted use; write an original synthesis of her stated choices without inferring private motives.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Team USA athlete profile. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide inspired by public interviews; no private motives, medical coaching, or claim to be Alysa.

Proposed skill: A return on your own terms. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “How can I return to something I left without repeating the conditions that made me leave?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Albert Einstein

Scientific imagination

Sourcing · chat not enabled

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Question assumptions and design a thought experiment before committing to an explanation.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Einstein: His Life and Universe. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide based on documented public work; separate historical evidence, interpretation, and present-day application.

Proposed skill: Test the hidden assumption. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “How could I test whether my most basic assumption is wrong?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Leonardo da Vinci

Observation and creativity

Sourcing · chat not enabled

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Use close observation to connect ideas across disciplines.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Leonardo da Vinci. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide based on documented public work; separate historical evidence, interpretation, and present-day application.

Proposed skill: Observe before explaining. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “How can I use observation to get unstuck on a creative problem?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Jennifer Doudna

Scientific collaboration

Sourcing · chat not enabled

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Frame an uncertain research question and examine the responsibilities that come with a discovery.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: The Code Breaker. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide based on documented public work; separate historical evidence, interpretation, and present-day application.

Proposed skill: Discovery and responsibility. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “What should my team consider before applying a powerful discovery?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Henry Kissinger

Diplomacy and historical judgment

Sourcing · chat not enabled

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Examine negotiation tradeoffs alongside their human costs and historical consequences.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Kissinger: A Biography. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: Historical analysis must include contested decisions, human costs, and credible counterevidence; no endorsement or impersonation.

Proposed skill: Map interests and consequences. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “How do I evaluate a negotiation without ignoring who bears its costs?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Benjamin Franklin

Habits and civic projects

Existing chat · audit pending

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Open existing guide

Translate a useful idea into habits, experiments, and shared institutions.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide based on documented public work; separate historical evidence, interpretation, and present-day application.

Proposed skill: Design a small experiment. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “How can I test a new habit before making it a permanent rule?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Steve Jobs

Product focus

Existing chat · audit pending

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Open existing guide

Choose what to remove from a product so its purpose becomes clearer.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Steve Jobs. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide based on documented public work; separate historical evidence, interpretation, and present-day application.

Proposed skill: Find the essential product. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “Which feature should we remove to make this product more coherent?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

Elon Musk

Engineering constraints

Existing chat · audit pending

2 of 8 onboarding gates documented

Open existing guide

Identify the physical or process constraint before accelerating work.

Next: Locate an authorized edition through Bookbox and map chapters to claims; supplement with primary documents before synthesizing.

Inspect the onboarding brief

Source lead: Elon Musk. Identified 2026-09-07; reference only. Full-text access and allowed uses remain unverified.

Boundary: AI guide based on documented public work; separate historical evidence, interpretation, and present-day application.

Proposed skill: Question the requirement. Awaiting source-backed implementation.

Evaluation question: “Which requirement should I question before optimizing this process?”

  1. 1.Outcome and demand — Documented in this brief
  2. 2.Identity and boundary — Documented in this brief
  3. 3.Rights and source map — Pending evidence
  4. 4.Corpus and citations — Pending evidence
  5. 5.One-page distillation — Pending evidence
  6. 6.Skills and tools — Pending evidence
  7. 7.Evaluation — Pending evidence
  8. 8.Runtime and launch — Pending evidence

The process for every guide

Each gate produces a reviewable artifact. Missing evidence keeps that gate open; an impressive persona prompt cannot substitute for it.

  1. Step 1

    Outcome and demand

    Name the decisions this guide should improve and confirm that real users want that help.

    Evidence to proceed: A specific decision, intended audience, and request to build the guide.

  2. Step 2

    Identity and boundary

    Choose person, channel, or book; set the canonical slug, scope, safety rules, and non-impersonation language.

    Evidence to proceed: Canonical name and slug, scope, identity disclosure, and explicit limits.

  3. Step 3

    Rights and source map

    Verify official, licensed, public-domain, or user-owned sources. Book requests move to Bookbox for this gate.

    Evidence to proceed: A source manifest with provenance, edition, access rights, and allowed uses. A source link alone does not pass this gate.

  4. Step 4

    Corpus and citations

    Ingest raw material privately, write original syntheses, and make every durable claim traceable to a source.

    Evidence to proceed: Private source files where permitted, original synthesis notes, and a claim-to-source map. No raw transcripts or copyrighted chapters in the public app.

  5. Step 5

    One-page distillation

    Create the canonical distillation.md: worldview, operating principles, questions, tensions, and limits.

    Evidence to proceed: One page of principles, decision questions, contradictions, limits, and citations. Every principle must trace to the source map.

  6. Step 6

    Skills and tools

    Turn the guide's methods into reusable workflows; attach MCP tools only when they improve the actual job.

    Evidence to proceed: At least one runnable workflow with inputs, steps, an example, expected output, and a stopping rule. No invented methods attributed to the person.

  7. Step 7

    Evaluation

    Test citation accuracy, source boundaries, difficult advice, refusals, and useful voice without claiming to be the person.

    Evidence to proceed: Recorded checks for useful advice, correct citations, out-of-scope questions, false premises, impersonation, and unsupported claims. A build passing is not an answer-quality evaluation.

  8. Step 8

    Runtime and launch

    Wire chat, install, or MCP access; add auth, entitlement, profile, analytics, freshness checks, and production verification.

    Evidence to proceed: An enabled profile and chat with auth, tested fallback/error handling, and a launch receipt. Voice additionally needs microphone, interruption, latency, and real audio checks.