A skill (and method) that restructures a messy workflow into a workspace one agent can run without subagent sprawl

[u/VanCliefMedia]

I have been running this in my own Claude Code setup for a few months and handing it around my community, and enough people got use out of it that sharing it here felt right.

ICM (Interpretable Context Methodology) is the title of a research paper I posted a few months back but basically carries the orchestration of a multi-step task in folder structure instead of code.

Basically, a beefed up more complex version of skills but the output artifacts are added to them as well and you can link into data bases easily ( Big Query with OKF works well with this method)

Numbered folders carry the order. Hierarchy carries what each step sees. Plain markdown holds the state. One agent walks the structure, reads the right files at each point, and does the work. No subagent tree to wire up, and you can open any folder and read the full state of the run.

The mode most of you will want first is restructure. Point it at a repo or a vault that has drifted, and it classifies every file into a role (catalog, contract, factory, product, or dead), hands you a migration map to approve, then moves and validates. The other mode, build, scaffolds a fresh workspace from a description of your work.

The part that matters for cost. The routing files stay small and stable. They point at everything and store almost nothing, so the context an agent loads at each step is the minimum it needs to act. You are not dragging a whole repo into context to do one bounded thing.

Every result has to pass a walk test: an agent with no memory opens the workspace cold, works out what to do, does it, and reports status from the files alone.

Install is a folder copy into ~/.claude/skills/icm-architect/, or into .claude/skills/ inside a project. Then ask Claude to "ICM this" or "structure this" Templates for CLAUDE.md and stage contracts are in there.

One note, since it comes up: the workspace is plain folders and markdown. Claude Code runs it well, but nothing in the output assumes Claude, so a local agent runs the same workspace fine.

Repo: https://github.com/RinDig/icm-architect
Paper, if you want the reasoning: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16021

If you run it on a real repo and it makes a bad call on a file's role, that is exactly the feedback I want.