Assessment: the three existing patterson-agents repos

Root: /workspaces/code/github.com/patterson-agents downloads/ deliberately ignored per instruction (stale, non-authoritative).

Repo	Size	Latest commit	Remote
`patterson-marketplace`	16M	`2b9c5ce` Update Dependabot configuration	github.com/patterson-agents/patterson-marketplace
`patterson-skills`	19M	`6f13066` Feat/patterson design plugin (#3)	github.com/patterson-agents/patterson-skills
`patterson-design-plugins`	96M	`d671d14` Merge PR #6 (dependabot gh-aw-actions)	github.com/patterson-agents/patterson-design-plugins

Headline finding

All three repos ship the same design system, three different ways. They are not three products; they are three competing packagings of one asset. This is the central problem to resolve.

	patterson-marketplace	patterson-skills	patterson-design-plugins
Marketplace name	`patterson`	`patterson-skills`	`patterson-design`
Plugins	1 (`patterson-design`) + `_template`	1 (`patterson-design`)	9
Skill name	`patterson-design`	`patterson-design-system` and `patterson-design`	`patterson-design`
DS asset location	`plugins/patterson-design/skills/patterson-design/assets/`	`skills/patterson-design-system/` and `plugins/.../assets/`	`plugins/<each>/ds/` ×9
`$schema` on marketplace.json	yes	no	yes
Copilot surface	`.github/agents/` + `.github/skills/`	`.github/agents/` + `.github/skills/` + `.github/mcp.json`	`.github/copilot-instructions.md`
gh-aw workflows	no	scaffold only	yes, 3 live

Three different marketplace name values means a user could install all three and get three copies of the same skill with colliding names. That is a real bug today.

1. `patterson-marketplace` — SALVAGE. This is the strongest foundation.

What it is

A clean, purpose-built Claude Code + Copilot plugin marketplace. One catalog, one real plugin, one template for new plugins, and cross-CLI management tooling.

KEEP

Path	Why
`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`	Correct schema (`$schema: json.schemastore.org/claude-code-marketplace.json`), `owner`, `metadata`, `plugins[]` with `category` + `tags`. Also uses a `relevance.signals.filesRead` block (`*/.css`, `*/tailwind.config.`, `*/.tsx`) for context-based plugin suggestion — the only repo doing this.
`plugins/_template/`	The single most valuable asset in the three repos. A complete plugin skeleton: `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`, `README.md`, `agents/example-agent.md`, `commands/example-command.md`, `skills/example-skill/SKILL.md`, `hooks/hooks.json`, `scripts/example-hook.sh`. The `hooks.json` shows the correct `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}` interpolation for a `PostToolUse` `Write\|Edit` matcher. Nothing else in Patterson’s tree documents the hooks surface.
`scripts/plugins.sh` + `add/update/remove/sync/ignore.sh` + `lib/common.sh`	Single entry point that drives both the `claude` and `copilot` CLIs, with `--claude` / `--copilot` scoping and `-n/--dry-run`. This is the runtime half of the dual-manifest story. (`sync` and `ignore` are stubbed “not implemented yet” — be honest about that.)
`docs/managed-settings.template.json`	Org-wide rollout via `extraKnownMarketplaces` + `pluginSuggestionMarketplaces` + `enabledPlugins`. This is how Patterson pushes the marketplace to every engineer without asking them to run a command. Critical for enterprise adoption.
`.claude/settings.json`	Repo-local auto-registration: trusting the folder registers the marketplace. Nice DX touch.
`.github/agents/patterson-design.md` + `.github/skills/patterson-design/SKILL.md`	The Copilot projection of the Claude plugin — the dual-manifest pattern actually implemented.
`CONTRIBUTING.md`, `LICENSE`, `docs/README.md`, `scripts/README.md`	Real docs, not stubs.

ADAPT

plugins/patterson-design/.claude-plugin/plugin.json is missing version, license, and keywords — the _template version has all three. Bring it up to the template’s standard.
The .github/skills/patterson-design/SKILL.md points at plugins/patterson-design/skills/patterson-design/ by relative repo path. That works in-repo but not once installed. Needs ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}-style resolution.
scripts/sync.sh and ignore.sh are unimplemented — either finish or remove.

DISCARD

Nothing. This repo has almost no dead weight.

Verdict

Keep and promote to the canonical marketplace repo. Its structure is correct, its tooling is unique, and it is the only repo with an org-rollout story. Everything else should be restructured to publish into this catalog.

2. `patterson-skills` — PARTIALLY SALVAGE. Harvest three things, then retire.

What it is

An earlier, more confused attempt. It contains two copies of the design system in two different layouts inside one repo:

skills/patterson-design-system/ — a bare skill (tokens/, components/, assets/, reference/design-guide.md, CLAUDE_CODE_HANDOFF.md, styles.css)
plugins/patterson-design/skills/patterson-design/ — the same content repackaged as a plugin (assets/, references/, scripts/)

Its .claude-plugin/marketplace.json is a strictly worse version of patterson-marketplace’s: no $schema, no relevance block, different marketplace name (patterson-skills vs patterson), same plugin name (patterson-design). Direct collision risk with patterson-marketplace.

KEEP — these three are genuinely unique and exist nowhere else

Path	Why
`.github/skills/agentic-workflow-designer/SKILL.md`	Daniel’s original work. A conversational interview skill for authoring gh-aw workflows: Phase 1 Goal → Phase 2 Trigger → Phase 3 Scope (read/write) → Phase 4 Data Strategy → Phase 5 Guardrails. Explicitly maps answers onto `on:`, `permissions:`, `tools:`, `safe-outputs:`, `steps:`. Advises pre-fetching GitHub data with `gh` + `jq` into `/tmp/gh-aw/data/` so the agent reads compact JSON — a real token-cost insight. Also correctly positions itself relative to gh-aw’s own `create-agentic-workflow.md` and `agentic-chat.md` prompts. This is the best single artifact in the three repos.
`.github/mcp.json`	Declares `gh aw mcp-server` as a local MCP server exposing `compile`, `audit`, `logs`, `inspect`, `status`, `audit-diff`. Lets Claude/Copilot drive gh-aw as tools. Should be standard in every Patterson repo.
`skills/patterson-design-system/CLAUDE_CODE_HANDOFF.md` + `reference/design-guide.md`	The full brand guide and the “hand this system to a developer” doc. Whichever repo wins, this prose must survive.

ADAPT

.github/labeler.yml + .github/workflows/label.yml — standard PR labelling, fine to carry forward.
.github/workflows/copilot-setup-steps.yml — Copilot coding-agent environment setup.
.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/*.md — old-style .md templates; upgrade to the .yml issue forms used in patterson-sh/templates.
.github/agents/agentic-workflows.md and .github/skills/agentic-workflows/SKILL.md are verbatim copies from githubnext/agentics, and the SKILL.md’s file list points at .github/aw/*.md paths that do not exist locally (“Load these files from github/gh-aw (they are not available locally)”). Keep the router idea, but this copy is broken as shipped.

DISCARD

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json — colliding, inferior duplicate of patterson-marketplace’s.
plugins/patterson-design/ — a third copy of the design system.
skills/patterson-design-system/ as a location — the content is valuable, the duplication is not.

Verdict

Harvest agentic-workflow-designer, .github/mcp.json, and the design-guide prose; then archive the repo. Leaving a second marketplace named patterson-skills publishing a plugin named patterson-design alongside patterson-marketplace is an active hazard.

3. `patterson-design-plugins` — RESTRUCTURE. Best content, worst architecture.

What it is

The most developed and most content-rich of the three: 9 individually installable plugins (patterson-brand core + patterson-deck, patterson-executive-deck, patterson-corporate-page, patterson-file-manager, patterson-docs, patterson-tutorialkit, patterson-corporate-website, patterson-storefront), each with skills/, commands/, agents/, and a ds/ design-system snapshot. Also the only repo with live gh-aw workflows and a devcontainer.

The fatal flaw: 9× duplication

plugins/patterson-brand/ds            9.4M
plugins/patterson-corporate-page/ds   9.0M
plugins/patterson-corporate-website/ds 9.1M
plugins/patterson-deck/ds             9.0M
plugins/patterson-docs/ds             9.1M
plugins/patterson-executive-deck/ds   9.0M
plugins/patterson-file-manager/ds     9.1M
plugins/patterson-storefront/ds       9.1M
plugins/patterson-tutorialkit/ds      9.6M
                                     ─────
                                      96M repo

md5sum confirms ds/tokens/colors.css is byte-identical across all 8 non-tutorialkit plugins. Every plugin also carries its own copy of value-prop.png and photo-markets.png (each >500K) and the Proxima Nova woff2 set.

This is deliberate — .github/copilot-instructions.md states it outright:

“ds/ snapshots are deliberately duplicated across plugins so each plugin is self-contained. A token change must be re-copied into every plugin’s snapshot.”

The rationale (self-containment, relative paths like ../../styles.css resolve without edits) is understandable but the cost is severe: a single brand-token change requires 9 synchronized edits, the repo is 96M, and every plugin install pulls ~9M of mostly identical binary assets. It is the same copy-paste-instead-of-dependency antipattern called out in the 4act ecosystem’s sharedPaymentFunctions.js.

KEEP

Path	Why
`plugins/patterson-brand/ds/`	The canonical design-system payload — `tokens/.css` (6 files), `styles.css`, `theme.json` (Theme UI spec shape), `components/` (core/forms/feedback as `.jsx` + `.d.ts` + per-component `.prompt.md`), `_ds_bundle.js` runtime, `assets/brand/` logos + imagery, `assets/fonts/` Proxima Nova woff2, `guidelines/.card.html` (18 browser-openable specimen cards), `readme.md` full design guide. This is the real Patterson brand asset. Keep exactly one* copy.
`plugins/patterson-brand/ds/integrations/`	Framework adapters: `tailwind.css` (v4), `tailwind.config.js` (v3), `uno.config.js`, `theme-ui.js`, `shadcn-theme.css`, + README. Excellent — makes the tokens consumable from any stack.
`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`	9-plugin catalog with `metadata.pluginRoot: "./plugins"`, per-plugin `version` and `category` (`design-system` / `templates` / `ui-kits`). Best-structured catalog of the three.
`plugins//skills//SKILL.md`	Well-written, correct frontmatter (`name`, `description`, `user-invocable`), correct `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}` usage, explicit scaffolding workflow, and a crisp brand quick-reference (navy `#003767`, sky `#00A8E1`, pill buttons, 10px radius, no emoji). Model examples for skill authoring.
`.github/workflows/{ci-doctor,repo-ask,repo-chronicle}.{md,lock.yml}` + `shared/reporting.md`	Live gh-aw workflows pinned to `githubnext/agentics@1c6668b`, compiled with gh-aw v0.81.6, one on Copilot and one on Claude. Proof the toolchain works.
`.github/copilot-instructions.md`	The best copilot-instructions file in the tree: layout rules, brand rules, workflow expectations, frontmatter requirements per file type, and the `claude plugin validate .` gate.
`CLAUDE.md`	Accurate, specific, includes the local smoke-test path (`/plugin marketplace add .` → install → invoke).
`.devcontainer/`	`devcontainer.json`, `Dockerfile`, `setup.sh`, `welcome.sh`, `devcontainer-lock.json`, README + a publishable `devcontainer-template/`. Real onboarding infrastructure.
`.vscode/`	`tasks.json` wires `claude plugin validate .` as the default test task. `extensions.json`, `launch.json`, `settings.json`, README.
`.github/dependabot.yml`	Already grouping and bumping `github/gh-aw-actions/setup`.

ADAPT

plugins/*/commands/*.md and plugins/*/agents/*.md (e.g. brand-reviewer.md, patterson-designer.md, design.md, wire-tokens.md) — good content, but they assume the duplicated ds/ layout and will need path updates after de-duplication.
demos/vhs/ + generate-vhs-gifs.yml — terminal demo GIFs. Nice, low priority.
prototypes/patterson-starlight, docs/index.html, demos/index.html — demo surface.
CLAUDE_CODE_HANDOFF.md — overlaps with the patterson-skills copy; reconcile.

DISCARD

8 of the 9 ds/ snapshots (~72M). Replace self-containment-by-duplication with one of: (a) patterson-brand as a declared prerequisite plugin whose ds/ the others reference; (b) a build step that materializes snapshots at publish time from a single source; or (c) a thin ds/ per plugin containing only the plugin-specific templates/UI-kit files, with tokens/fonts/logos pulled from patterson-brand. Option (b) preserves the stated self-containment benefit while keeping one source of truth.
The submodule wiring in patterson-sh/.gitmodules pointing here — submodule-per-plugin does not scale.

Verdict

Restructure, do not restart. The content is the most valuable thing Patterson has built; the packaging is the problem. Fixing it is a mechanical de-duplication plus a publish-time snapshot step, not a rewrite.

Recommendation: salvage, do not restart

Restarting would throw away roughly 96M of hand-produced brand assets, 9 well-written SKILL.md files, a working gh-aw installation, a devcontainer, and a cross-CLI plugin management toolchain. None of that is the problem. The problem is that there are three overlapping marketplaces with colliding plugin names and 9× asset duplication — both purely structural.

Target end state:

patterson-agents/
  patterson-marketplace/          ← THE catalog. Keep as-is; it is already correct.
    .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
    plugins/_template/            ← keep, it is the authoring contract
    docs/managed-settings.template.json
    scripts/plugins.sh            ← cross-CLI installer (finish sync + ignore)

  patterson-design-system/        ← ONE source of truth for ds/ (from patterson-brand)
    tokens/ styles.css theme.json components/ assets/ integrations/ guidelines/
    → published as the patterson-brand plugin; other plugins consume it at publish time

  patterson-plugins/              ← the 8 template/ui-kit plugins, ds/ de-duplicated
                                     (or fold into patterson-marketplace/plugins/)

  patterson-workflows/            ← NEW: Patterson gh-aw workflow pack, agentics-shaped
                                     seeded with agentic-workflow-designer +
                                     the 3 already-installed agentics workflows

  patterson-skills/               ← ARCHIVE after harvesting:
                                     .github/skills/agentic-workflow-designer/SKILL.md
                                     .github/mcp.json
                                     skills/.../design-guide.md + CLAUDE_CODE_HANDOFF.md

Ordered actions:

Freeze patterson-skills. Harvest the three named assets, archive the repo. It is actively dangerous while it publishes a colliding patterson-design plugin.
De-duplicate ds/. Single source + publish-time snapshot. ~96M → well under 15M.
Merge the catalogs. One marketplace named patterson, in patterson-marketplace, listing all plugins. Retire patterson-design and patterson-skills as marketplace names.
Adopt the _template contract repo-wide — every plugin gets version, license, keywords, and the same directory shape.
Add the governance layer from patterson-sh/templates: validate-config.mjs (extended to check plugin.json ⟷ marketplace.json agreement and asset-path existence), node --test, .githooks/pre-commit, and the four governance workflows.
Stand up patterson-workflows and move the gh-aw workflows there, importing shared Patterson fragments rather than copying agentics’ verbatim.

Assessment: the three existing patterson-agents repos

Headline finding

1. patterson-marketplace — SALVAGE. This is the strongest foundation.

What it is

KEEP

ADAPT

DISCARD

Verdict

2. patterson-skills — PARTIALLY SALVAGE. Harvest three things, then retire.

What it is

KEEP — these three are genuinely unique and exist nowhere else

ADAPT

DISCARD

Verdict

3. patterson-design-plugins — RESTRUCTURE. Best content, worst architecture.

What it is

The fatal flaw: 9× duplication

KEEP

ADAPT

DISCARD

Verdict

Recommendation: salvage, do not restart

1. `patterson-marketplace` — SALVAGE. This is the strongest foundation.

2. `patterson-skills` — PARTIALLY SALVAGE. Harvest three things, then retire.

3. `patterson-design-plugins` — RESTRUCTURE. Best content, worst architecture.