New Album Skill for Claude

Creates a new album with the correct directory structure and templates. Use IMMEDIATELY when the user says 'make a new album' or similar, before any discussion.

2k tokens

context cost

the whole folder, loaded on every use

files

instructions only

copies elsewhere

how many repositories repackaged it

399

stars on the repo

on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository

npx skills add https://github.com/bitwize-music-studio/claude-ai-music-skills --skill new-album

The instruction itself

11 sections, as written by the author

Your Task

Input: $ARGUMENTS

Create a new album directory structure with all required files and templates.

New Album Skill

You create the complete album directory structure based on config.

Step 1: Parse Arguments

Expected formats:

<album-name> <genre> — standard album
<album-name> documentary <genre> — true-story/documentary album (creates RESEARCH.md + SOURCES.md)

Examples:

sample-album electronic
my-new-album hip-hop
protest-songs folk
the-heist documentary hip-hop

Valid genres: Any genre that has a directory under ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/genres/. Use the slug form (lowercase, hyphenated) — e.g. deep-house, crust-punk, k-pop, hip-hop.

To check if a genre is valid, verify ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/genres/{genre}/README.md exists.

Parsing logic:

If 3 arguments and second is documentary: album = arg1, genre = arg3, documentary = true
If 2 arguments: album = arg1, genre = arg2, documentary = false
If 2 arguments and neither matches a valid genre slug: ask for clarification
If only 1 argument or none: ask the user

After parsing, if documentary flag was not set, ask:

"Is this a documentary/true-story album? (This adds research and sources templates.)"

If arguments are missing, ask:

Usage: /new-album <album-name> <genre>
       /new-album <album-name> documentary <genre>

Example: /new-album sample-album electronic
         /new-album the-heist documentary hip-hop
         /new-album night-drive deep-house

Genre must match a directory under genres/ (use slug form: deep-house, crust-punk, etc.)

Step 2: Create Album via MCP

Call create_album_structure(album_slug, genre, documentary) — creates the complete directory structure with templates in one call.

Creates content directory at {content_root}/artists/{artist}/albums/{genre}/{album-name}/
Copies album template as README.md
Creates tracks/ and promo/ directories with templates
For documentary albums (documentary: true): also creates RESEARCH.md and SOURCES.md
Returns {created: bool, path: str, files: [...]}
If the album slug already exists under ANY genre (slugs are globally unique), returns an error naming the existing genre and path

Note: Audio and documents directories are NOT created (those are created when needed by import-audio/import-art).

Step 3: Confirm

Report:

Created album: {album-name}
Location: {album_path}

Files created:
- README.md (album template)
- tracks/ (empty, ready for track files)
- promo/ (social media copy templates)

Next steps:
  Option 1 - Interactive (Recommended):
    Run /bitwize-music:album-conceptualizer to design your album concept
    through the 7 Planning Phases.

  Option 2 - Manual:
    1. Edit README.md with your album concept
    2. Create tracks with /import-track or manually in tracks/

Tip: For OST/soundtrack albums with a mix of vocal and instrumental
tracks, the album-conceptualizer will ask about the vocal/instrumental
split per track. Set `instrumental: true` in track frontmatter for
instrumental tracks — they skip the lyrics workflow and go directly
to /bitwize-music:suno-engineer.

Error Handling

Config file missing:

Error: Config not found at ~/.bitwize-music/config.yaml
Run /configure to set up.

Invalid genre:

Error: Invalid genre "{genre}"

No genre directory found at genres/{genre}/. Use a valid genre slug (e.g. hip-hop, deep-house, grindcore).
Check genres/INDEX.md for the full list.

Album already exists (any genre — slugs are globally unique):

Error: Album slug '{album-name}' already exists under genre '{existing-genre}': {existing_path}

Album slugs are unique across all genres — choose a different name, or
rename the existing album with /bitwize-music:rename.

Templates not found:

Error: Templates not found. Is the plugin installed correctly?
Expected at: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/templates/

Examples

/new-album sample-album electronic

Config has:

paths:
  content_root: ~/bitwize-music
artist:
  name: bitwize

Result:

Created album: sample-album
Location: ~/bitwize-music/artists/bitwize/albums/electronic/sample-album/

Files created:
- README.md (album template)
- tracks/ (empty, ready for track files)

Next steps:
  Option 1 - Interactive (Recommended):
    Run /bitwize-music:album-conceptualizer to design your album concept
    through the 7 Planning Phases.

  Option 2 - Manual:
    1. Edit README.md with your album concept
    2. Create tracks with /import-track or manually in tracks/

True Story Albums

If user mentions this is a documentary or true-story album:

/new-album the-heist documentary hip-hop

The create_album_structure(album_slug, genre, documentary=true) call automatically creates RESEARCH.md and SOURCES.md from templates.

Report:

Created album: the-heist (documentary)
Location: ~/bitwize-music/artists/bitwize/albums/hip-hop/the-heist/

Files created:
- README.md (album template)
- RESEARCH.md (research template)
- SOURCES.md (sources template)
- tracks/ (empty, ready for track files)

Common Mistakes

❌ Don't: Create directories manually

Wrong:

# Manual mkdir, config reading, template copying
cat ~/.bitwize-music/config.yaml
mkdir -p ~/music-projects/artists/bitwize/albums/...
cp templates/album.md ...

Right:

# Single MCP call handles everything
create_album_structure(album_slug, genre, documentary)

The MCP tool reads config, resolves paths, creates directories, and copies templates automatically.

✅ Do: Use the specific genre slug

Any genre with a directory under genres/ is valid. Use the most specific genre that fits:

/new-album my-album boom-bap        # has its own genre directory
/new-album my-album deep-house      # specific subgenre
/new-album my-album grindcore       # specific subgenre
/new-album my-album hip-hop         # broad category also works

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How to use it

Copy the folder

Take bitwize-music-studio/new-album from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.