The root skill should route. Sub-skills should decide. References should carry dense tables and volatile facts. The active context stays small because weight is loaded only when a task earns it.
| Layer | Files | Load condition |
|---|---|---|
| Root router | SKILL.md |
Always. Owns the Fast Lane, the gates, the Sequence Gate, and the Load Map - nothing dense. |
| Sub-skills | 28 skills/seedance-*/SKILL.md |
When the task is that skill's job. Each is medium-weight: intent, contracts, and routing, not databases. |
| References | 58 references/*.md |
On demand, named by a gate or a Load Map row. Most are cheap; a few are heavy (below). |
Do not move large databases back into active sub-skill bodies, and do not load a heavy reference by default.
Most references are small lookup tables loaded freely. A few are heavy and must be loaded only when the task needs them, never preemptively:
directing-engine.md- the directorial reasoning core (the Read, the Coherence Principle, the Director's Voice, the long-form spine). Loaded when scenes need distinct treatment or a voice must hold across clips; for a single clip, apply its coherence rule inline from memory instead.directing-engine-genre-library.md- 33 fully worked genre examples. Loaded only when the user wants a worked example in a specific genre, via the genre/examples Load Map row, never by the always-on Direction step.api-status.md,platform-surface-matrix.md,api-workflow.md- dated, volatile platform facts. Loaded only behind the source gate, and kept fresh (see the freshness rule below).pro-filmmaking-standards.md- the professional production spine. Loaded only behind the professional gate.
Genre craft appears in three places; each owns one job so they stop diverging:
directing-engine.md/directing-engine-genre-library.mdown the derivation - why a genre is shot, lit, and performed the way it is (read -> intention -> voice -> setup).genre-guides.mdowns the priorities - what each genre most needs protected (product identity, lip-sync, beat-sync).seedance-recipes+examples-by-mode.mdown the skeletons - copy-ready starting patterns.
A genre fact's single source of truth is its derivation file; the others reference it rather than restating it.
Dated platform references must not drift far behind api-status.md's last_verified date. If api-status.md advances and a freshness-critical reference still cites an old verification date, re-verify and re-stamp it (or confirm it is still accurate) before release. Intentionally frozen snapshots such as research-2026-05-30.md are exempt; their date is part of their identity.
Root SKILL.md owns only the Sequence Gate and invariants. skills/seedance-sequence owns global planning and current-clip compilation. skills/seedance-continuation owns accepted-footage continuation and re-anchoring. Dense state details live in references/sequence-project-state.md, references/continuation-handoff.md, and references/prompt-compiler.md.