Writing a project report block by block
Goal
An agent that agrees the blocks of the report with the user, interviews them block by block, verifies every source before calling a block closed and saves the state so the work can be picked up days later.
How it works
First the user and the agent agree what the project is, who the report is for and which blocks it breaks into. Until that is settled not a line gets written.
Then it interviews the user, one idea per question, and checks what they say against the materials left in the folder. If something does not add up it says so before drafting, not after.
It works one block at a time and does not move on until that block is closed: it verifies each source one by one (that it exists, that the link responds and that it says what is claimed), checks the block contradicts neither the earlier ones nor the glossary, and where a figure is missing leaves a visible [PENDING] instead of filling it in by eye.
To finish, it assembles the full report with a script, so every block comes out in the same style even when they were written weeks apart, and writes down where things were left so it can be picked up days later.
- Deliverable
- Each block in its own Markdown file.
- The full report assembled by script, with headings and numbering normalised.
- The diagrams as SVG, with the data that generates them inside the file.
- A source log with the date each one was verified.
- A note of where things were left and what comes next.
- Stack
- Claude Cowork
- Project folder
- Markdown per block
- Script assembly
- SVG diagrams
Why it matters
The hard part of a long report is not writing it: it is keeping it from contradicting itself, and making every citation point at something that actually exists. That can be checked one by one, block by block, with a record of when each check happened.
What could come next
- 01Re-check verified sources every so often, because a link that answered in March can be dead by September.
- 02Version control on the report, so it is possible to show what changed between the one that was sent and the one being written.
- 03Have the final PDF or Word export inherit the client’s template instead of coming straight out of raw Markdown.
- 04Update the ERP with the report’s progress and the version delivered, so whoever runs the project can see which block it is on without asking over chat.
Worth knowing
- legal
The materials left in the folder usually belong to the client and are often confidential. The folder is read, never modified, but there is still sensitive information sitting on disk, and it is worth deciding where it lives and for how long.
- dependency
The whole thread between sessions lives in the folder’s state files. If that folder is moved or lost, the text survives, since it is in the blocks, but what had been verified and what was still pending does not.
- future
Verification says the source exists and backs the claim on that date. It does not say it is still the best source, or that it has not been corrected since: that remains a person’s judgement.