How to use the Demand Letter Intake agent skill (demand-intake)

What is the demand-intake skill and what does it make the agent do?

An agent skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that tells the agent how to handle a particular kind of task. This one is for the stage before drafting. It is not a letter writer.

When it runs, the agent first loads the litigation-legal CLAUDE.md practice configuration, then asks a fixed set of questions. It starts with a posture block covering tone, response window, marking and signer, then a core block of eight questions. A strategic block (leverage, BATNA, downside tolerance, tone trade-offs and settlement-communication posture) is asked when the matter looks material or when you pass --full. The answers are written to intake.md, which the separate demand-draft skill reads later.

• Covers demand types: payment, breach-cure, cease-desist, employment-separation, preservation or other.
• Records parties, triggering event, legal or contractual basis, desired outcome, deadlines, prior outreach and distribution.
• Can be skipped for the strategic block, in which case the intake records strategic_block: skipped.
• Does not draft the letter. You need the companion demand-draft skill for that.

Install the demand-intake skill from the ZIP

Download the ZIP for this skill from this page and unzip it. The skill's only file is SKILL.md. Place the unzipped folder in one of two locations, depending on how you want to use it.

For a personal install available across your projects, put it in ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, put it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder.

If you use the Claude apps instead of Claude Code, you can upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project only: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside the project folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Set up the litigation-legal plugin configuration

The skill reads practice settings from a CLAUDE.md file at ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/litigation-legal/CLAUDE.md. It uses that file for demand-letter practice, landscape and risk calibration. Without that file the skill has no firm-specific context to load, so set it up before your first run.

The skill saves its output under the same plugin folder, in demand-letters/[slug]/intake.md. The slug is generated from the title, the counterparty and the year and month.

Trigger the skill with a natural request

You can call the skill by name with /demand-intake, optionally followed by a title and the --full flag. You can also describe what you want in plain language, and the agent will match it to the skill description. Phrases that match include asking to prep a demand letter, run intake before drafting, or capture context for a payment demand, cease-and-desist, breach or cure notice, employment separation or preservation demand.

Use --full when you want the complete intake every time, even if the matter does not look material.

• "Let's prep a demand letter for the unpaid invoices from Acme Ltd."
• "Run intake before drafting a cease-and-desist to a former competitor."
• "Capture context for a preservation demand about the warehouse emails."
• "/demand-intake Acme payment demand --full"

Answer the posture and core questions

The skill asks about posture first. Tone can be measured, assertive or aggressive. Response window is what the claim reasonably allows, and the skill notes that a contract or protocol may set it. Marking asks whether a without prejudice or similar marking is needed, and the skill says to ask if you are unsure of the jurisdiction. Signer can be you, the client, the GC or instructed counsel.

Then the core questions cover the demand type, parties, triggering event with dates and evidence, legal basis and governing law, specific desired outcome in priority order, deadlines, prior outreach, and distribution. If there was earlier demand correspondence in the matter file, the skill tells the agent to read it to establish the register.

• Give specific asks, such as payment of a stated amount by a stated date, not just "resolution".
• Include the dates that matter for limitation periods and notice periods.
• Name any evidence you can share, such as contracts, emails or records.

Work through the strategic block when it applies

The strategic block is triggered for cease-and-desist, breach-cure, employment-separation and preservation demands, for amounts at or above the medium-severity band in your risk calibration, for customers, competitors or frequent adversaries, or when you use --full. It covers leverage and BATNA, downside tolerance (reputational, precedent, regulatory and insurance), tone trade-offs and settlement-communication posture.

If you decline, the skill offers three choices: answer now, answer part of it, or skip. A skip is recorded in the file and the draft will carry verification markers where those answers are missing.

• Leverage: contractual rights, factual leverage, reputational or commercial pressure.
• What happens if they refuse: litigate, go public, or accept less.
• Their likely alternative: a weak demand is one they do not think you will enforce.
• Insurance: whether sending without tendering could affect coverage.

Review intake.md and move to drafting

When the intake is saved, the agent confirms the file and suggests the next command. Read the saved intake.md before drafting, because the draft skill relies on it. When you are ready, run the demand-draft skill with the same slug.

Note that the skill also specifies that the draft skill will prompt again about the strategic block before drafting.