# Birthday Issue

> Type the facts about one birthday person - a line they always say, this year's moments, habits, loves, inside jokes, plans - and lay out an eight-page mini magazine printed on one sheet and folded: cover, editor's letter, by the numbers, a two-page feature, a quiz, classifieds and the year ahead. The page holds back sore subjects and keep-out topics, plans every page and draws the print sheet for free; a metered run writes the masthead, cover lines and pages from the facts only, citing the fact behind each line.

URL: https://birthday-issue.skillsafe.ai/

## What it does

- Free, in the browser (issuekit.js, sheet.js): reads one fact a line, optionally tagged quote:, number:, moment:, habit:, love:, joke: or plan: (untagged lines are sorted by simple keyword rules), and numbers them F1, F2, ...
- Holds back any fact that mentions a breakup, job loss, health, body or weight, money trouble, a loss or legal trouble (unless the line starts with ok:), and any fact naming a topic in the keep-out list. Held facts are never sent to the model.
- Plans the eight pages from the usable facts (numbers to page 3, moments to the feature, habits and loves to the quiz, jokes to the classifieds, plans to the back page) and reads the issue: ready to print at 8 or more usable facts, print with blanks at 4 to 7 (empty pages get fill-in lines for party guests), hold under 4.
- Draws the issue as a booklet (spread by spread) and as the print sheet: a landscape page in a 4 x 2 grid with the top row upside down, so it folds into an eight-page booklet after one centre cut.
- Metered, one task `issue`: a masthead, an issue line, a headline and 3-4 cover lines (each naming one of ten headline moves: consequence, picture, number-as-hero, two-beat turn, naming, reader's-own-story, open question, voice, sound, sized claim), pages 2 to 8 with each line citing its fact ids, facts worth adding, and a print / pad / hold verdict.
- The page holds the reply to the facts: cited ids must exist and not be held back, every printed line but the letter's greeting and sign-off must cite a fact, quoted phrases must appear in a cited fact, every figure on the numbers page must appear in its facts (or be the age), and keep-out topics must not appear.

## Limits

- The sore-subject list is a keyword guide, and the 8 / 4 fact thresholds are rules of thumb - not judgements about anyone.
- Exports: print the sheet (landscape), Markdown of the whole issue, and a facts CSV (kind, used or held back, planned page, printed pages).

## Sources

- Built on the SkillSafe skill @elvisun/headline-generator: https://skillsafe.ai/skill/@elvisun/headline-generator
- Why now: the Pinterest 2026 Hobbies Trend Report names DIY media and zines ("Handmade Hacker") as a 2026 hobby trend, with "birthday magazine template" among its fastest-rising searches: https://newsroom.pinterest.com/news/2026-pinterest-hobbies-trend-report/
- API: https://birthday-issue.skillsafe.ai/api.html