Agent skill

Protocol Designer

Protocol Designer (PD) application architecture, Redux slices, step/timeline system, domain concepts, and dev workflow.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedFrontend & Design

Install Protocol Designer

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Opentrons/opentrons protocol-designer --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/Opentrons/opentrons.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer .claude/skills/protocol-designer && 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/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "protocol-designer" agent skill from https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer into .claude/skills/protocol-designer/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "protocol-designer", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Opentrons/opentrons protocol-designer --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer .agents/skills/protocol-designer && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "protocol-designer" agent skill from https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer into .agents/skills/protocol-designer/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "protocol-designer", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Opentrons/opentrons protocol-designer --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer .cursor/skills/protocol-designer && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "protocol-designer" agent skill from https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer into .cursor/skills/protocol-designer/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "protocol-designer", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons.git --path .cursor/skills/protocol-designer

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Opentrons/opentrons protocol-designer --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer .gemini/skills/protocol-designer && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "protocol-designer" agent skill from https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer into .gemini/skills/protocol-designer/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "protocol-designer", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Opentrons/opentrons protocol-designer

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer .github/skills/protocol-designer && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "protocol-designer" agent skill from https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer into .github/skills/protocol-designer/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "protocol-designer", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install Opentrons/opentrons protocol-designer --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer .opencode/skills/protocol-designer && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "protocol-designer" agent skill from https://github.com/Opentrons/opentrons/tree/edge/.cursor/skills/protocol-designer into .opencode/skills/protocol-designer/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "protocol-designer", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: protocol-designer
GitHub stars: 521
Token cost: ~1.7k tokens
SKILL.md length: 454 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 17
Repo updated: Oct 7, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: Apache-2.0

At a glance

Protocol Designer (PD) application architecture, Redux slices, step/timeline system, domain concepts, and dev workflow.

Works in 3 steps: Step form data → stepFormToArgs() →… → Command args →… → Commands → commandCreatorsTimeline() →…
Working with files in protocol-designer/
SKILL.md covers Project Overview, Redux Architecture, Step & Timeline System and Pages, plus 4 more sections
Calls make and pnpm

What it does

Protocol Designer is an agent skill from Opentrons/opentrons. Protocol Designer (PD) application architecture, Redux slices, step/timeline system, domain concepts, and dev workflow. Use when working with files in protocol-designer/ or discussing PD features, steps, timelines, or protocol design.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Frontend & Design, covering State management. It works with Redux and TypeScript. The repository describes itself as: Software for writing protocols and running them on the Opentrons Flex and Opentrons OT-2. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

Working with files in protocol-designer/
Discussing PD features
Protocol design

Example prompts

“/protocol-designer”

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

Step form data → stepFormToArgs() → command args
Command args → @opentrons/step-generation command creators → protocol commands
Commands → commandCreatorsTimeline() → timeline with robot state

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit a14fef9. 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
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- make
- pnpm
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use pnpm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.
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

Protocol Designer loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 63 tokens; SKILL.md has 454 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~63
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.7k

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

The full file from Opentrons/opentrons at commit a14fef9, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© Opentrons). 454 words, ~1,674 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/protocol-designer/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: protocol-designer
description: Protocol Designer (PD) application architecture, Redux slices, step/timeline system, domain concepts, and dev workflow. Use when working with files in protocol-designer/ or discussing PD features, steps, timelines, or protocol design.

Protocol Designer — Application-Specific Conventions

General TypeScript, React, styling, testing, import, and tooling conventions are in the opentrons-typescript skill. This file covers only what is unique to the protocol-designer package.

Project Overview

Protocol Designer (PD) is a React + Redux + React Router + TypeScript web app for designing Opentrons liquid-handling protocols. It depends on @opentrons/components, @opentrons/shared-data, and @opentrons/step-generation. It follows an atomic design system.

Redux Architecture

PD uses Redux (legacy createStore) with redux-thunk and reselect. The store shape is BaseState in src/types.ts.

Slices

Each slice directory contains reducers/, actions/, selectors/, and types.ts:

Slice	Key	Purpose
`analytics`	`analytics`	Event tracking
`dismiss`	`dismiss`	Dismissible UI elements
`feature-flags`	`featureFlags`	Feature flags (`OT_PD_*` env vars)
`file-data`	`fileData`	Protocol file data and export
`labware-ingred`	`labwareIngred`	Labware, ingredients, deck state
`load-file`	`loadFile`	File loading/parsing
`navigation`	`navigation`	Navigation state
`step-forms`	`stepForms`	Saved step forms, pipettes, modules, labware entities
`tutorial`	`tutorial`	Tutorial/hint state
`ui`	`ui`	UI state (steps, labware, wells)
`well-selection`	`wellSelection`	Well selection state

Middleware

timelineMiddleware — generates robot state timeline from steps
trackEventMiddleware — analytics event tracking
thunk — async action support

Selectors

Use reselect createSelector for all derived state. Per-slice selectors go in selectors/ directories. Cross-slice selectors go in src/top-selectors/.

typescript

import { createSelector } from 'reselect'

export const getLabwareNicknamesById = createSelector(
  getLabwareEntities,
  labwareEntities => mapValues(labwareEntities, e => e.nickname)
)

Thunks

typescript

import type { ThunkAction } from '/protocol-designer/types'

export const myThunk = (): ThunkAction<any> => (dispatch, getState) => {
  const state = getState()
  dispatch({ type: 'MY_ACTION', payload: someSelector(state) })
}

Step & Timeline System

Core Concepts

Steps: User-created protocol actions (move liquid, set temperature, pause, etc.)
Timeline: Array of "frames" — each frame has robotState and commands
Step forms: Redux state in stepForms.savedStepForms (keyed by step ID)
Ordered steps: stepForms.orderedStepIds array

Step Form Flow

Step form data → stepFormToArgs() → command args
Command args → @opentrons/step-generation command creators → protocol commands
Commands → commandCreatorsTimeline() → timeline with robot state

Entities

Normalized by ID in Redux:

labwareInvariantProperties — labware on deck
pipetteInvariantProperties — pipettes by mount
moduleInvariantProperties — hardware modules

Access via selectors: getLabwareEntities, getPipetteEntities, getModuleEntities.

Show full SKILL.md (177 more words)Show less

PD-Specific File Conventions

Feature directories use kebab-case matching the Redux slice name: step-forms/, file-data/, labware-ingred/, well-selection/, etc.

The /protocol-designer/ path alias maps to src/. Use it for imports across feature directories:

typescript

import { getFileMetadata } from '/protocol-designer/file-data/selectors'

import type { BaseState } from '/protocol-designer/types'

Internationalization

Uses react-i18next. Translation files in src/assets/localization/.

Common namespaces: 'starting_deck_state', 'protocol_steps', 'shared', 'application'.

typescript

const { t } = useTranslation(['protocol_steps', 'shared'])
return (
  <>
    <span>{t('step_title')}</span>
   <span>{t('shared:step_body')}</span>
  </>
 )

Always use translation keys for user-facing strings — never hardcode display text.

PD Testing

Use renderWithProviders from protocol-designer/src/__testing-utils__/:

typescript

import { renderWithProviders } from '/protocol-designer/__testing-utils__'

PD Makefile Targets

Run from the protocol-designer/ directory:

Target	Description
`make dev`	Start Vite dev server (port 5178)
`make build`	Production build (8GB heap)
`make serve`	Build then preview production assets
`make clean`	Remove `dist/`
`make test`	Run PD tests (delegates to root `make test-js-protocol-designer`)
`make test-cov`	Tests with coverage
`make bundle-analyzer`	Analyze production bundle size

bash

# Run a specific test file
make test tests="src/components/organisms/__tests__/MyComponent.test.tsx"

# Run vitest directly from monorepo root
pnpm vitest protocol-designer/src/step-forms/

Environment Variables

PD feature flags use OT_PD_* env vars, injected at build time via Vite define. NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=8192 is set automatically by the Makefile for dev, build, and serve.

Files

Just SKILL.md in .cursor/skills/protocol-designer of Opentrons/opentrons.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit a14fef9

Compare with similar skills

Protocol Designer 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.

Protocol Designer compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Protocol Designer this skillOpentrons/opentrons	521	—	~1.7k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	yesterday
React ExpertJeffallan/claude-skills	12k	—	~1.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	5 days ago
Zustand Patternsyonatangross/orchestkit	289	—	~1.6k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
Zustand State Managementsecondsky/claude-skills	227	—	~2.5k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	10 days ago
Olore Zustand Latestolorehq/olore	104	—	~881	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
JavaScript IO Effects With Sagasparalleldrive/aidd	384	—	~587	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	3 mo ago

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Questions about Protocol Designer

What does Protocol Designer do?

Protocol Designer (PD) application architecture, Redux slices, step/timeline system, domain concepts, and dev workflow. Protocol Designer is an agent skill from Opentrons/opentrons. Protocol Designer (PD) application architecture, Redux slices, step/timeline system, domain concepts, and dev workflow.

When should I use Protocol Designer?

Protocol Designer fits situations like: working with files in protocol-designer/; discussing PD features; protocol design.

How do I install Protocol Designer in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.cursor/skills/protocol-designer in Opentrons/opentrons) into .claude/skills/protocol-designer in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Protocol Designer in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.cursor/skills/protocol-designer in Opentrons/opentrons) into .agents/skills/protocol-designer in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Protocol Designer 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 Opentrons/opentrons --skill protocol-designer -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/protocol-designer, .gemini/skills/protocol-designer, .github/skills/protocol-designer and .opencode/skills/protocol-designer in your project.

What does Protocol Designer need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Protocol Designer needs the command-line tools its instructions call (make and pnpm).

Does Protocol Designer access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Protocol Designer 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 Protocol Designer use?

Protocol Designer is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Protocol Designer use?

About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.7k 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 Protocol Designer?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Protocol Designer: React Expert (Jeffallan/claude-skills, 12k stars), Zustand Patterns (yonatangross/orchestkit, 289 stars), Zustand State Management (secondsky/claude-skills, 227 stars) and Olore Zustand Latest (olorehq/olore, 104 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Protocol Designer?

Opentrons (a GitHub organization) maintains it in Opentrons/opentrons, which has 521 GitHub stars. The repository holds 17 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: Opentrons/opentrons on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Protocol Designer

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Protocol Designer — Application-Specific Conventions

Project Overview

Redux Architecture

Slices

Middleware

Selectors

Thunks

Step & Timeline System

Core Concepts

Step Form Flow

Entities

Pages

PD-Specific File Conventions

Internationalization

PD Testing

PD Makefile Targets

Environment Variables

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from Opentrons/opentrons

Related

Questions about Protocol Designer