Para system

Skill aroyburman-codes/para-second-brain/skills/para-system

A PARA (Projects/Areas/Resources/Archive) second brain plugin for Claude Code. Organize your work and knowledge with structured templates, quick capture, and review workflows.

Install

npx -y skills add aroyburman-codes/para-second-brain --skill para-system

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

1 stars1 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

SKILL.md

2.2 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

PARA Second Brain System

You have access to the PARA (Projects/Areas/Resources/Archive) methodology for organizing work and knowledge.

When This Skill Activates

Activate when the user:

Mentions PARA, "second brain", or "where should I put this"
Asks about organizing their work, notes, or knowledge
Wants to decide between Projects, Areas, Resources, or Archive
Asks about review cadence or PARA hygiene

Core PARA Concepts

Projects = Goal + Deadline. Bounded efforts with a clear finish line. Areas = Ongoing Responsibility. No end date — standards to maintain. Resources = Reference Material. Things to find later, no action required now. Archive = Inactive Items. Done, paused, or deprecated — not deleted, just shelved.

Quick Decision Tree

Has a clear end goal + deadline? → Projects
Ongoing responsibility to maintain? → Areas
Reference material for later? → Resources
Done or no longer relevant? → Archive
None of the above? → Don't capture it.

Key Rules

8-10 active projects max. More means you're spread too thin.
Archive aggressively. Clutter has real cognitive cost. Archiving is free.
Capture fast, organize later. Don't agonize over categories — the weekly review is when you sort things out.
Every item needs a filled-in context.md. Empty templates are noise.
Cross-reference related items. Projects often connect to Areas and Resources.

Available Commands

/para-setup [path] — Initialize a PARA directory structure
/para-add <category> <name> — Add a new item to any category
/para-review [weekly|monthly] — Walk through your system and update statuses
/para-capture [text] — Quick-capture a note from the current conversation
/para-status [category] — See an overview of your PARA system

Review Cadence

Weekly (30 min): Scan projects, check areas, capture and archive
Monthly (60 min): Weekly + strategic alignment + resource refresh
Quarterly (90 min): Monthly + growth review + system health check

Reference Files

For detailed templates, see references/templates.md. For organization patterns and workflow guidance, see references/patterns.md.