Download .agents/skills/company-creator/SKILL.md from the publisher, or copy the path and open the repository. PlugMCP lists the skill and does not host the file.
Where does company-creator live?
The publisher keeps it at https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip.
Which agents can use company-creator?
Claude, Cursor, and Codex can read a SKILL.md you add from the publisher's repository.
>
name: company-creator
description: >
Create agent company packages that conform to agentcompanies/v1. Use when asked
to create a company, scaffold an agent team, hire agents, or turn a repo/skills
collection into a company package.
Company Creator
Create agent company packages that conform to the Agent Companies specification.
Spec references:
Normative spec: docs/companies/companies-spec.md (read this before generating files)
From scratch: What kind of company or team? What domain? What should the agents do?
From repo: Clone/read the repo. Scan for existing skills, agent configs, README, source structure.
Step 2: Interview (Use AskUserQuestion)
Do not skip this step. Use AskUserQuestion to align with the user before writing any files.
For from-scratch companies, ask about:
Company purpose and domain (1-2 sentences is fine)
What agents they need - propose a hiring plan based on what they described
Whether this is a full company (needs a CEO) or a team/department (no CEO required)
Any specific skills the agents should have
How work flows through the organization (see "Workflow" below)
Whether they want projects and starter tasks
For from-repo companies, present your analysis and ask:
Confirm the agents you plan to create and their roles
Whether to reference or vendor any discovered skills (default: reference)
Any additional agents or skills beyond what the repo provides
Company name and any customization
Confirm the workflow you inferred from the repo (see "Workflow" below)
Workflow — how does work move through this company?
A company is not just a list of agents with skills. It's an organization that takes ideas and turns them into work products. You need to understand the workflow so each agent knows:
Who gives them work and in what form (a task, a branch, a question, a review request)
What they do with it
Who they hand off to when they're done, and what that handoff looks like
What "done" means for their role
Not every company is a pipeline. Infer the right workflow pattern from context:
Pipeline — sequential stages, each agent hands off to the next. Use when the repo/domain has a clear linear process (e.g. plan → build → review → ship → QA, or content ideation → draft → edit → publish).
Hub-and-spoke — a manager delegates to specialists who report back independently. Use when agents do different kinds of work that don't feed into each other (e.g. a CEO who dispatches to a researcher, a marketer, and an analyst).
Collaborative — agents work together on the same things as peers. Use for small teams where everyone contributes to the same output (e.g. a design studio, a brainstorming team).
On-demand — agents are summoned as needed with no fixed flow. Use when agents are more like a toolbox of specialists the user calls directly.
For from-scratch companies, propose a workflow pattern based on what they described and ask if it fits.
For from-repo companies, infer the pattern from the repo's structure. If skills have a clear sequential dependency (like plan-ceo-review → plan-eng-review → review → ship → qa), that's a pipeline. If skills are independent capabilities, it's more likely hub-and-spoke or on-demand. State your inference in the interview so the user can confirm or adjust.
Key interviewing principles:
Propose a concrete hiring plan. Don't ask open-ended "what agents do you want?" - suggest specific agents based on context and let the user adjust.
Keep it lean. Most users are new to agent companies. A few agents (3-5) is typical for a startup. Don't suggest 10+ agents unless the scope demands it.
From-scratch companies should start with a CEO who manages everyone. Teams/departments don't need one.
Ask 2-3 focused questions per round, not 10.
Step 3: Read the Spec
Before generating any files, read the normative spec:
Create the directory structure and all files. Follow the spec's conventions exactly.
Directory structure:
<company-slug>/
├── COMPANY.md
├── agents/
│ └── <slug>/AGENTS.md
├── teams/
│ └── <slug>/TEAM.md (if teams are needed)
├── projects/
│ └── <slug>/PROJECT.md (if projects are needed)
├── tasks/
│ └── <slug>/TASK.md (if tasks are needed)
├── skills/
│ └── <slug>/SKILL.md (if custom skills are needed)
└── .paperclip.yaml (Paperclip vendor extension)
Rules:
Slugs must be URL-safe, lowercase, hyphenated
COMPANY.md gets schema: agentcompanies/v1 - other files inherit it
Agent instructions go in the AGENTS.md body, not in .paperclip.yaml
Skills referenced by shortname in AGENTS.md resolve to skills/<shortname>/SKILL.md
For external skills, use sources with usage: referenced (see spec section 12)
Do not export secrets, machine-local paths, or database IDs
Omit empty/default fields
For companies generated from a repo, add a references footer at the bottom of COMPANY.md body:
Generated from [repo-name](repo-url) with the company-creator skill from [Paperclip](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip)
Reporting structure:
Every agent except the CEO should have reportsTo set to their manager's slug
The CEO has reportsTo: null
For teams without a CEO, the top-level agent has reportsTo: null
Writing workflow-aware agent instructions:
Each AGENTS.md body should include not just what the agent does, but how they fit into the organization's workflow. Include:
Where work comes from — "You receive feature ideas from the user" or "You pick up tasks assigned to you by the CTO"
What you produce — "You produce a technical plan with architecture diagrams" or "You produce a reviewed, approved branch ready for shipping"
Who you hand off to — "When your plan is locked, hand off to the Staff Engineer for implementation" or "When review passes, hand off to the Release Engineer to ship"
What triggers you — "You are activated when a new feature idea needs product-level thinking" or "You are activated when a branch is ready for pre-landing review"
This turns a collection of agents into an organization that actually works together. Without workflow context, agents operate in isolation — they do their job but don't know what happens before or after them.
Add a concise execution contract to every generated working agent:
Start actionable work in the same heartbeat and do not stop at a plan unless planning was requested.
Leave durable progress in comments, documents, or work products with the next action.
Use child issues for long or parallel delegated work instead of polling agents, sessions, or processes.
Mark blocked work with the unblock owner and action.
Respect budget, pause/cancel, approval gates, and company boundaries.
Step 5: Confirm Output Location
Ask the user where to write the package. Common options:
A subdirectory in the current repo
A new directory the user specifies
The current directory (if it's empty or they confirm)
Step 6: Write README.md and LICENSE
README.md — every company package gets a README. It should be a nice, readable introduction that someone browsing GitHub would appreciate. Include:
Company name and what it does
The workflow / how the company operates
Org chart as a markdown list or table showing agents, titles, reporting structure, and skills
A "Getting Started" section explaining how to import: paperclipai company import --from <path>
LICENSE — include a LICENSE file. The copyright holder is the user creating the company, not the upstream repo author (they made the skills, the user is making the company). Use the same license type as the source repo (if from-repo) or ask the user (if from-scratch). Default to MIT if unclear.
Step 7: Write Files and Summarize
Write all files, then give a brief summary:
Company name and what it does
Agent roster with roles and reporting structure
Skills (custom + referenced)
Projects and tasks if any
The output path
.paperclip.yaml Guidelines
The .paperclip.yaml file is the Paperclip vendor extension. It configures adapters and env inputs per agent.
Adapter Rules
Do not specify an adapter unless the repo or user context warrants it. If you don't know what adapter the user wants, omit the adapter block entirely — Paperclip will use its default. Specifying an unknown adapter type causes an import error.
Paperclip's supported adapter types (these are the ONLY valid values):
claude_local — Claude Code CLI
codex_local — Codex CLI
opencode_local — OpenCode CLI
pi_local — Pi CLI
cursor — Cursor
gemini_local — Gemini CLI
openclaw_gateway — OpenClaw gateway
Only set an adapter when:
The repo or its skills clearly target a specific runtime (e.g. gstack is built for Claude Code, so claude_local is appropriate)
The user explicitly requests a specific adapter
The agent's role requires a specific runtime capability
Env Inputs Rules
Do not add boilerplate env variables. Only add env inputs that the agent actually needs based on its skills or role:
GH_TOKEN for agents that push code, create PRs, or interact with GitHub
API keys only when a skill explicitly requires them
Never set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY as a default empty env variable — the runtime handles this
In this example, only release-engineer appears because it needs GH_TOKEN. The other agents (ceo, cto, etc.) have no overrides, so they are omitted entirely from .paperclip.yaml.
External Skill References
When referencing skills from a GitHub repo, always use the references pattern:
metadata:
sources:
- kind: github-file
repo: owner/repo
path: path/to/SKILL.md
commit: <full SHA from git ls-remote or the repo>
attribution: Owner or Org Name
license: <from the repo's LICENSE>
usage: referenced
Get the commit SHA with:
git ls-remote https://github.com/owner/repo HEAD
Do NOT copy external skill content into the package unless the user explicitly asks.
How do I install company-creator?
Download .agents/skills/company-creator/SKILL.md from the publisher, or copy the path and open the repository. PlugMCP lists the skill and does not host the file.
Where does company-creator live?
The publisher keeps it at https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip.
Which agents can use company-creator?
Claude, Cursor, and Codex can read a SKILL.md you add from the publisher's repository.