Skills for
journalism.
A curated collection of Claude Code skills for journalists, researchers, academics, and media professionals. Modular instruction sets that extend Claude's capabilities for specialized tasks.
Skills that do their homework first.
Superjawn is a research-augmented fork of obra/superpowers. A default-on research phase fires before brainstorming, systematic-debugging, and writing-skills — pulling from the web, your codebase, and authoritative docs before any plan gets drafted. Skip it when you already know the answer; otherwise the homework happens automatically. All 14 skills ported, no upstream dependency.
01 / Plugins
10 Pluginsautocontext
Cross-session knowledge persistence with skill evolution. Lessons accumulate per-skill, and /autocontext:evolve folds them back into skill files.
superjawn
Research-augmented fork of obra/superpowers. Default-on research phase fires before brainstorming, systematic-debugging, and writing-skills. v1.0.0 ships all 14 skills with no soft dependencies on the upstream superpowers plugin — standalone replacement.
pdf-playground
Full Claude Code plugin with 6 document types, live preview, brand customization, and conversational editing. Create proposals, reports, slides, and more.
pdf-design
Standalone skill for PDF reports and proposals with print-ready CSS patterns and layout guidance.
journalism-core
Thirteen core journalism skills: AP-style writing, slop detox, source verification (deepfakes/C2PA), FOIA + NJ OPRA, fact-checking, interview prep, pitches, editorial workflow, crisis comms, and newsletter publishing.
research-toolkit
Six skills for research and source preservation: academic writing, paywall bypass via Unpaywall, web archiving, page-change monitoring, AI-enriched archives, and a curated free-API catalog with sunset notes.
dev-toolkit
Ten development skills for small newsroom teams: accessibility (WCAG 2.2), Electron, mobile debugging, Python pipelines, test-first bug fixing, ethical scraping, no-build frontend, and signs-of-taste web UI.
project-templates-toolkit
Three skills for starting and closing projects: a CLAUDE.md project-memory writer, a LESSONS.md retrospective writer, and a template-selector decision tree across six project types.
security-toolkit
Four defensive security skills plus /security-toolkit:hotpatch: OWASP audit checklists, secure auth (hashing, JWT, OAuth, passkeys), API hardening, and npm/bun supply-chain hardening.
visual-explainer
HTML diagrams, data tables, architecture views, slide decks, and KPI dashboards with journalism, newsroom, and academic design sensibilities.
02 / Core journalism
10 Skillssource-verification
SIFT method, digital verification, reverse image search, social media account analysis, building verification trails.
foia-requests
Public records request drafting, tracking systems, appeals process, state-specific guidance.
data-journalism
Data acquisition, cleaning, analysis, visualization, and storytelling for newsrooms.
newsroom-style
AP Style enforcement, attribution rules, headline formatting, number conventions.
interview-prep
Pre-interview research, question frameworks, recording consent, attribution guidelines.
interview-transcription
Recording workflows, transcription, quote management, source databases.
story-pitch
Pitch templates for daily news, features, investigations, op-eds, and freelance queries.
fact-check-workflow
Claim extraction, evidence gathering, rating scales, correction protocols.
editorial-workflow
Story assignment tracking, deadline management, editorial calendars, handoff protocols.
social-media-intelligence
Social monitoring, narrative tracking, account analysis, coordination detection, OSINT.
03 / Communications
2 Skills04 / Design & production
1 Skill05 / Writing quality
1 Skill06 / Project documentation
3 Skillsproject-memory
Generate CLAUDE.md files that capture project-specific knowledge. Includes 6 project type templates.
project-retrospective
Generate LESSONS.md files that document what worked and what didn't. 4 project type templates.
template-selector
Decision tree for choosing the right project documentation template.
07 / Academic and research
5 Skillsacademic-writing
Research design, literature reviews, IMRaD structure, peer review responses, grant proposals.
digital-archive
Building archives with AI enrichment, entity extraction, knowledge graphs.
web-archiving
Wayback Machine, Archive.today, legal evidence preservation, multi-archive redundancy.
content-access
Unpaywall, CORE, Semantic Scholar APIs, library databases, ethical access patterns.
page-monitoring
Change detection, RSS generation, webhook alerts, automatic archiving on changes.
08 / Development
10 Skillsvibe-coding
AI-assisted software development methodology based on YC best practices.
one-way-door
Flag irreversible architectural decisions before you commit. Includes PreToolUse hook for automated enforcement.
electron-dev
Electron + React desktop application development patterns.
python-pipeline
Data processing pipelines with modular architecture.
web-scraping
Content extraction with anti-bot handling and poison pill detection.
zero-build-frontend
Static web apps without build tools, CDN-loaded frameworks.
mobile-debugging
Eruda, vConsole, remote debugging, iOS debugging, console capture.
accessibility-compliance
WCAG compliance, alt text, accessible charts, keyboard navigation.
web-ui-best-practices
Signs of taste in web UI. 18 principles covering speed, restraint, honest cancellation, and optical alignment.
persistent-sessions
Keep Claude Code sessions alive across disconnects with tmux. Setup, key bindings, and scheduler coexistence.
09 / Security
4 Skillssecurity-checklist
Pre-deployment security audit covering auth, input validation, secrets, and compliance.
secure-auth
Production-ready authentication patterns (sessions, JWTs, OAuth, MFA).
api-hardening
Rate limiting, input validation, CORS, API key management.
supply-chain-hardening
npm/bun install-time cooldown plus a sandboxed pre-install scan. Defends against Mini Shai-Hulud-class supply-chain worms; bundles the /security-toolkit:hotpatch command.
10 / Reference
1 Skill · 1 Guidefree-apis-catalog
Curated free-API catalog organized by journalism use-case. Currency notes for major API sunsets (IEX Cloud, CrowdTangle, ProPublica Congress, X, Reddit) and an evaluation rubric.
multi-agent workflows
Plain-language guide to running many AI agents on one job: fan-out, pipeline, and adversarial-verify, with real examples from ICIJ, The Markup, Full Fact, and Elicit, plus honest cautions.
11 / Hooks
14 Automated ChecksHooks run automatically at specific workflow events. Most are non-blocking warnings, but two — one-way-door-check and enforce-test-first — block intentionally until you resolve them.
Writing quality
ap-style-check
Flag AP Style violations in written content.
ai-slop-detector
Warn about AI-generated patterns.
accessibility-check
Check alt text, heading structure, link text.
Verification
source-attribution-check
Flag unattributed quotes and claims.
verification-reminder
Prompt to verify facts before including.
data-methodology-check
Ensure data stories include methodology.
Editorial workflow
source-diversity-check
Note when sources may lack diversity.
legal-review-flag
Flag potentially defamatory content.
pre-publish-checklist
Reminder checklist before completing tasks.
deadline-tracker
Surface upcoming deadlines.
Preservation
archive-reminder
Remind to archive URLs when citing sources.
Development
one-way-door-check
Block irreversible architectural decisions until discussed.
bug-report-detector
Detect bug reports and apply test-first workflow.
enforce-test-first
Block source edits until test is written.
12 / Installation
Get StartedYou need Claude Code installed. Run claude --version in your terminal to check.
Install as a plugin
Plugins give you slash commands inside Claude Code. Run these two commands in your terminal:
Then restart Claude Code (close and reopen). See the PDF Playground page for detailed instructions, troubleshooting, and brand setup.
Install individual skills
Skills load automatically when relevant to your work. Claude Code discovers skills at ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md — one level deep. Clone the repo anywhere, then copy or symlink the skills you want:
For example, asking Claude to verify a source will use the source-verification skill. Don't clone the whole repo into ~/.claude/skills/journalism-skills/ — that nests each SKILL.md two levels deep and Claude Code won't find them.