new-workspace

Provision Media-Library Workspace

Creates a new workspace for cataloging and organising a mixed-media library. This plugin's commands (/media-library:catalog, /media-library:tag, /media-library:search-library, etc.) are globally available once installed — this skill only provisions the data scaffold (CLAUDE.md, inputs/, working/, metadata/, etc.) that those commands read from and write to.

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS is parsed as:

• First positional: workspace name (kebab-case, used as directory and GitHub repo name). Required.
• Second positional (optional): target parent path. Defaults to ~/repos/github/my-repos.
• --local-only (optional): skip GitHub repo creation and push. Default: create a public GitHub repo and push.
• --private (optional): create the GitHub repo as private. Default: public.

Examples

/media-library:new-workspace family-photo-archive
/media-library:new-workspace camera-roll-dump ~/Projects
/media-library:new-workspace sensitive-library --private --local-only

Procedure

1. Parse arguments

Extract workspace name, target parent path, and flags from $ARGUMENTS. If workspace name is missing, ask the user for it before proceeding.

2. Resolve the scaffold path

The bundled scaffold lives at ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../template/. Confirm it exists before copying.

3. Read ambient facts

Read ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md if it exists. Extract OS, locale, timezone, and user identity facts. These will personalise the workspace's CLAUDE.md at step 5.

4. Create the workspace directory

mkdir -p <target-parent>/<workspace-name>
cp -r ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../template/. <target-parent>/<workspace-name>/

Do not copy any .claude/ tree — the plugin's primitives are global. The scaffold deliberately contains no .claude/ directory.

5. Personalise CLAUDE.md

Open the new workspace's CLAUDE.md and:

• Replace the {Replace this text ...} project-context placeholder with a short description the user provides (ask if not given).
• Add a short header noting the workspace name.
• If ambient facts include OS/locale/timezone, embed them so downstream commands can skip re-asking.

6. Prompt for workspace-specific facts

Ask the user only for facts this plugin can't infer:

• Source path — the directory they want to catalog (write into CLAUDE.md as LIBRARY_SOURCE). Can be inside inputs/ (repo mode) or an external path (e.g. /mnt/backup/photos/).
• Scope note — one-line description of the library (e.g. "iPhone camera roll 2020–2024", "family photo archive"). Written into the Project Context section of CLAUDE.md.
• Controlled tag vocabulary (optional) — if the user already knows how they want to tag, capture it now into metadata/vocabulary.txt.

7. Initialise git and (optionally) publish

cd <target-parent>/<workspace-name>
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial workspace from media-library plugin"

Unless --local-only is set:

gh repo create <workspace-name> --<public|private> --source=. --push

Use --public by default, --private if flag was passed.

8. Print next steps

Tell the user:

• Workspace path.
• Suggested first command: /media-library:catalog against the source path.
• After cataloging, try /media-library:sort-by-type → /media-library:group-by-date → /media-library:dedupe-media.
• /media-library:tag once they have a subset to annotate; /media-library:search-library to query it back.
• Reminder that the workspace is data — they can delete/move it freely without losing the plugin's commands.

Notes

• The scaffold path must be resolved via ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../template/ (not ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} — that variable isn't exported in skill bash injection, only in hooks/MCP).
• Never copy .claude/commands/, .claude/agents/, or .claude/skills/ into the new workspace. If the user wants workspace-local overrides, they can add them manually later.
• Don't hard-code any personal paths or identifiers here — everything comes from user memory or prompts.
• No sub-variants in this plugin — a single flat template covers the cataloging / tag / search use case.