CRE Skills Plugin is a structured knowledge base of institutional-grade commercial real estate skills, expert agents, Python calculators, and orchestrator pipelines (current counts: see the README's Key Stats). It installs as:
- a Claude Code plugin (core supported; CLI marketplace or local
--plugin-dir), - a local MCP server for the Claude Desktop Chat tab (core companion; DMG/EXE installer),
- a stripped plugin import for the Cowork tab (reduced secondary),
- a portable skill export for Codex / Gemini / Grok / Manus (experimental, no CI coverage).
See ../README.md#release-maturity for the support-tier table.
| If you use... | Install via... | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code (CLI or Desktop Code tab) | claude plugin marketplace add mariourquia/cre-skills-plugin + claude plugin install cre-skills@cre-skills |
Full plugin: skills, agents, workflow chains, orchestrators, slash commands, SessionStart hook, telemetry |
| Claude Desktop Chat tab | DMG (macOS) or EXE (Windows) installer from the releases page | Local MCP server with tools for routing, skill detail, workspace management, feedback |
| Cowork tab | Download cre-skills-cowork.zip from the releases page, upload via Customize > Browse plugins |
Skills + agents + commands only. No MCP server, no orchestrators, no calculators. |
| Codex / Gemini / Grok / Manus / other agents | Download cre-skills-portable.zip, extract skills/ into your agent's skills directory |
Experimental. Ships SKILL.md files only. A structural smoke test (tests/install_smoke/test_portable_zip.py + the Portable ZIP Smoke workflow) validates the ZIP layout, skills-tree mirroring, and frontmatter contract — but cross-runtime invocation (the skill actually loading and running inside Codex / Gemini / Grok / Manus) is not tested. Treat as unsupported until you verify it yourself on your runtime. |
These are two different surfaces. Only one is supported by this repo. The paragraph below is the canonical caveat — it is duplicated verbatim in README.md, docs/INSTALL.md, docs/install-guide.md, docs/install-desktop.md, and docs/install-cowork.md, and a parity assertion in tests/test_release_version_parity.py fails if those copies drift from this source.
Do not paste this repo URL into Claude Desktop Chat tab's "Add marketplace" dialog. Chat tab's "Add marketplace" is a separate surface and is not supported by this repo — pasting
https://github.com/mariourquia/cre-skills-pluginthere will produce a validation error. The canonical Chat tab install path is the DMG (macOS) or EXE (Windows) installer, which registers a local MCP server viaclaude_desktop_config.json. The Claude Code CLI marketplace (claude plugin marketplace add mariourquia/cre-skills-pluginfollowed byclaude plugin install cre-skills@cre-skills) is supported and is the canonical CLI install path; it also works in the Desktop Code tab (which uses Claude Code under the hood).
If in doubt: if you are using the Claude Code CLI or the Desktop Code tab, use the marketplace. If you are using the Desktop Chat tab, use the DMG/EXE installer.
Whether you run the DMG (macOS) or the EXE (Windows), the installer performs these steps:
- Detects which Claude surfaces are installed (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or both).
- Copies the plugin source (
src/) to the Claude plugin cache directory. - Creates
.claude-plugin/plugin.jsonin the cache directory (not in the repo). - Registers the MCP server in Claude Desktop's config file (
claude_desktop_config.json) so Desktop can call the CRE tools. - Creates
~/.cre-skills/for user data (config, brand guidelines, workspaces, telemetry, feedback).
No data leaves your machine. No API keys are required. The MCP server runs locally via Node.js.
After installing and restarting Claude Desktop, the plugin appears as an MCP server named cre-skills in Settings > Developer > MCP Servers. It exposes tools that Claude can call automatically when you describe a CRE task in plain language.
You will NOT see slash commands (like /cre-skills:cre-route) in Claude Desktop. Slash commands are a Claude Code feature. In Desktop, you interact through natural conversation and Claude routes to the right skill via the MCP tools behind the scenes.
Core MCP tools:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
cre_route |
Routes your prompt to the matching CRE skill |
cre_list_skills |
Browse and filter all skills |
cre_skill_detail |
Read the full structured process for any skill |
cre_workspace_create |
Start a persistent workspace for a deal or asset |
cre_workspace_get |
Resume a workspace from a prior session |
cre_workspace_update |
Add notes, decisions, or next actions to a workspace |
cre_send_feedback |
Report issues or suggest improvements |
You do not need to call these by name. Just describe what you need -- "screen this deal", "size a loan", "analyze this rent roll" -- and Claude picks the right tool.
Orchestrators coordinate multiple skills into end-to-end pipelines. For example, the acquisition orchestrator runs due diligence, underwriting, financing, legal, closing, and challenge phases in sequence and produces a GO / CONDITIONAL / NO-GO verdict. Pipelines cover acquisitions, dispositions, development, fund management, portfolio oversight, and more.
Orchestrators are available in Claude Code via /cre-skills:orchestrate <pipeline>. They are NOT available in Claude Desktop or Cowork -- Desktop users can still access the individual skills that make up each pipeline, just not the automated multi-phase orchestration.
Workspace skills (deal-intake, lease-strategy-papering, asset-ops-cockpit, capital-projects-development, fund-lp-reporting, navigator, plugin-admin) provide persistent state that carries across sessions. Create a workspace for a deal, come back tomorrow, and resume where you left off. Workspaces are stored locally at ~/.cre-skills/workspaces/ and are available in both Claude Code and Claude Desktop.
In Claude Code:
/cre-skills:send-feedback-- share feedback about skill quality, missing capabilities, or general suggestions/cre-skills:report-problem-- report a bug with structured severity and reproduction context
In Claude Desktop:
- Ask Claude: "Send feedback about the deal screening skill" or "Report a problem with loan sizing"
- Claude will use the
cre_send_feedbackMCP tool
On GitHub:
- Open an issue at github.com/mariourquia/cre-skills-plugin/issues
All feedback is saved locally to ~/.cre-skills/feedback-log.jsonl first. Free-text fields are automatically sanitized (file paths, emails, digit sequences stripped). You are asked before anything is sent remotely.