meta-paap

A Claude Code skill that designs and generates other Claude Code skills.

Turns a workflow description into a production-ready SKILL.md file by applying the architecture patterns behind skills like /deep-research and /blog-factory.

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What it does

You describe a workflow you do manually. meta-paap asks you five questions, scans your installed skills to see if any should be composed in, designs the architecture, shows it to you for review, then generates the full SKILL.md.

The output isn't a filled-in template. It's an architectural decision — which patterns from the list below apply to your workflow, and how they should be wired together:

• Routing logic and anti-triggers
• Mode variants (quick vs. deep)
• Parallel agents with persona specs
• Synthesis phases with priority rules
• Human checkpoints
• Quality gates with recovery paths
• Persistent state for resumable runs
• Skill composition (invoking your other installed skills)

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Install

Copy SKILL.md to your Claude Code skills folder:

# If you use .orchestra
mkdir -p ~/.orchestra/skills/99-personal/meta-paap
cp SKILL.md ~/.orchestra/skills/99-personal/meta-paap/SKILL.md

# If you use .claude
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/meta-paap
cp SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/meta-paap/SKILL.md

Also copy the references folder — the skill loads it during architecture design:

# .orchestra
cp -r references ~/.orchestra/skills/99-personal/meta-paap/

# .claude
cp -r references ~/.claude/skills/meta-paap/

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Use

/meta-paap

Then describe what you want to automate. Examples:

/meta-paap I want a skill that prepares a briefing before sales calls

/meta-paap I want to automate my weekly competitive research — I track 5 competitors

/meta-paap I want a skill that reads academic papers and extracts the parts I care about

The skill handles the rest. It will ask you five questions, check your installed skills for composition candidates, show you the architecture before building, then generate the file.

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What gets generated

A single SKILL.md file, saved to ~/.orchestra/skills/99-personal/[skill-name]/SKILL.md by default (or wherever you specify).

Drop it in your skills folder and the slash command is immediately available.

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Simple vs. complex workflows

meta-paap distinguishes between:

Simple workflows (2-3 linear phases, no agents): generates a lean skill matching the Article 3 template.

Complex workflows (parallel agents, iterative rounds, human judgment, persistent state): generates a full architecture matching the /deep-research or /blog-factory pattern.

If your workflow is a single step with no phases, it tells you to use a direct prompt instead — a SKILL.md would add overhead without value.

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Architecture reference

The 20 architecture principles used during skill design are documented in references/architecture-checklist.md. Each principle includes a yes/no decision question and what to add to the generated skill if it applies.

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Part of the Prompt As A Process series

This skill is the subject of Article 4 in the PaaP series:

1. [Why I'm writing applications in Markdown now] — the concept
2. [My first three SOPs produced garbage] — the anatomy
3. [I built a slash command for a workflow I was doing manually] — a worked example
4. [I built a skill that builds skills] — this repo

The series explains what PaaP is, how to write simple skills, and how to use meta-paap to generate complex ones.