# Setup > Configure the songwriting plugin for this repository: inventory or scaffold the project-level prompt-template overrides under songwriting/templates/pat-pattison/, and confirm where craft artifacts land. Use when: 'set up songwriting', 'configure songwriting', 'songwriting setup', 'customize a songwriting template', 'override the co-write prompt', or a craft skill reports you want to tune its bundled prompt. Actions: check (read-only inventory, default) | apply (scaffold or remove overrides). Re-runnable and safe. - Skill: `melodic-software/setup-27` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add melodic-software/setup-27` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/melodic-software/setup-27/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: melodic-software (https://skillmd.com/u/melodic-software) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/melodic-software/setup-27 --- ## Purpose Thin check-centric setup per the uniform setup contract (`docs/PLUGIN-PHILOSOPHY.md` "Setup is explicit and repeatable" in the marketplace repository): `check` inventories the consuming repo's tracked prompt-template overrides and reports the effective artifact layout; `apply` scaffolds an override from a bundled default (or removes a byte-identical one). The override seam and the output layout are the plugin's only extension points. It carries no `userConfig`. Both surfaces are described once in [`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/context/pat-pattison/research/artifact-persistence.md`](../../context/pat-pattison/research/artifact-persistence.md). Action routing: no argument or `check` runs the inventory; `apply scaffold ...` copies the named bundled defaults into overrides; `apply remove ...` deletes the named overrides. `apply` runs `check` first. `apply` is non-interactive for the safe paths (scaffolding a not-yet-overridden template, removing a byte-identical one); the single deliberate exception is a destructive-collision guard: overwriting an already-diverged override or removing a customized one would lose the consumer's edits, so those confirm first rather than clobber. ## The two surfaces - **Template overrides (the only thing this skill writes).** A file at `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/songwriting/templates/pat-pattison/.md` in the consuming repo wins over the bundled default `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/context/pat-pattison/templates/.md` (first match). These overrides are **tracked, team-shared config**. They belong in the consumer's repo, not in machine-local state or the plugin directory. - **Artifact layout (read/confirm only, never written by this skill).** Craft skills persist work under `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/songwriting/` by default; if the consuming project's own `CLAUDE.md` or rules declare a different songwriting layout, that layout wins. That declaration is the consumer's own instruction surface. Setup surfaces it and reports the effective layout, but does not edit the consumer's `CLAUDE.md`. ## The override cost. Scaffold only what you intend to customize An override **freezes** that template: once `songwriting/templates/pat-pattison/.md` exists, the craft skills load it instead of the bundled default forever, so later plugin improvements to that template stop reaching this repo. Scaffold an override **only** for a template the consumer actually wants to change. Copying every default verbatim is an anti-pattern: a full set of files that opt out of updates while customizing nothing. ## `check` (read-only) Inventory without writing anything. Apply the convention-resolution ladder. Override present → it wins; no override → the bundled default stays in force (the safe default). 1. **Overrides present.** List what exists under `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/songwriting/templates/pat-pattison/`, and list the bundled defaults in `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/context/pat-pattison/templates/` (each `.md` is loaded by the craft skill that references it, e.g. `co-write-session-opener` by `/songwriting:co-write`, `metaphor-recipe-prompt` by `/songwriting:metaphor`). Report: templates available to override, templates already overridden, and, for each existing override, whether it is byte-identical to the current bundled default (INFO: a byte-identical override customizes nothing and only opts the repo out of future improvements; `apply remove ` clears it). 2. **Artifact layout.** Read the consuming project's `CLAUDE.md` and `.claude/rules` for a declared songwriting layout. Report the effective layout, the declared one if present, else the default `songwriting/` layout from the artifact-persistence contract. ## `apply` (idempotent) Run `check`, then act on the named arguments only, never scaffold or remove a template the consumer did not name. - **`apply scaffold ...`**. Create the `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/songwriting/templates/pat-pattison/` directory if absent, then copy each named bundled default verbatim to `.md` as the starting point for the consumer to edit. If an override already exists, show the difference and do not overwrite it without explicit confirmation in this conversation. Confirm the scaffolded files are tracked, not gitignored, via the pair: `git check-ignore -v` reports no match (a match is a finding with the pattern) AND `git ls-files --error-unmatch` exits 0 (non-zero right after a fresh scaffold means "written but untracked: commit it to share with the team", never success). - **`apply remove ...`**. Delete the named override(s). Offer this for any override `check` found byte-identical to its bundled default; for a diverged override, show what would be lost and confirm first. - **Custom artifact layout.** If the consumer wants a non-default layout, show them the one-line convention to add to their **own** `CLAUDE.md` or rules; do not write it for them (that surface is consumer-owned). After any change, re-run the `check` inventory and report the resulting override set. Re-running `apply` with no scaffold/remove argument changes nothing and reports the current inventory. ## What this skill does NOT do - Run a craft skill. That is `/songwriting:workflow` and the concern skills it routes to. - Write machine-local state. Overrides live in the consumer's tracked repo, never in the plugin directory or the plugin data directory. - Write the plugin cache, Claude Code user settings, or `pluginConfigs`. - Edit the consumer's `CLAUDE.md` or rules, the artifact-layout convention is the consumer's own instruction surface; setup reads and reports it, it does not author it. - Scaffold templates the consumer did not name, a bundled default left in place keeps receiving plugin improvements.