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Arch Studio is a framework that helps an architecture studio build its own AI practice. It helps you decide how AI is governed in your studio, which practice areas it covers, what it remembers, and which tools it uses, then carries those decisions into Claude Code or Codex.

Contents

• How it works
• Two editions
• Commercial services
• Install
• The basic workflow
• What's inside
• Make it yours
• Philosophy
• When something goes wrong
• Updating and what's new
• Contributing
• Data, privacy and telemetry
• License

How it works

Before a studio can trust AI with real work, it has to make a few decisions. Arch Studio gives each one a place to live and keeps the assistant inside it.

• Governance: who approves what. Adopt your own AI-use policy or start from the default one. The assistant works within it. It shows a work plan before larger jobs, offers findings to your records instead of writing them on its own, and marks building-code, zoning and specification output for professional review. The architect still signs off.
• Practice areas: where AI helps. Skills are grouped by practice area, from due diligence and programming to specifications and FF&E. Use the areas that fit your practice and ignore the rest.
• Memory: what the studio remembers. Studio settings, project facts, decisions, documents, tasks and time live in plain files in folders you own, so the next session can pick up where the last one ended.
• Tooling: what the assistant can use. Start with the 61 bundled skills as working references. Then write your own with /as:skill-maker. Your skills live in your studio or project folder, and plugin updates never overwrite them.

Run /as:studio to set up the governance and memory side: your AI-use policy, naming and filing rules, units, jurisdiction and project phases. It shows exactly what it will create and writes nothing until you approve. Then register projects. From there, Norma, the coordinator, sends each request to the right skills within the rules you set. You can also skip setup and try a skill on a single task first.

Two editions

• Arch Studio OSS (this repository) is the single-user setup. You install the plugin in your own Claude Code or Codex, and your studio and project records stay in local folders. It is free and MIT-licensed.
• Arch Studio MCP is the hosted service, for teams. It delivers the same Arch Studio content to a connected assistant through a signed-in firm account. It also adds hosted modules, such as the Materials Library, whose records only members of that firm can reach. It sends instructions; your assistant still does the work with its own tools, and the service cannot reach your local files. Project records stay local in both editions. Only records you save to a hosted module are held by the service (data governance).

Use one or the other, not both. To ask about Arch Studio MCP, email hello@alpa.llc.

Commercial services

Arch Studio OSS is open source under the MIT license. If your studio wants help working through these decisions, writing its own skills, moving a team to Arch Studio MCP, training, or support, email ALPA at hello@alpa.llc.

Install

One plugin, as (Arch Studio), with the same skills on every host. Install it in each assistant you use.

Claude Code

claude plugin marketplace add AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects
claude plugin install as@skills-for-architects
claude

Codex

codex plugin marketplace add AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects
codex plugin add as@skills-for-architects
codex

Claude Desktop

Open Customize → Plugins → + → Add marketplace, choose a repository source, enter AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects, and install Arch Studio. Workspace, hook, and subagent behavior depends on the Claude surface and permissions your organization enables; the workflow below is tested with Claude Code.

Check that it works

Type /as:studio in Claude Code, or $studio in Codex. It offers four paths: set up a studio, use the skills without setup, open an existing studio, or learn on a fictional practice project. Nothing is created (no studio, project, ALPA account, cloud store, or git repository) until you approve an exact local folder. Using the skills without setup creates no workspace files; a skill creates only the output you ask for.

New to AI assistants? Start the six-module course with /as:learn (Codex: $learn).

For teams, Arch Studio MCP is connected rather than installed; see Two editions. Install the plugin or connect the MCP, not both: the MCP delivers instructions only, does not run skills, and cannot reach your local files. See release delivery.

The basic workflow

1. studio — Run /as:studio to record your studio's policy, conventions and projects, or skip setup and go straight to a task. Skills work either way.
2. norma — Describe what you need in plain words. Norma picks the skills, handles quick lookups directly, and for larger jobs uses workplan to show you a work plan (steps, skills, and outputs) before starting.
3. Research skills — Site, zoning, property, product, and EPD skills fetch original sources and cite them. For example, nyc-property-report gathers landmarks, permits, violations, ownership, housing, and BSA records into one report.
4. Specification and presentation skills — spec-writer, epd-to-spec, product-cut-sheet, slide-deck-generator and others prepare documents from the research. Anything regulatory is marked for professional review.
5. Record skills — project, receive, meeting-minutes, tasklist and timetracker keep facts, documents, decisions, tasks, and time in your project folder. They offer what to save rather than writing silently, and time is logged only in amounts you confirm.
6. skill-maker — When your firm repeats a procedure, run /as:skill-maker to turn it into a studio or project skill.

Not sure what is available? /as:tool-catalog lists every skill and agent on your host. /as:studio stays the place for studio administration; a general task typed there is passed to Norma. Optional default preferences make your assistant use Arch Studio by default for architecture and project work; they need a supported target, an exact diff, and your approval.

Host syntax. Claude Code uses /as:<skill>; Codex uses $<skill>. as is the plugin namespace. Use the exact name your assistant shows.

What's inside

61 skills, 8 agents, 8 rules, and 4 hooks. Everything installs together. The full catalog, with inputs and outputs, is in skills/README.md.

Skills

Getting started and studio

• norma — Coordinates a request across the skills that fit it
• norma-support — Help with setup, access, memory, and troubleshooting
• studio — Set up or open a studio and register projects
• tool-catalog — Lists the skills and agents available on your host
• learn — Six-module, resumable course using a sample museum project
• skill-maker — Create or update your own studio or project skills
• studio-feedback — Prepare a bug report or feature request for you to review and send

Project records

• project — Set up a project and keep its facts and decisions
• receive — File received and authored documents, keeping original filenames
• workplan — Prepare a work plan before larger work starts
• meeting-minutes — Minutes from notes or transcripts, decisions kept separate from discussion
• site-visit-report — Site-visit records: what was seen, what was reported, and follow-ups
• tasklist — Project or studio task list (TASKS.csv)
• timetracker — Logs only time you confirm (TIME.csv)

Proposals, agreements and invoices

• proposal — Prepare and register proposals; protects terms once issued
• agreement — Keep agreement scope on hand and check work against it
• invoice — Append-only invoice ledger from billing facts you supply

Professional practice

• architecture-knowledge — Plain explanations of US practice terms: phases, CD sets, AIA contracts, CSI/NCS

NYC due diligence

• nyc-landmarks — Landmark and historic-district check (LPC)
• nyc-dob-permits — DOB permits and job filings
• nyc-dob-violations — DOB and ECB violations
• nyc-acris — Deeds, mortgages, liens, and sales (ACRIS)
• nyc-hpd — HPD violations, complaints, and registration
• nyc-bsa — BSA variances and special permits
• nyc-property-report — All of the above in one report

Site planning

• environmental-analysis — Climate, sun, flood, seismic, soil, and topography
• mobility-analysis — Transit, walking, cycling, and airport access
• demographics-analysis — Population, income, age, housing, and jobs
• site-history — Neighborhood context, landmarks, and planned development

Zoning

• zoning-analysis-nyc — NYC FAR, height, setbacks, and uses for a lot
• zoning-envelope — Interactive 3D view of the buildable envelope

Programming

• workplace-programmer — Office programs from headcount and work style
• occupancy-calculator — Building-code occupant loads, egress, and plumbing fixtures

Specifications

• spec-writer — Project Manual sections, with review markers
• epd-to-spec — EPD submittal requirements and GWP limits for a specification section

Sustainability

• epd-research — Find EPDs by material or category
• epd-parser — Pull GWP and other impacts from an EPD PDF
• epd-compare — Compare EPDs side by side, including LEED eligibility

FF&E and materials

• product-research — Find products from a design brief
• product-match — Find similar products from an image, name, or description
• product-pair — Suggest pieces that go with a product
• product-url-clip — Save a product page as evidence without adopting it
• product-spec-bulk-fetch — Pull specs from a list of product URLs
• product-spec-pdf-parser — Pull specs from product PDFs and price books
• product-data-import — Turn product information into schedule-ready rows
• product-data-cleanup — Normalize casing, dimensions, units, and materials
• product-enrich — Tag products by category, color, material, and style
• product-image-processor — Download, resize, and remove backgrounds from product images