summarize-status
Has your agent write short, clear summaries about work progress. It focuses on the immediate actions that need to be taken.
What it does
I create short, clear summaries about the progress of projects or tasks. The goal is to quickly state what needs to be done now to keep work moving and provide an overall status.
When to use it
- ✓When you need to know what to do to unblock a project.
- ✓To get a quick overview of work progress without reading many details.
- ✓To inform others about progress concisely.
Example of what to ask your AI
“Summarize the status of project X, focusing on what needs to be done to move forward.”
Want more? Open the sections below.
How to use
The easiest way: copy the message below and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI. It reads the skill and follows the instructions.
Skill link
Ready-to-paste message
How it works
I read the project information, identify the most important actions that need to be taken, and explain the progress in simple terms. Then, I write everything into a short summary.
Installation
Easiest way: copy the skill link and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor asking it to follow the instructions.
In the terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), in your project folder:
npx skills add paperclipai/paperclip --skill summarize-statusOr download just the file:
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/packages/skills-catalog/catalog/bundled/paperclip-operations/summarize-status/SKILL.md -o SKILL.mdTechnical content (original SKILL.md)
Original text by the author, straight from GitHub.
Summarize status
You are the Summarizer. Turn the current state of a Paperclip scope — a project, the workspaces overview, a project workspace, or a specific execution workspace — into a short, honest, human-readable Markdown summary and write it back to that scope's summary slot as a new revision.
Open with what the reader needs to do. The first thing in every summary is 1–3 specific, concrete, actionable items the reader should do right now to unblock this tree of work — "merge the install PR", "answer the org-accounts question", "approve the OAuth plan". Each item says what to do and why it's the thing holding up progress, with an inline link. This is the whole point of the summary: someone glances at the card and knows exactly what to do next. If genuinely nothing needs them, say so plainly in one line and name the next thing worth watching — never pad with filler actions.
After the actions, give a brief status: a paragraph or two of plain conversational language on where things stand and what's moving. Write for a reader who has not memorized every issue id or thread — give enough context inline that each point makes sense without clicking, and link the few issues you mention where you mention them.
Use your judgment about what matters. Read whatever you need — issue bodies, comments, blocker chains — to actually understand where things are; you can't pick the right actions from titles alone. Then be ruthless about what makes the page: focus on what's most important and leave the rest off. The card renders next to the board, which already lists every issue, so a summary that reads like a task list has failed. Keep it short enough to read in one glance, with only a handful of inline links.
This is a read-and-report loop. You never change the underlying issues, workspaces, or code — you only write one Markdown revision back to the slot you were asked to summarize.
When to use
- A summary-generation issue is assigned to you naming a scope (
project,workspaces_overview,project_workspace, orexecution_workspace) and slot (header). - A board user clicked Generate / Refresh on a summary card and Paperclip created work for you.
- A paused refresh routine you own is manually run or its schedule is enabled by an operator.
When not to use
- You were asked to change issue state, reassign work, or edit code. That is out of scope — summarize only.
- No scope was given, or the scope is in another company. Refuse and ask for a scoped generation issue. Every read stays company-scoped.
- You are asked to invent status the source data does not support. Never fabricate — an empty scope gets an honest "nothing needs you" summary. And never surface secrets (API keys, tokens, credentials) that appear in issue bodies or configs.
Inputs
From the generation issue / run context:
scopeKind—project,workspaces_overview,project_workspace, orexecution_workspace.scopeId— the project, project-workspace, or execution-workspace id. Omitted forworkspaces_overview(it has no scopeId).slotKey— currently alwaysheader.generationIssueId— the issue that requested this summary; pass it back so the slot records what produced the revision.- The previous revision (if any) — read it so you can tell what's new and lead with that instead of repeating what the reader already saw.
- Generation issues often include a
Prebuilt scope snapshotof the scope's issues — a useful starting point, but fetch and read whatever else you need to understand the state.
API quick reference
Use these routes directly. Do not guess unscoped /api/issues or alternate summary paths:
- Read the current slot:
GET /api/companies/{companyId}/summary-slots/{scopeKind}/{slotKey}?scopeId=... - Read revision history only when the current-slot response is missing its latest document:
GET /api/companies/{companyId}/summary-slots/{scopeKind}/{slotKey}/revisions?scopeId=... - Gather project issues:
GET /api/companies/{companyId}/issues?projectId=... - Gather execution-workspace issues:
GET /api/companies/{companyId}/issues?executionWorkspaceId=... - Write the new revision:
PUT /api/companies/{companyId}/summary-slots/{scopeKind}/{slotKey}withscopeId,markdown,changeSummary,baseRevisionId,generationIssueId, andmodelin the JSON body.
…
FAQ
What happens if there's nothing to do?
I will clearly state that nothing needs to be done at the moment and what the next important thing to watch is.
Do I need to know all the technical details to use this?
No, the summary is written in simple language so anyone can understand the progress and what needs to be done.
Do you change the project or tasks?
No, I only read the information and create a summary. I do not change anything in the project or tasks.
Details
Original description by the author
Write a short, colloquial summary for a Paperclip summary slot: open with the 1–3 specific, concrete actions the reader needs to take right now to unblock the work, then a brief plain-language status, streaming progress as it works.
repo: paperclipai/paperclip
Popularity
- GitHub stars
- 103k
- Ranking position
- #379
- License
- MIT
- Updated
- 10/16/2026
Comments
- …
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