---
title: "Agent Skill to Desk Open"
platform: "Promptally"
canonical_url: "https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-desk-open"
modality: "SKILL"
category: "Fullstack & Backend Engineering"
compatible_models: [Universal / Model Agnostic]
access_tier: "Free Public Artifact (No Auth Required)"
license: "MIT"
---

# Agent Skill to Desk Open

**Summary:** Agent Skill to Desk Open is a verified SKILL blueprint on Promptally in Fullstack & Backend Engineering optimized for leading AI models. Create and open a new desk in the workshop. Sets up the folder structure, initial journal, and desk identity so the next session that sits down finds the trail. Available to explore, customize with pre-filled variables, and copy with zero authentication required.

## Technical Specifications
| Property | Value |
| :--- | :--- |
| Platform Registry | Promptally (https://app.promptally.dev) |
| Modality | SKILL |
| Category | Fullstack & Backend Engineering |
| Compatible Engines | Universal / Model Agnostic |
| Dynamic Variables | None (Static Blueprint) |
| Approx. Token Length | 883 |
| Access Tier | Free Public Artifact (No Auth Required) |
| License | MIT |

### Pre-Filled Template & Production Source

````md
---
name: desk-open
description: 'Create and open a new desk in the workshop. Sets up the folder structure, initial journal, and desk identity so the next session that sits down finds the trail.'
---

# Open a Desk

Create a new desk in the workshop with the standard structure.

## When to use

- The operator wants to start a new workstream
- Work arrives that doesn't belong to any existing desk
- A topic needs its own frame (its own history, its own priors)

## What it creates

Given a workshop directory and a desk name, create:

```
desks/<desk-name>/
  journal.md       # persistent memory — read at start, written at end
  .signals/        # structured signal output (JSON) — dashboard reads this
```

`desks/` is the default home. A desk can instead live in a group folder:
any top-level folder whose name ends in `-desks` (for example
`team-desks/<desk-name>/`). Use one only when the operator asks for that
group, create the group folder if it doesn't exist, and read `desks/` in
the steps below as that group folder.

## How to use

1. **Choose a name.** Short, descriptive, kebab-case. The name is
   how the operator and other desks refer to this desk.
   Examples: `security-scan`, `api-review`, `ops`, `cloud-workshop`

2. **Check if it already exists.** If `desks/<desk-name>/` already
   has a `journal.md`, the desk is live — **do not overwrite it.**
   Instead, resume it: read the journal and continue from where it
   left off. If the operator explicitly wants a fresh start, they
   must rename or archive the existing desk first.

3. **Create the structure.** Make the directory, initial journal,
   and signals folder:

   ```
   desks/<desk-name>/journal.md
   desks/<desk-name>/.signals/
   ```

4. **Write the first journal entry.** The journal starts with:
   - What this desk is for (its focus/purpose)
   - What repos or work it covers (if applicable)
   - Any initial context the first session needs

5. **Announce it.** Tell the operator what was created and what
   the desk's focus is.

## Session orientation

This skill initializes storage — it does not launch a session.
A desk becomes active when a Copilot session references its
directory. The session workflow:

1. The operator (or TA) starts a session and says "sit at the
   `<desk-name>` desk"
2. The session reads the desk's `journal.md` to load priors. To find
   the desk, look in `desks/<desk-name>/`, then in each
   `<group>-desks/<desk-name>/`; if more than one has that name, ask
   which one (refer to it as `<group>-desks/<desk-name>`)
3. Work happens — the session uses `signal-write` to emit signals
   and `desk-journal` to persist state at the end
4. The next session repeats from step 2

The desk identity comes from which journal is read, not from a
persistent process. Desks are long-running in *state* (the journal
carries forward), not in *runtime* (each session is independent).

## Journal format

```markdown
# <Desk Name> — Journal

## <date> — Desk opened
- **Purpose:** <what this desk focuses on>
- **Scope:** <repos, areas, or work this desk covers>
- **Next step:** <what the first session should do>
```

## Principles

- A desk is a peer, not a sub-agent. It has equal standing to
  disagree with other desks.
- The journal is the memory. Without it, the next session starts
  blind. Write enough that someone starting from zero finds the way.
- One desk, one focus. If the scope is too broad, open two desks.
  Each desk's value comes from its specific frame — dilute the
  frame and you lose the value.

````

## Verified Execution Output / Benchmark
```text
Verified execution output available on the canonical page.
```

## Related Blueprints on Promptally
- [Agent Skill to Knowledge Ops](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-knowledge-ops)
- [Agent Skill to Content Hash Cache Pattern](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-content-hash-cache-pattern)
- [Agent Skill to Ck](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-ck)
- [Agent Skill to Swift Protocol Di Testing](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-swift-protocol-di-testing)
- [Agent Skill to Prisma Patterns](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-prisma-patterns)
- [Agent Skill to Agentic Engineering](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-agentic-engineering)
- [Agent Skill to Python Patterns](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-python-patterns)
- [Agent Skill to Docs Governance](https://app.promptally.dev/p/skill-docs-governance)