Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Cold-Start Interview for Legal Skills agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The cold-start-interview skill is an onboarding guide for a larger library of community-made legal skills. It asks a short set of questions about your role, practice area, industry, team and tool comfort, then suggests a starter set of skills to install. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it, and what it needs and touches, so you can decide whether to run it.
Cold-Start Interview for Legal Skillsanthropics/claude-for-legal · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Download the skill ZIP from this page and unzip it so that SKILL.md sits in a cold-start-interview folder.
- 2Place the folder. Move the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. In the Claude apps you can instead upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- 3Make sure the plugin family is available. The skill references the wider claude-for-legal plugin family for its registry and installs, so confirm that family is installed.
- 4Ask for a starter pack. Say something like "get me started" or "what should I install" to trigger the interview.
- 5Answer the questions. Give specific answers about your role, practice type, industry, team and tooling comfort.
- 6Check connectors. Review the integration table, where ✓ means a tool call succeeded and ⚪ means it is configured but untested.
- 7Pick what to install. Choose the recommended skills you want. Only those are installed.
What the skill makes the agent do
An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file that tells an agent like Claude Code how to handle a certain kind of request. This one is the entry point for the claude-for-legal plugin family. When triggered, the agent asks about your role and practice, checks which connected tools (MCP connectors) actually respond, records your answers in a settings file, and can optionally save a shared company profile that other legal plugins reuse.
Installing is only done for skills you pick. The skill is not a source of legal advice: it sorts and installs other skills, and its output does not replace review by a qualified lawyer.
- Asks a short set of questions about role, practice type, industry, team and tooling comfort
- Suggests a starter set of community legal skills
- Checks which MCP connectors respond, and marks only confirmed ones as working
- Writes your answers to a settings file in your home directory
- Optionally saves a shared company profile for other legal plugins to read
Install the cold-start-interview skill
Download the ZIP from the skill's page on this directory and unzip it. The skill is a folder that contains SKILL.md. Put that folder in one of two places, depending on how you want it available.
To make it available across your projects, place it in ~/.claude/skills/. To limit it to one project, place it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder. Alternatively, in the Claude apps you can upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- User-wide: ~/.claude/skills/
- Single project: a project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
~/.claude/skills/cold-start-interview/SKILL.mdTrigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need to type a command. The skill's description says it should be used on a fresh install, when you say things like "get me started" or "what should I install", or when you want to re-run the integration check after adding or removing an MCP connector.
The skill also accepts optional arguments: --redo and --check-integrations. Use --check-integrations to re-check only which connectors respond, without changing your role or practice profile.
- "Get me started with the legal plugins."
- "What should I install first?"
- "Re-run the integration check, I just added a connector."
- "Redo my legal setup from the beginning."
/cold-start-interview --check-integrationsWhat the interview asks and what you get back
The interview covers five questions: practice type, industry, team, tooling comfort, and your role. The agent matches your profile to available skills and recommends a starter pack. It then shows each recommended skill's SKILL.md summary, and you choose which to install. Only the skills you pick are installed.
Connector checks are reported honestly. The skill only marks a connector ✓ if a tool call actually succeeded. A connector that is configured but untested is marked ⚪, with a one-line note on how to confirm it. Declarations in configuration files alone never count as working.
- Role and practice area
- Industry, team and tool comfort
- Connector status table with ✓ for confirmed and ⚪ for untested
- A starter pack you choose from
Know what it needs and what it touches
The skill requires Claude Code or another agent that reads SKILL.md files. It needs write access to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/ so it can save your profile and install log. It also references the wider claude-for-legal plugin family, whose registry and install mechanics are in other files not provided with this skill.
Safety notes: according to the source, this skill runs no scripts and uses no network access. It reads and writes configuration files in your home directory. If the working directory is a project folder rather than your home directory, the setup may ask to continue with project scope, which limits what the agent can read.
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: no
- Writes to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/
- Project scope limits which files the agent can read
Tips for a smooth first run
Answer the questions specifically. The skill's recommendations and filtering depend on your answers, so a precise description of your practice produces a more useful starter pack. Review each recommended skill's summary before you pick it.
If you only want a practice-area workflow, skip this skill and install the specific legal-* plugin directly. This skill is for finding and installing other skills, not for doing the work itself.
- Be specific about your practice area and role
- Install only the skills you have reviewed
- Re-run --check-integrations after any connector change
- Install the matching legal-* plugin if you already know your workflow
What people use it for
- A law firm lawyer setting up the claude-for-legal plugin family for the first time and wanting a recommended starter set.
- An in-house legal team deciding which community legal skills to trial first.
- A user who has just added or removed an MCP connector and wants to re-check which connected tools respond.
- A team that wants to save a shared company profile once so other legal plugins can reuse it.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cold-start-interview skill free?
The source file is licensed under Apache-2.0, which is stated on this page. The source does not describe pricing, so check the license text for terms of use.
What do I need to run cold-start-interview?
You need Claude Code or another agent that reads SKILL.md files, write access to ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/, and the wider claude-for-legal plugin family, which the skill references.
Where do I install the skill?
Unzip the downloaded ZIP and place the folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. In the Claude apps you can upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does this skill give legal advice?
No. The skill only sorts and installs other skills, and its output does not replace review by a qualified lawyer.
Does cold-start-interview run scripts or use the internet?
According to the source, it runs no scripts and uses no network access. It reads and writes configuration files in your home directory.
Why does my connector show ⚪ instead of ✓?
The skill only reports ✓ after an MCP tool call actually succeeds. A connector that is configured but untested is shown as ⚪ until you confirm it works.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are a lawyer or legal team setting up the claude-for-legal plugin family for the first time, or want help choosing which community legal skills to try. Pick something else if you want a practice-area workflow directly, since you should install the specific legal-* plugin for that, or if you need legal advice, which this skill does not provide.
Download the skill