ideon plan explore

Research a new content idea with Google Keyword Planner data and generate series and article proposals. The plan is presented in an interactive review flow before being saved to your queue.

Synopsis

ideon plan explore [idea] [options]

Arguments

Argument	Description	Required
idea	Content idea to research	No (can be entered interactively)

If idea is omitted and not provided via --non-interactive, Ideon prompts for it interactively.

Options

Option	Alias	Description	Default
--publication	-p	Publication slug	Required
--context		Business context or ICP description	—
--country		Comma-separated ISO country codes	Publication default or US
--language		ISO 639-1 language code	Publication default or en
--series-count		Target number of series	3
--articles-per-series		Target articles per series	5
--seed-keywords		Comma-separated seed keywords to always include	—
--exclude-series		Comma-separated series slugs to avoid duplicating	—
--content-type		Content type for queue entries	article
--model		Model for strong reasoning calls	deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro
--intent-model		Model for intent classification	deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash
--auto-save		Skip approval gates and save automatically	false
--non-interactive		Agent mode: plain text output to stdout	false
--dry-run		Run research but skip all writes	false

Examples

Basic exploration

ideon plan explore "Content strategy for B2B SaaS" --publication tech-blog

This opens an interactive prompt for any missing required inputs, runs all seven planning stages, and presents the results in the review TUI.

With business context and seed keywords

ideon plan explore "Cloud cost optimization" \
  --publication tech-blog \
  --context "We target engineering leaders at companies spending $50k+/month on cloud" \
  --seed-keywords "FinOps,AWS cost savings,cloud waste reduction" \
  --series-count 4 \
  --articles-per-series 6

Non-interactive agent mode

ideon plan explore "DevOps automation trends" \
  --publication tech-blog \
  --non-interactive \
  --auto-save \
  --context "Our ICP: platform engineering teams at mid-market companies"

Output goes to stdout. The plan is automatically persisted. Exit code 2 if no results are found.

Avoiding existing series

ideon plan explore "Kubernetes best practices" \
  --publication tech-blog \
  --exclude-series kubernetes-101,k8s-security

Excluded series and their keywords are excluded from cluster formation.

Dry-run to preview without saving

ideon plan explore "AI in healthcare" \
  --publication health-tech \
  --dry-run

All research runs normally but nothing is persisted — no series created, no queue entries added. Useful for validating ideas before committing.

With custom models

ideon plan explore "Growth marketing strategies" \
  --publication growth-blog \
  --model anthropic/claude-opus-4 \
  --intent-model openai/gpt-4.1-mini

Uses a strong model for the planning LLM calls and a faster/cheaper model for intent classification.

Pipeline Stages

The explore mode runs these seven stages sequentially:

1. Hydrate — Load publication, series, output history, and GKP cache
2. Seeds — Generate seed keywords from the content idea
3. Research — Iterative GKP queries with broadening and low-volume detection
4. Score — KOB scoring, intent classification, and candidate filtering
5. Cluster — Group shortlisted keywords into thematic series
6. Plan Articles — Plan individual articles per series
7. Persist — Save series, update keywords, and queue articles

Interactive Flow

When --non-interactive is not set and --auto-save is not enabled:

1. Input prompt (if idea wasn't provided) — Enter your content idea
2. Plan review — Series summary, navigate series, review articles
3. Approval gate — Confirm or reject the plan

Press Ctrl+C at any point to cancel without saving.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Plan completed successfully
1	Pipeline failed (API error, missing credentials, etc.)
2	No results found (topic exhausted, low demand)

Output Format (Non-Interactive)

When --non-interactive is set, the output is plain text structured as:

# Plan: explore
Mode: new-idea
Publication: tech-blog
Series: AI Strategy

## Research
Rounds: 3
Candidates evaluated: 87
Candidates passed: 23
Cache hits: 42
API calls: 9

## Series: AI Strategy
Pillar keyword: enterprise AI strategy
Funnel: top
Rationale: Foundational keyword cluster with strong informational intent
Coverage gap: No existing content in this cluster

### Article: How to Build an Enterprise AI Strategy
Primary keyword: enterprise AI strategy
Secondary keywords: AI adoption framework, enterprise AI roadmap
Intent: informational
Funnel: top
Format: guide
Priority: high
Pillar: yes
Type: new

ideon queue add "How to Build an Enterprise AI Strategy" --publication tech-blog --series ai-strategy --keywords "enterprise AI strategy, AI adoption framework, enterprise AI roadmap" --intent guide --type article

If no results are found, the output shows:

# Plan: explore
Mode: new-idea
Publication: tech-blog

## No Results
Candidates found: 12
Status: exhausted

No sufficient demand signals found for this topic.

## Pivot Suggestions
- Try broader seed keywords
- Narrow your target market
- Check if existing content already covers this topic

Related Commands

• ideon plan expand — Expand an existing series
• ideon gkp ideas — Generate GKP keyword ideas
• ideon series add — Create a series manually
• ideon queue add — Add an article to the queue