Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Regulatory Policy Diff agent skill (policy-diff)
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The policy-diff skill is an agent skill for Claude that compares a changed regulation against your library of internal policies. It identifies which policies the change touches, what each one says, and where the gap lies. This guide explains what agent skills are, how to install policy-diff, how to ask for it in plain language, and what to check before relying on its output.
Regulatory Policy Diffanthropics/claude-for-legal · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download and unzip. Download the policy-diff ZIP from this page and unzip it so that SKILL.md sits in a policy-diff folder.
- 2Place the skill folder. Move the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into the project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. Alternatively, upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
- 3Set up the policy library index. Confirm the regulatory-legal CLAUDE.md file lists your policies, their locations, and their owners.
- 4Ask in plain language. Say something like "diff this reg against our policies" and paste the regulation text or a summary.
- 5Answer any clarifying questions. If the skill reports partial text, choose how to proceed: paste the full text, point to the primary source, allow a web search, or stop.
- 6Review the gap analysis. Check each requirement's gap rating, the change needed, and the policy owner, and confirm rule status before acting.
What is an agent skill, and what does policy-diff make the agent do?
An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file with instructions that Claude or a compatible agent loads when a request matches the skill's description. The skill tells the agent how to carry out a specific task in a repeatable way.
When a regulation has changed, policy-diff has the agent pull out each new or changed requirement and find which of your existing internal policies it touches. For each requirement it compares the policy wording with what the rule now requires.
- Marks each requirement as already covered, partly covered, or missing.
- Names the specific change each affected policy needs, and the policy owner from your index.
- Checks whether the rule is still in force and flags uncertainty instead of assuming a published date is binding.
- Calls out requirements with no matching policy as a possible new policy.
What do you need before you start?
The skill depends on a policy library index in the claude-for-legal regulatory-legal CLAUDE.md file. You set this up yourself. The skill reads the index to learn which policies exist, where they are, and who owns them.
You need Claude Code or a compatible agent with the claude-for-legal plugin configuration. Research tools or web search are optional. Without them the skill still runs, but it emits a warning that rule status could not be verified.
- A policy library index in ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/regulatory-legal/CLAUDE.md
- Claude Code or a compatible agent with the claude-for-legal plugin configuration
- Optional: research tools or web search for checking rule status
How do you install the policy-diff skill?
Download the ZIP for policy-diff from this page and unzip it. The skill folder contains SKILL.md. Place the folder in one of two locations: ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available across your projects, or .claude/skills/ inside a specific project to make it available only there.
If you use the Claude apps instead, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the skill
How do you trigger policy-diff with a natural request?
You do not need to type a command. The skill loads when your request matches its description. Phrases the source lists as triggers include "diff this reg against our policies", "which policy does this affect", and "gap analysis". The skill also runs when the reg-feed-watcher skill hands off a material item.
The skill accepts an optional argument: a regulation name, or pasted regulation text or a summary. Give the agent the regulation and say what you want to know.
- "Diff this reg against our policies" followed by the regulation text
- "Which policy does this affect?" with a regulation name
- "Run a gap analysis on the new reporting rule"
What does a policy-diff run look like?
The skill first confirms the rule is in force. It then lists each new or changed requirement with its citation, matches each one to the closest indexed policy, and compares the policy text to the requirement. Each comparison gives a gap rating, the change needed, and the policy owner.
If the regulatory text is partial or ambiguous, the skill stops and asks you for the full text, a link to the primary source, permission to search the web, or a decision to stop. It does not fill the gap from memory without asking. Citations are tagged by source, such as a regulator, web search, model knowledge, or user-provided text, so you can see what needs checking first.
- Requirement table with citations and effective dates
- Per-requirement diff with the policy excerpt, gap rating, and change needed
- Separate section for requirements with no matching policy
- Warning banner if rule status could not be verified
What safety notes should you know?
Policy-diff runs no scripts and uses no network access, according to its listing. It reads your policy library index and the regulatory text you provide. The skill's own instructions say output is a draft for qualified review and can be wrong about rule status or requirements.
If you ask the skill to exclude a policy section, requirement, or category, it will do so but will attach a scope-limitation warning to the output and any downstream artifact. Results from web search or model memory must be verified before you rely on them.
- No scripts run and no network use, per the listing
- Output is a draft for review by a qualified lawyer or compliance professional
- Scope exclusions are flagged loudly and carried through the output
- Items from web search or model knowledge are tagged for verification
What tips help you get better results?
Paste the full regulatory text where you can. The skill is designed to stop and ask when the text is incomplete, so a complete source avoids extra back-and-forth. Keep your policy library index current, because the skill can only match requirements to policies it knows about.
Check the rule status yourself at the Federal Register docket or with outside counsel for any rule that is old, recent and contested, or past its compliance date.
- Give the full text or primary-source link rather than a summary
- Keep the policy index and owner names up to date
- Treat every compliance date as unverified until you confirm the rule's status
- Review every gap rating before acting on it
What people use it for
- An in-house compliance team checks which internal policies a new reporting rule affects.
- A compliance analyst triages a regulatory alert from a feed or watcher skill and sees which policies need updating.
- A lawyer prepares a first-pass gap analysis of a final rule before doing their own review.
- A team identifies requirements with no matching policy and decides whether to draft a new policy or add a section to an existing one.
Frequently asked questions
Is the policy-diff skill free to use?
The source does not state pricing or licence fees for Claude or the plugin setup. The skill itself is released under the Apache-2.0 licence, as listed on this page. Check your own Claude plan and the licence file for terms.
What do I need to run policy-diff?
You need Claude Code or a compatible agent with the claude-for-legal plugin configuration, and a policy library index in the regulatory-legal CLAUDE.md file that you set up yourself. Research tools or web search are optional.
How do I install the policy-diff skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Can policy-diff tell me whether a regulation is still in force?
It tries to. The skill checks for delays, stays, injunctions, rescissions, and amendments when research tools are available. If it cannot verify status, it shows a banner saying the compliance dates are unverified.
Why does policy-diff ask me questions instead of filling in missing text?
The skill is designed not to fill gaps in regulatory text from web search or model memory without asking you first. This keeps lower-confidence sources under your control.
How is policy-diff different from simply asking an AI to compare a rule with my policies?
The skill follows a fixed workflow: it extracts discrete requirements, maps each to an indexed policy, rates each gap, names the change needed and the owner, and tags sources. It also flags rule-status uncertainty and scope exclusions. The source does not compare it with other tools.
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Our verdict
Policy-diff suits in-house legal and compliance teams that maintain an internal policy library and need a structured first pass at which policies a new regulation affects. It is not a substitute for qualified legal review, and it is the wrong choice if your regulatory text is incomplete and you want the agent to fill the gaps without checking.
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