Report Building

Skill Configuration

User Context

• mcp-app: a Data Analytics MCP artifact app report. This is the default for safe, bounded in-Codex reports.
• html: a portable static HTML report. Use this when the user asks for HTML, file/blob sharing, Docs/Slides conversion, offline portability, no MCP app/widget rendering, or when the MCP artifact renderer is unavailable, unsafe, or over bounds.

Workflow

1. Define the reporting job.
   State the user question, decision or action the report should support, primary audience, scope, time frame, comparison baseline, success criteria, and what would make the report decision-useful. Choose exactly one audience:
   • product stakeholders: default for product, business, leadership, strategy, diagnostics, KPI readouts, and general stakeholder reports.
   • technical: only when the user asks for a technical or methods-first report, or when the report's main value is methodology such as metric definitions, measurement design, statistics, modeling, experimentation, or validation.
   If the work is unusually methodology-heavy but the user did not ask for a technical audience, ask before switching.
2. Read the matching audience specification.
   Read exactly one matching audience specification before gathering evidence, shaping the report spine, or drafting the report surface:
   • executive-report.md [blocked] for product stakeholders
   • technical-report.md [blocked] for technical
   Treat the selected audience specification as a report-quality contract, not as a replacement for the workflow below. Capture its Required Structure entries in the report plan or supporting source notes, and stop with a blocker if the matching specification cannot be read.
3. Gather and bound the evidence.
   Inventory the source data, metric definitions, denominators, assumptions, requested cuts, caveats, notebooks, SQL, scripts, query permalinks, source documents, and reviewed datasets needed to support the report. Resolve ambiguities before drafting claims. If a requested metric or cut cannot be supported, record why and state what evidence would be needed to add it. Preserve process notes, source inventory, and reproducibility notes in source metadata, source notes, or supporting artifacts, not in the visible report body.
4. Distill the report spine.
   Before choosing a delivery surface, write or mentally verify a compact answer-first report spine with these entries:
   • question
   • decision-useful answer
   • metric, cohort, denominator, time window, and comparison basis
   • findings by requested segment or driver, with supporting evidence
   • sensitivity or validation checks when the answer is comparative, causal-adjacent, or surprising
   • caveats that could change interpretation
   • recommended next step, monitoring point, or open question
   Ensure report segments are clearly separated and duplicate feature/metric coverage is removed. Each major segment should have one clear job in the report and should pair a claim with evidence, interpretation, and a concrete implication.
   If the spine has only a title, an executive summary, and one chart or table, stop and expand the evidence path before rendering unless the user explicitly asked for a brief.
5. Plan the reader-facing structure.
   Draft the ordered major segments, visible segment titles, and intended evidence format for each segment before building the surface. Use visuals by default for quantitative findings when real data is available; use tables for exact lookup, audit detail, or cases where a chart would obscure the point. If a quantitative segment has no visual, record the omission reason in source notes or supporting artifacts.
   Every planned major segment must have a reader-facing title that will appear in the final report. Do not rely on chart headers, table titles, or non-rendered structure alone to carry the section title.
   Apply the report depth gate before building:
   • The executive summary does not count as the evidence section.
   • A report with quantitative findings must include visible metric/cohort definitions before those definitions are needed to interpret the evidence.
   • A comparative report must include segment-level interpretation, not only aggregate values.
   • A causal-adjacent or behavior-difference report must include at least one validation, sensitivity, or limitation note near the finding it qualifies.
   • A report with only one narrative block plus chart/table evidence is too thin unless the user explicitly requested a brief, an inline answer, or a single-chart readout.
6. Apply report standards and audience requirements.
   After the general structure exists, apply the relevant standards in this skill. Map each planned major segment to the selected audience specification's Required Structure entries, and record any merged, renamed, reordered, or omitted entry with a reason.
7. Design visuals and tables.
   Route every report visualization through $visualize-data for chart selection, chart contract, and final-context QA. Keep chart-selection rationale, validator notes, and QA details in working notes, source notes, or supporting artifacts unless the user asks for methodology or the detail changes the reader-facing takeaway. Make sure every visual or table supports a specific report claim rather than existing as decorative context. Plan an adjacent explanatory paragraph for every visualization before rendering. Reserve chart, table, and preview output for the selected report surface.
8. Choose and build one delivery surface.
   Use the single delivery mode selected after the report spine and evidence plan are clear. Do not add a second mode unless the user explicitly asks for it as a separate follow-up.
   Build the selected surface so it preserves the report reading path, visible titles, evidence order, caveats, and source metadata. Use the delivery-mode specifications in Report Standards as implementation guidance for the selected surface, not as a substitute for the report-building workflow.
   If the user asks to share an MCP app report or dashboard as a hosted link, use the artifact app's Site Creator share path after the MCP app is valid. Call export_artifact_package to materialize the current manifest, bounded snapshot, package metadata, inline-safe source text, and real MCP artifact runtime into a Site Creator-compatible app; do not hand-roll standalone HTML or publish a viewer that depends on MCP-only host payload state. Follow the sites-hosting workflow and default new hosted report access to workspace_all unless the user asks for narrower access.
   When revising an existing report, treat the current rendered report and source metadata as the starting artifact. Preserve every existing section, visual, table, source, dataset, title, and caveat exactly unless the user explicitly asks to change it or the requested edit makes a narrow dependent update unavoidable. A request to add a section, swap a chart, restyle a visual, or customize one part of the report is not a request to summarize, replace, reorder, or drop the rest of the report. Render the full revised report in the selected surface; do not hand off a section-only, slimmed, or partial replacement artifact when the prior report was complete.
   For correction passes after a validation or rendering issue, patch the previous full report artifact in place. Limit changes to the affected visual, table, section, dataset, or source plus any directly dependent references. Preserve unrelated ids, reading order, narrative text, caveats, recommendations, source metadata, package metadata, and datasets unchanged when the selected surface exposes those concepts. Before rendering, compare the old and new artifact structures and confirm that only the intended parts changed. If the previous full artifact is not available, stop and surface that blocker instead of rebuilding a shorter replacement from memory.
9. Validate the finished report.
   Review the rendered report itself, not just its source files. Confirm that:
   • the top of the report answers the user directly
   • every major segment has a visible title
   • claims, visuals, tables, caveats, and implications appear in the intended reading order
   • the selected delivery surface satisfies its mode-specific standards
   • the supporting evidence and source notes are sufficient for auditability
   Fix the report before handoff when any of these checks fail.
10. Hand off the selected report.

Report Standards

PDF Export Specifications

MCP App Report Specifications

HTML Report Specifications

• Use HTML mode when the user asks for HTML, file/blob sharing, Docs/Slides conversion, offline portability, or when the MCP artifact renderer is unavailable, unsafe, or over bounds.
• Preserve the shell templates' data-contract-section attributes from assets/executive-report-shell.html or assets/technical-report-shell.html.
• Generate report.html plus PNG chart assets from the Seaborn template workflow. HTML report charts use the Seaborn template workflow and embed generated PNG files; SVG may remain as a supporting source artifact, but the delivered HTML should embed PNG charts. Inspect those image assets before delivery.
• Keep the HTML reading path report-like: answer first, visible segment titles, evidence and interpretation together, caveats where they matter, and source metadata preserved without appending a visible sources, notes, or reproducibility appendix unless the user explicitly asks for it.
• Before handoff, inspect report.html and the generated PNG chart assets. Use report-to-google-doc or report-to-google-slides only with HTML reports, not live MCP app reports.

Narrative

• Every report must have a short plain-English reader-facing title. For HTML reports, use the same title in the document title and visible page header. For MCP app reports, follow mcp-app-report.md [blocked].
• Do not duplicate the title or executive summary in an unlabeled subtitle, lede, scope line, or second summary block.
• Treat the report title and executive summary as separate visible elements. The report title is the artifact-level name; it does not satisfy the executive-summary section role. For stakeholder reports, render a visible Executive Summary section heading immediately after the title before the summary content.
• Open stakeholder reports with an executive summary that answers the user's question directly. Default to 2-4 bullets or short mini-paragraphs with bold topic sentences.
• Open technical reports with a technical summary that states the main result, then provide definitions, methods, uncertainty, and limitations needed to trust it.
• Start major report segments with the takeaway, not setup prose. Use headings that carry the insight rather than copying generic labels.
• Include visible titles for every major report segment in every delivery mode. Titles are part of the reader-facing report contract, not just private metadata. In HTML reports, render titles as heading elements inside sections. For MCP app reports, follow mcp-app-report.md [blocked]. Use story-specific titles such as "API ARR is pulling ahead of plan" rather than generic labels when the evidence supports it.
• Keep an obvious top-to-bottom report reading path. Do not turn a report into a dashboard grid unless the user asked for a dashboard. Use a single-column document flow by default; half-width visual blocks are acceptable only when labels, series, and interpretation remain readable in the selected surface.
• Use report markdown blocks for narrative insights and interpretation. Keep chart/table headers neutral, and put takeaways in adjacent narrative blocks rather than hiding the argument inside visual metadata. Markdown blocks are the primary place for the story.
• Reports should be substantial enough to stand on their own. Do not deliver a report that is mostly a chart/table bundle with a short summary. The reader should be able to understand the answer, evidence, interpretation, caveats, and recommended next step from the narrative itself.
• Use flexible section names and story-specific ordering, but make sure the report still does the core jobs: answer the user's question directly; explain the metric, cohort, denominator, time window, and comparison basis when they affect interpretation; pair each important number or visual with plain-English interpretation; explain why the finding matters for the decision; state what remains uncertain or could change the conclusion; and include a practical next step when the evidence supports one.
• Use rich markdown beyond the executive summary when it improves scanning: bold topic sentences in important body paragraphs, keep recommendations as real markdown lists, and avoid collapsing list items into run-on paragraphs.
• When using ordered or unordered lists, put each item on its own Markdown line. Do not put 1., 2., and 3. items in the same paragraph, and do not leave an intended list item as an unnumbered continuation line.
• For executive, strategic, and diagnostic reports, the first narrative content after the title should be the executive summary. Do not insert an unlabeled lede, duplicate summary, methodology block, caveat section, KPI strip, or metric card row before the summary.
• For diagnostic and strategy reports, do not insert a default KPI-card row before the executive summary. KPI, portfolio, MBR/QBR, and one-section-per area reports may use a compact KPI-card strip after the summary when headline actuals, deltas, and status signals are available.
• Do not use a broad comparison table directly beneath an executive summary as the primary summary artifact for KPI, portfolio, or multi-area reports. Use metric cards for skimmable top-line status when headline actuals, deltas, and status signals are available; use tables for supporting exact values or audit detail.
• Metric cards should put the headline value first and render supporting measures as labeled secondary context.
• Percent values must use a consistent numeric scale in the selected surface.
• Every major report segment should pair a claim with evidence and interpretation, then answer "so what" with an implication, risk, opportunity, recommendation, monitoring point, or next action.
• Include recommended next steps when the evidence supports action. If the evidence only supports monitoring, say what should be monitored and why.
• Include further questions when meaningful uncertainty, missing evidence, or follow-up analysis could change the decision. Omit the section only when there are no decision-relevant open questions, and record that choice in source notes.
• Caveats and uncertainty should be visible where they change interpretation, without crowding out the answer.

Evidence And Sources

• Base every major claim on saved data, code, query results, notebook outputs, source documents, or rendered charts created or inspected during the task.
• Tie important numbers, charts, and recommendations to readable source metadata near the relevant paragraph or visual when the selected surface supports it.
• Keep raw paths, notebook locations, temp directories, request IDs, table names, and implementation-facing audit details in source metadata, source notes, or supporting artifacts unless needed for trust.
• Do not add a visible bottom sources, notes, or reproducibility section unless the user explicitly asks for that methods layer.
• Preserve source datasets, query or transformation artifacts, rendering code, output folders, assumptions, omitted metrics, and chart QA notes in source metadata, source notes, or supporting artifacts even when they are not visible in the report body.
• Surface enough evidence affordance for audit without creating a heavy visible claim graph. Prefer block-level source references when the surface supports them.

Visuals And Tables

• Report visual headers should be neutral: chart/table name plus a short description only when needed for metric, denominator, cohort, filter, or time window. Put narrative insights and caveats in adjacent markdown blocks.
• Every report visualization must have an adjacent explanatory paragraph immediately before or after it in the reading flow. The paragraph should state the takeaway, how to read the visual, and the implication or caveat needed to interpret it; chart titles, subtitles, captions, metric cards, or table headers do not satisfy this requirement by themselves.
• Chart and table subtitles should add a reader-facing insight or interpretive context that the title does not already cover. Prefer direction, magnitude, inflection, rank, comparison basis, scope, time period, unit of measurement, filters/exclusions, denominator, cohort, sample size, or basis of comparison, such as Growth accelerated after mid-April and ended at a period high or FY2021-FY2024, values in millions of USD. Keep descriptions and subtitles hidden by default unless showDescription or an equivalent flag is needed to clarify the reading path.
• Prefer human-readable dates in visible markdown, chart titles/subtitles, captions, table labels, and generated-date chrome. Keep ISO timestamps in query bindings, source metadata, and other machine-readable fields.
• Do not use source table names, raw query ids, dashboard slugs, notebook paths, SQL intent, metric definitions, or implementation labels as chart/table subtitles. Put those details in source metadata, source notes, or supporting artifacts unless the source identity is itself essential for reader trust.
• Before rendering report tables, check every table subtitle against the table title and visible columns. If it does not clarify what rows are in scope, what period is covered, how values are measured, which filters apply, or what comparison is being made, rewrite it or omit it rather than falling back to the source name.
• Do not shrink visuals into unreadable sidecards. Use full-width blocks for dense charts, long labels, or HTML PNG images that need more room.
• Put report charts on their own readable row or block in the reading flow unless a half-width layout has been checked in final context and remains legible. Do not use narrow right-rail chart cards for report evidence.
• Report trend charts need enough observed data to make the shape worth reading. When a report chart would show only a few anchor periods, route back through $visualize-data to request a finer grain, longer lookback, or meaningful segment breakdown before rendering. If the source cannot support that without misleading the reader, replace the trend with a KPI strip, grouped period bars, table, or concise narrative comparison and record the omitted richer trend in source notes or supporting artifacts.
• Report tables default to spacious density for low-row, narrative, presentation-ready tables. Use dense tables only for audit/detail tables or compact lookup data.
• Reserve positive/negative table color for columns explicitly marked with movement: true, semantic: "movement", or role: "movement". Values in those columns should carry the intended sign or arrow, such as +12%, -\$4.2M, ↑3 pp, or -18. Keep composition, mix, share, percentile, and current-value columns neutral.
• For multi-chart reports, keep a compact chart map in source notes or supporting artifacts. Name each visual's report segment, analytical question, selected family/type, fields, and supported claim. Repeated chart types need a reason; do not default every visual to a trend chart when report segments ask different questions such as status, mix, variance, drivers, or distribution.
• When a report is exported or converted, every interactive or surface-native visual needs a readable static representation. Record a blocker if the static representation is missing or misleading.

Metrics And Language

• Describe metrics in plain English before exposing implementation details.
• Clarify definitions, cohorts, denominators, filters, and comparison baselines before relying on a metric in the report.
• Choose the most interpretable audience-facing grain: user, account, workspace, task, turn, session, request, revenue, endpoint, customer, org, or another business-facing unit.
• Put raw numbers in context: percent of an active base, percent of the previous funnel step, percent of total change, comparison to baseline, target, peer segment, or historical range.
• Use shorthand large numbers in narrative text, chart labels, and summaries, such as 899k, 10.9k, or 1.2M. Reserve exact comma-separated values for audit tables, SQL outputs, appendices, or cases where precision changes the interpretation.
• Keep implementation-facing event names, field names, table names, and exact predicates out of the main narrative unless they are essential for trust. Put them in caveats, source metadata, or short parentheticals.
• Polish the final language for the selected audience: concise, answer-first, free of process notes, and no deeper on methodology than the audience needs to trust the result.

Quality Bar

• if any required item below fails, fix the report or record the blocking gap explicitly before finalizing
• exactly one delivery mode and exactly one audience specification were used, unless the user explicitly asked for a hybrid or second delivery mode
• the selected audience specification's Required Structure maps to visible report sections, with any merge, rename, reorder, or omission recorded in source notes or supporting artifacts
• the report spine, report depth gate, selected delivery-mode specification, and rendered report were all checked
• the rendered report answers the user directly, has visible reader-facing segment titles, and pairs each major claim with evidence, interpretation, caveats where needed, and a decision-useful implication
• definitions, denominators, baselines, requested metrics, and caveats are clarified before final claims are treated as decision-ready; omitted metrics have a reason and needed follow-up
• methodology depth fits the selected audience, and omitted requested metrics are explained with the reason and needed follow-up
• visuals and tables were routed through $visualize-data, inspected in the selected surface, and remain readable with useful subtitles, adjacent explanatory paragraphs for every visualization, source metadata, and supporting notes
• sources and reproducibility notes, chart maps, and omission reasons are preserved in metadata, source notes, or supporting artifacts without cluttering the visible report
• the final handoff lists the selected report artifact plus relevant supporting evidence, not a chat-summary substitute or an unrequested parallel app plus HTML report