A skill that makes Claude brief a pack the way a senior packaging designer does, one stage at a time, with you deciding at each fork. It pins down the product, its regulatory category and every channel it sells through, then chooses the structure, board, label stock and print process with a reason for each. It maps every panel, ranks the front and builds the list of mandatory US label items for your category, computing the legal minimum height of your net quantity from the panel's area. Then it sets the shelf tests, checks any green claims and writes the brief for your designer and printer.
Inside are five reference files: structure and print, US label rules, hierarchy and shelf impact, a proof checklist, and a worked example for a fictional chili crisp brand. The FDA and FTC rules, GS1 barcode sizes, the Prop 65 and SB 343 changes, state packaging laws and carrier formulas were checked on 17 October 2026, each with its source. Claude never invents an ingredient, allergen, nutrition value, claim, address or barcode number; it leaves a marked gap and asks you. It never puts a recycling symbol or "eco-friendly" on a pack without written backing.
Claude is not your regulatory sign-off and will not call a label compliant. It tells you what it checked and lists what a qualified reviewer must confirm. It does not draw production dielines, which come from your printer, and it cannot generate images; for mock-ups it writes prompts for your own tools. With code execution switched on, it measures type on a PDF proof, compares every word with your copy deck and saves the brief as a Word file or PDF. It covers the US only. Bring product photos, your formula, the printer's dieline and photos of the shelf.
Claude skill · version 1.0
Packaging brief
Checking your access.
In the download · 7 files
- SKILL.mdThe method Claude follows: product and channel, structure, hierarchy and label content, shelf impact, sustainability, the brief and proof review, one stage at a time.
- README.mdHow to install it in claude.ai or Claude Code, how to start, and the licence.
- references/structure-and-print.mdWhat each channel asks of a pack, decision rules, cartons, corrugated, rigid boxes, labels, pouches, print processes, file setup, sizing, Amazon packaging and dimensional weight.
- references/us-label-rules.mdUS label requirements by category, net quantity placement and type sizes, allergens, MoCRA, Prop 65, GS1 barcodes, green claims and state packaging laws, with sources, checked 17 October 2026.
- references/hierarchy-and-shelf.mdPanel maps, ranking the front, size steps, contrast on packs, category codes, variant systems, shelf tests with pass marks, marketplace images and the unboxing.
- references/worked-example.mdAll seven stages for a fictional chili crisp brand, from the founder's first message to a failed proof review.
Install it and begin
01Install it in Claude CodeTerminal mkdir -p ~/.claude/skillsunzip ~/Downloads/packaging-brief.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/# Start it with /packaging-brief. If this is your first skill, type /reload-skills once.On claude.ai there is nothing to unzip: upload the zip as it is. Every step is on Install and use a Claude skill.
02Your first message to ClaudeText Use the packaging brief skill. The product is [PRODUCT, SIZE AND CONTAINER], sold through [CHANNELS, FOR EXAMPLE SHOP SHELVES AND OWN SITE] in the US. It is a [FOOD, COSMETIC, SUPPLEMENT OR OTHER]. Here is what I have: [PASTE YOUR NOTES AND LIST YOUR ATTACHMENTS]. Start with the product and channel, and tell me what is missing.Attach photos of the product and of every panel of any current pack, your formula or ingredient list, and the printer's dieline if you have one. Photos of the shelf where it will sit help the shelf stage.
Checklist
Before you approve a packaging proof
- The net quantity sits in the bottom 30% of the front, in both US and metric units, at or above the minimum height for that panel's area.It is easy to miss and easy to check: a jar front of about 8 square inches needs a lowercase o at least 1/8 inch tall.
- Every mandatory item came from a document: your formula, a lab report, your legal address, your GS1 account.Ingredients, allergens, nutrition values and barcode numbers are never typed from memory or drafted as placeholders, because drafts get printed.
- The barcode is black on white, at 80% size or larger, full height, with clear space either side, and graded C (1.5) or better by a verifier on the printed stock.A barcode that will not scan at the till means hand-keyed sales and charge-backs from retailers.
- Every word on the proof matches the approved copy deck, checked word by word, with every number checked digit by digit.Designers retype and tidy copy. A dropped comma or a missing allergen in a legal line means a reprint.
- No recycling symbol, compostable claim or unqualified "eco-friendly" appears without written backing.Under the FTC Green Guides a symbol counts as a claim. California's SB 343 tightened recyclability claims for packs made from October 2026, though a federal court has stopped the state enforcing it while the case goes on.
- The pack passes the shelf tests on a printed prototype: found at 3 metres, chosen at 1 metre, and readable as a thumbnail and in greyscale.A pack that looks good on screen can vanish on a crowded shelf or in a marketplace search grid.
- Brand colours were judged on a colour proof on the real stock, under standard viewing light, against a tolerance agreed in writing.Kraft, uncoated and film stocks shift colour, and a tolerance agreed after the print run is an argument.
- The structure was tested with real, filled product: fit, closure, a drop sequence and a parcel sent to yourself.A carton that fits an empty jar, or a mailer that survives a desk, can still fail in a parcel network.
What to do it with
- ClaudeFree tier, paid above it
A language model that writes, edits, reads long documents and runs tools, including agents that work inside a codebase.
Bad at It is agreeable by default, so it will improve a bad idea instead of telling you it is bad. Ask it to argue against you and the quality of the answer changes.
- Claude CodeSubscription
An agent that reads a whole repository, edits files, runs the tests and explains what it changed.
Bad at It is fast enough to make a large mistake quickly. Work on a branch, read the diff, and never let it push. Watch the starting mode: on Pro, Max and Team plans it opens in auto mode, which Anthropic's own list says may read a .env file and send the key in it to the API that key belongs to. Switch it off.
- IllustratorSubscription
Vector drawing, where logos and dielines are actually built.
Bad at Its generative vector features produce shapes that look right and have terrible point structure underneath.
Tells you whether two colours are legible together, against the published standard.
Bad at The ratio is a floor and not a design. Passing text can still be unpleasant to read.
- Pantone ConnectFree tier, paid above it
Looks up and converts Pantone references, and pushes them into design files.
Bad at Licensing moved behind a subscription and broke files people had already made. Screen values are a guide; a printed book is the truth.
Why it matters
Ask a chat for packaging and you get a mood and a mock-up. Real packs fail on smaller things. A net quantity is a fraction of a millimetre too small, or an allergen drops off when the formula changes. A red barcode will not scan at the till, a recycling symbol has nothing behind it, or a jar cracks in the post. This skill makes Claude settle structure and label law before the look, mark every missing fact instead of guessing it, and check each proof against measured rules.
- Type
- technique
- Period
- ongoing