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The metalworks plugin brings the full workflow into Claude Code. Ask /demand-report can I sell a focus supplement to developers? and you get the same grounded report the library produces — every claim linked to a real quote you can open — right in your chat, then keep going (/position-wedge, /build-spec, /launch-kit) from there. Under the hood it’s an MCP server: each slash command is a skill that calls one or more of its 26 tools. The commands chain through a stored demand report, exactly like the CLI — see Projects & memory for how that state persists.

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Install

/plugin marketplace add Lab2A/metalworks
/plugin install metalworks@lab2a
You need uv on your PATH. The plugin runs the metalworks MCP server via uvx, which installs it into an isolated environment on first launch: 
uvx --from "metalworks[mcp,arctic,reddit]" metalworks mcp serve --transport stdio
A SessionStart hook pre-warms that environment (it runs metalworks version quietly when your session opens), so the first real command doesn’t pay the one-time install delay.

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Keys: what works with none, what needs one

The data tools run with no API key. The research and synthesis tools use whatever provider key is in your environment (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY / GOOGLE_API_KEY — first present wins). A few tools also need an embeddings key.
TierNeedsTools
Zero-keynothingReddit search & comments, subreddit info/rules, Arctic corpus pull, corpus stats, run/report listing, compliance lint, channel plan, content plan
Chat keya provider keydemand research, positioning, launch assets, reply drafting, discovery
Chat + embeddingsprovider + embeddingscompetitor map, surface, UX skeleton, marketing site, build spec
Gatedenv opt-in (below)posting a Reddit reply

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The commands

Each command runs one step of the end-to-end workflow. Start with /demand-report; the rest take the report it produces (by report_id) and build on it.

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Research

  • /demand-report <idea> — is there real demand? Runs the pipeline (research_plan_brief → research_start → poll research_status → research_result), or a zero-key Arctic-corpus path if no key is set. Returns a go/no-go plus ranked demand clusters with distinct-author counts and verbatim, permalinked quotes. Research only — never posts.
  • /position-wedge — turns the report into a Dunford wedge (competitive alternative, unique attribute, value, beachhead, category) + a price band. Calls positioning_from_report. Every slot resolves to a real quote; if nothing defensible survives, it says so rather than inventing one.
  • /competitor-map — direct / adjacent / status-quo rivals, each gap backed by a cited complaint, severity derived from distinct-author counts. Calls competitor_map_from_report. Leads with the “do nothing” alternative.

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Design

  • /surface-and-ux — picks the surface to build (web, mobile, CLI, SDK, …) with a cited rubric (surface_recommend), then sketches 3–5 screens (ux_skeleton_build), each marked validated or hypothesis. Text and structure only — no mockups.
  • /generate-site — a marketing site whose every load-bearing line is a verbatim real quote, footnoted to its permalink. Calls site_render, which returns the MarketingSite plus a self-contained index.html. A line that can’t be exact-matched to a real quote is dropped.

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Build

  • /build-spec — a feature spec mapped to real demand (build_spec), then a scaffolded repo: CLAUDE.md with a cite-or-die rule, docs/SPEC.md, a frozen docs/EVIDENCE.md quote table, a PostToolUse lint hook, and .mcp.json wiring back to metalworks. metalworks specs and scaffolds; your agent builds. Ungrounded features are dropped before scaffolding.

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Launch

  • /launch-kit — Product Hunt / Show HN / X drafts (launch_assets_build), each claim carrying a permalink and exact text span, plus a human-executed channel plan (channel_plan_build). It never posts — every channel step is requires_human. If the report is a no-go, it returns nothing and says so.

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Grow

  • /content-plan — a deterministic, zero-key content/SEO plan (content_plan_from_report): one page per demand cluster, FAQ blocks built from your brief’s must-address questions, real distinct-author/mention counts as stat anchors, and a list of permalinks to cite.
  • /find-threads <product> — live Reddit threads worth a genuine reply (reddit_search_posts), ranked by honest fit. Discovery only — it doesn’t draft or post.
  • /draft-reply <thread> — reads the thread and rules (reddit_get_post_comments, reddit_subreddit_rules), drafts a reply in your voice (generate_reply), and runs it through the compliance gate (compliance_lint) until it passes. It stops there. Posting happens only on your explicit instruction, and only if the gate is satisfied.
  • /subreddit-intel <r/name> — a practical brief on a community (rules that bite, tone, what gets removed) before you participate (reddit_subreddit_info). Reconnaissance only.

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The posting gate

Nothing in the plugin posts to Reddit on its own. The one tool that can, reddit_post_comment, is the security boundary, and it is triple-gated:
  1. Operator opt-in. It refuses unless METALWORKS_ALLOW_POSTING=1 is set in the server’s environment. Disabled by default.
  2. A confirm token. The reply text must carry a token issued by the deterministic compliance check (compliance_lint / generate_reply) over that exact text — edit the draft after it passed, and the token no longer matches.
  3. A re-check. It re-runs the compliance gate at post time and refuses if it fails.
It also needs REDDIT_CLIENT_ID / REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET and a connected account. Every attempt is logged.

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What the compliance gate checks

The gate (compliance_lint) is deterministic, offline, and zero-key. It flags AI-tells (“great question”, “hope this helps”, em-dashes), over-promotion (your product named repeatedly), length out of bounds, and naked CTAs (“sign up”, “check out”) — returning a pass/fail verdict with a confidence score. Drafts that read like marketing get tightened, not shipped.

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Personas, honestly

Reply drafting can take a persona — a voice defined by real writing samples and an authentic background. Fabricated personas, invented backstories, and coordinated inauthentic behavior are prohibited by the usage policy; the default persona is empty, so fabrication is never accidental.

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Same engine, your choice of surface

The plugin, the Python SDK, the CLI, and the MCP server all run the same engine and produce the same results — pick whichever fits how you work. Driving metalworks from your own agent instead of the plugin? See using with AI agents.