PARA-Programming Agent Skills
Cross-client Agent Skills package for the PARA-Programming methodology.
Research -> Plan -> Review -> Execute -> Review -> Summarize -> Archive
What Is This?
PARA-Programming is a structured workflow for AI-assisted development. It keeps plans, research, execution state, reviews, summaries, and archives in a project-local context/ directory so long-running work can survive context resets and client changes.
This repository packages the methodology as open-standard Agent Skills. The skill layout follows the emerging portable SKILL.md convention promoted by agentskills.io: each skill lives in its own directory, the directory basename matches frontmatter name, and assets/references stay beside the skill that owns them.
Supported Clients
| Client | Status | Install path | Invocation |
|---|
| OpenAI Codex | Supported out of the box | scripts/install.sh installs to ~/.agents/skills and mirrors to ~/.codex/skills | $para-init or /skills |
| Gemini CLI | Supported out of the box | Uses the same ~/.agents/skills install written by scripts/install.sh | Auto-activation or /skills list |
| Pi | Supported out of the box | Uses the same ~/.agents/skills install written by scripts/install.sh | Auto-activation or /skill:para-init when skill commands are enabled |
| OpenCode | Supported out of the box | Uses the same ~/.agents/skills install written by scripts/install.sh | Loaded by OpenCode's native skill tool |
| Cursor | Supported out of the box | Uses the same ~/.agents/skills install written by scripts/install.sh | Auto-activation or slash menu, e.g. /para-init |
| Claude Code | Use the Claude plugin | Use github.com/brian-lai/para-programming-plugin | Claude plugin commands |
For Claude Code, use the original PARA-Programming plugin: https://github.com/brian-lai/para-programming-plugin. This repository is the open-standard/Codex-oriented Agent Skills package.
Skills
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|
$para-init | Initialize PARA structure in a project |
$para-research <task> | Deep codebase research before planning |
$para-plan <task> | Create a planning document with self-review |
$para-review --plan|--pr | Review a plan or PR with Staff+ criteria |
$para-execute | Create a worktree and execute one checklist item per commit |
$para-workflow | Orchestrate execute, review, summarize, and merge across phases |
$para-status | Check current workflow state |
$para-summarize | Generate a post-work summary |
$para-archive | Archive context and start fresh |
$para-check | Decide whether a request needs the PARA workflow |
$para-help | Show quick reference |
Installation
See INSTALL.md for client-specific installation paths and support notes.
For Codex local skill installation from a checkout:
./scripts/install.sh
The installer follows the current Codex Skills guide by installing user skills into ~/.agents/skills. It also mirrors into ~/.codex/skills for older local runtimes.
Preview the install without writes:
./scripts/install.sh --dry-run
Project Context
The workflow creates project-local context files:
context/
├── context.md
├── plans/
├── summaries/
├── archives/
├── data/
└── servers/
resources/AGENTS.md contains the global PARA workflow methodology template. docs/METHODOLOGY.md explains the rationale and lifecycle in detail.
Adapted From
These skills were generalized from the original para-programming-plugin command set and converted to portable Agent Skills:
CLAUDE.md -> AGENTS.md~/.claude/ -> ~/.agents//para:command -> $para-command skill mentioncommands/*.md -> skills/para-*/SKILL.md
License
MIT
