Customizing Skills

The Producer Pal Skills are the instructions the AI receives when it connects — how to write notes, edit clips, build instruments, search your library, and work with Ableton Live. They're sent to external MCP clients (like Claude Desktop) in the ppal-connect result and used by the built-in Chat UI on every conversation.

You can override any part of them, and — since every part of the skills costs tokens on every conversation — trim the parts you never use.

How skills are assembled

The skills are composed from named fragments. A top-level fragment (the "Full skills" document) pulls in the others with @include directives:

@include "./core-transforms.md"
@include "./core-library.md"

@include "./core-devices.md"

Each fragment can be overridden independently. When you override one, your version replaces the built-in; every fragment you don't override keeps tracking Producer Pal's built-ins as they improve from release to release.

Fragment	What it teaches
standard	The whole standard skills document — the include manifest plus core guidance
basic	The trimmed equivalent used in small model mode
core-transforms	The transforms/preTransforms DSL for editing notes and audio clip parameters
core-library	Searching Live's browser library and your sample folder
core-devices	Device paths, building Simpler/Drum Rack instruments, specialized device controls
core-arrangement	Moving clips on the Arrangement timeline and take lanes
core-context-standard / core-context-basic	Context & Memory — the project, global, and memory layers
barbeat-standard / barbeat-basic	The bar|beat note notation guide (default notation)
stark-standard / stark-basic	The stark note notation guide
midi-json	The midi-json note notation guide

The standard driver also contains guidance that isn't a separate fragment — time units and note values, audio clip basics, general Ableton Live workflow, and getting help. That content is small and applies to everyone, so it lives directly in the driver text.

Editing fragments

In the Chat UI: open the context editor (the Context button in the header) and switch to the Skills tab. Pick a fragment from the dropdown: it shows read-only until you press Customize, which forks the built-in into an editable override that auto-saves as you type. The trash button resets a fragment, deleting your override. In the dropdown, ✎ marks a customized fragment and ⚠ one whose built-in has changed since you forked it. Preview shows the fully assembled skills exactly as the AI will receive them. See Context & Memory for screenshots.

On disk: overrides are plain Markdown files in ~/.producer-pal/skills/, named after the fragment (core-devices.md, standard.md, …). A file's presence is the override; delete the file to reset. Edit them with any editor — the Chat UI and external MCP clients pick up changes on the next conversation.

The @include directive

Inside any fragment, a line like:

@include "./core-devices.md"

is replaced by that fragment (your override if present, else the built-in). A few rules:

• {notation} in a name is replaced by the active notation, e.g. @include "./{notation}-standard.md" resolves to barbeat-standard.md by default.
• An include of a fragment that doesn't exist resolves to nothing — handy for optional content.
• You can include your own files: drop my-style.md in ~/.producer-pal/skills/ and add @include "./my-style.md" to a fragment.
• Subfolders work: a file at ~/.producer-pal/skills/drums/backbeat.md is included as @include "./drums/backbeat.md".
• Names are confined to the skills folder — a reference can't climb out of it with .., ~, or a leading / — and circular includes are skipped with a warning.

Trimming skills you don't need

If you never use a whole area of Producer Pal, remove its guidance: override the Full skills (standard) fragment and delete the include line for that area. Everything you keep continues to track the built-ins.

If you never…	Delete this line
Use transforms to edit notes/audio params	@include "./core-transforms.md"
Search Live's library or your sample folder with the AI	@include "./core-library.md"
Build or tweak instruments and effects with the AI	@include "./core-devices.md"
Work in the Arrangement view with the AI	@include "./core-arrangement.md"
Use project/global context or memory	@include "./core-context-standard.md"
Write or edit MIDI notes at all	@include "./{notation}-standard.md"

Check the result

After editing, use the Skills tab's Preview view to see the assembled document, and start a new conversation for the change to take effect.

What a driver override freezes

Overriding standard freezes its inline text (time units, workflow, help) at your copy — future improvements to those parts won't reach you until you reset or re-fork. The sections you still @include are unaffected: they keep resolving to the latest built-ins. To change just one area, override that fragment instead of the driver.

Small model mode

Small model mode uses the basic driver, which is already heavily trimmed: it includes only the notation guide and the context fragment, and inlines the rest. To customize it, override basic (or the *-basic fragments — notation and context) the same way.