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Agent skill

Proto-Persona Builder

by deanpeters in deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills

Synthesizes existing research, market signals, and team knowledge into a working persona hypothesis, flagged for later validation.

Custom licenceAuto-check passedProduct & Project Management

Install Proto-Persona Builder

skills CLI
$ npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill proto-persona -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills proto-persona --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/proto-persona .claude/skills/proto-persona && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
proto-persona
GitHub stars
7.2k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~3.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,328 words
Files
4
Skills in repo
75
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Custom licence

At a glance

Synthesizes existing research, market signals, and team knowledge into a working persona hypothesis, flagged for later validation.

  • Works in 6 steps: Gather Available Context → Define the Persona's Identity → Capture Their Voice → …
  • Needing a working customer profile before deeper research is done
  • SKILL.md covers Purpose, Input, Key Concepts and Application, plus 3 more sections
  • Reaches github.com

What it does

A proto-persona differs from a validated one in speed and confidence: it's built in hours or days from whatever signal already exists, support themes, sales anecdotes, analytics, prior research, rather than weeks of dedicated study, and it's meant to evolve rather than stay stable. The output structures those assumptions explicitly, so a team can align on who it's building for quickly while still seeing exactly which parts are a guess that still needs checking.

When your agent uses it

  • Needing a working customer profile before deeper research is done
  • Aligning a team early on who a feature is for
  • Making design-by-committee assumptions explicit so they can be validated

Example prompts

  • “Proto-persona for solo bookkeepers adopting our receipt-scanning app.”
  • “Build a working persona from these 30 support tickets and 4 sales calls.”
  • “What assumptions in our current persona still need validating?”

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Gather Available Context
  2. Define the Persona's Identity
  3. Capture Their Voice
  4. Document Their Context
  5. Understand Their Influences
  6. Validate and Iterate

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1b5a524. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are markdown).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • github.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Proto-Persona Builder loads about 3.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 42 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,328 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~42
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~3.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 1,328 words (~3,279 tokens).

“Create an initial, assumption-based persona profile that synthesizes available user research, market data, and stakeholder knowledge into a working hypothesis about your target user. Use this to align teams early in product development, guide initial design decisions, and identify gaps…”

— opening of SKILL.md by deanpeters, Custom licence
name
proto-persona
argument-hint
[target user or segment]
intent
Create an initial, assumption-based persona profile that synthesizes available user research, market data, and stakeholder knowledge into a working hypothesis…
type
component
theme
discovery-research
best_for
Getting a working customer profile before you can afford real research, Making team assumptions about users explicit and challengeable, Setting up a persona…
scenarios
We have no research budget yet but need a working customer profile to start, Everyone on the team pictures a different user and it's causing arguments
estimated_time
15-25 min

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files in skills/proto-persona of deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • examples/sample-industrial.md
  • examples/sample.md
  • template.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1b5a524

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Proto-Persona Builder next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Proto-Persona Builder compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Proto-Persona Builder this skilldeanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills7.2k1 repos~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
User Research Cookiycookiy-ai/user-research-skill1.6k—~954Automated safety check: PassMIT
Fable DomainSahir619/fable-method2.3k—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Produck Feedback To Buildtryproduck/produck-skills511—~1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Customer InterviewsRefoundAI/lenny-skills1.4k—~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Product Discovery Brief Builderopen-mercato/skills231—~3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Proto-Persona Builder

What does Proto-Persona Builder do?

Synthesizes existing research, market signals, and team knowledge into a working persona hypothesis, flagged for later validation. A proto-persona differs from a validated one in speed and confidence: it's built in hours or days from whatever signal already exists, support themes, sales anecdotes, analytics, prior research, rather than weeks of dedicated study, and it's meant to evolve rather than stay stable. The output structures those assumptions explicitly, so a team can align on who it's building for quickly while still seeing exactly which parts are a guess that still needs checking.

When should I use Proto-Persona Builder?

Proto-Persona Builder fits situations like: needing a working customer profile before deeper research is done; aligning a team early on who a feature is for; making design-by-committee assumptions explicit so they can be validated.

How do I install Proto-Persona Builder in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill proto-persona -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/proto-persona in deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills) into .claude/skills/proto-persona in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Proto-Persona Builder in Codex?

Run `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill proto-persona -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/proto-persona in deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills) into .agents/skills/proto-persona in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Proto-Persona Builder in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills --skill proto-persona -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/proto-persona, .gemini/skills/proto-persona, .github/skills/proto-persona and .opencode/skills/proto-persona in your project.

What does Proto-Persona Builder need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Proto-Persona Builder is instructions for the agent only.

Does Proto-Persona Builder access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: github.com; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Proto-Persona Builder safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Proto-Persona Builder use?

Proto-Persona Builder has a licence file (the repository's licence) that doesn't match a standard licence. Read it on GitHub before reusing the skill.

How many tokens does Proto-Persona Builder use?

About 3.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 13k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Proto-Persona Builder?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Proto-Persona Builder: User Research Cookiy (cookiy-ai/user-research-skill, 1.6k stars), Fable Domain (Sahir619/fable-method, 2.3k stars), Produck Feedback To Build (tryproduck/produck-skills, 511 stars) and Customer Interviews (RefoundAI/lenny-skills, 1.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Proto-Persona Builder?

deanpeters (a GitHub user) maintains it in deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills, which has 7,224 GitHub stars. The repository holds 75 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 1, 2026.

Source: deanpeters/Product-Manager-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.