loreto-mcp

Turn any YouTube video, article, PDF, or image into a reusable Claude Code skill — without leaving your editor.

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What it does

Loreto analyzes a content source and extracts structured skill packages that Claude Code can apply to future tasks. Each skill contains:

• SKILL.md — Principles, failure modes, implementation steps, and architectural patterns
• README.md — Overview and usage context
• Reference files — Supporting patterns and data structures
• Test script — Runnable validation for the skill's core concepts

Save skills to .claude/skills/ and Claude picks them up automatically on relevant tasks — reducing hallucinations, token usage, and re-explaining the same concepts over and over.

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Sample skills

Every skill Loreto generates ships as its own standalone, installable repo. These nine were generated from a single technical video on hybrid AI architecture — clone any of them directly:

Skill	What it teaches
designing-hybrid-context-layers	Architect hybrid retrieval systems that combine vector search, graph traversal, and structured data
temporal-reasoning-sleuth	Enable agents to trace decision chains and reconstruct causal sequences across long time horizons
synthesizing-institutional-knowledge	Capture and query organizational knowledge in a way AI agents can reliably reason over
diagnosing-rag-failure-modes	Classify the four structural RAG failure patterns and prescribe the right fix
routing-work-across-ai-harnesses	Dynamically route tasks to the right AI harness based on task type and context
evaluating-ai-harness-dimensions	Score and compare AI harness options across the five structural dimensions
detecting-harness-lockin	Spot vendor lock-in signals early and price the switching cost
benchmarking-ai-agents-beyond-models	Measure agent performance at the system level, not just model level
auditing-intelligence-context-fit	Audit whether the model's reasoning tier matches the context complexity

Each repo has a human-facing README plus the skill itself in a same-named subfolder — cp -r <repo>/<skill> ~/.claude/skills/ and Claude picks it up automatically.

Anatomy of a generated skill

You don't have to clone anything to see what Loreto produces. Every generation is a ready-to-run package — a SKILL.md (principles, failure modes, implementation steps, Mermaid diagrams), supporting references/, and a runnable tests/ script. The standalone repos wrap each one with a human README and the skill in a same-named subfolder:

designing-hybrid-context-layers/          ← public repo
├── README.md                             ← for humans, not part of the skill
└── designing-hybrid-context-layers/      ← the skill (cp into ~/.claude/skills/)
    ├── SKILL.md
    └── references/
        ├── architecture-patterns.md
        └── retrieval-decision-matrix.md

A trimmed look at the SKILL.md Loreto generated for that skill:

---
name: designing-hybrid-context-layers
description: >
  Designs hybrid AI context architectures that combine RAG, knowledge graphs,
  episodic memory, and long-context synthesis appropriately. Use when ...
---

# Designing Hybrid Context Layers

## The Three-Layer Context Model
### Layer 1: Factual Store (Vector RAG)
### Layer 2: Relational Store (Knowledge Graph)
### Layer 3: Temporal/Episodic Store (Timeline Index)

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    Q[Incoming Query] --> R{Query Router}
    R -->|single fact| L1[Layer 1 — Vector RAG]
    R -->|relationships| L2[Layer 2 — Knowledge Graph]
    R -->|sequence / causation| L3[Layer 3 — Timeline Index]
```

## Anti-Pattern: The RAG-for-Everything Trap
## Implementation Roadmap

Prefer not to leave your editor at all? The free list_skills and get_skill MCP tools return the same structured records, and verify_artifacts proves any past generation by generation_id — discover, inspect, and verify before you ever clone.

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Billing — two paths, pick one

Loreto runs on two parallel billing paths. The right one depends on whether you're a human signing up or an AI agent paying per task.

	API key (lor_...)	x402 pay-per-call (USDC)
Best for	Humans, recurring use, teams	Agents, one-off jobs, anonymous use
Signup	Yes — loreto.io	None
Pricing	Free: 2 calls/mo · Pro: $29/mo for 100	Flat $0.75 per call, no monthly cap
Wallet needed	No	Yes — USDC on Base mainnet
MCP support	This package, out of the box	Direct REST + the x402 Python SDK
Endpoint	POST /api/v1/skills/generate	POST /api/v1/skills/x402/generate
Docs	docs-authentication	docs-x402

Path A — API key (this MCP package)

Get your key at loreto.io, set LORETO_API_KEY in your MCP config (see below), and you're done. Free tier ships immediately; upgrade to Pro when you need more.

Path B — x402 pay-per-call (no signup)

If you're an autonomous agent, an AI workflow without persistent credentials, or a developer who just wants to try one generation, x402 is faster than signing up. The MCP package itself uses Path A — but every catalog call (list_skills, get_skill, verify_artifacts, estimate_cost) is free regardless of which path you generate skills under.

To run a generation under x402:

# Pseudocode — see https://loreto.io/docs-x402 for the full handshake
curl -X POST https://api.loreto.io/api/v1/skills/x402/generate \
  -H "X-PAYMENT: <eip-3009 signed authorization>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"source": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...", "source_type": "youtube"}'

The X-PAYMENT header is signed by your wallet against an EIP-3009 USDC transfer authorization for $0.75. The Loreto server only burns the authorization on a successful 2xx response — failed pipeline runs don't consume your USDC. Use the x402 Python SDK to handle the signing.

Verify any generation by id. Both paths return a generation_id (uuid4). Pass it to the MCP's verify_artifacts tool — or hit GET /api/v1/skills/manifest/{generation_id} directly — to fetch the source URL, theme plan, quality scores, artifact byte counts, and bundle sha256. The endpoint is public, no auth required: the id is the capability.

Setup

1. Get an API key (Path A)

Sign up at loreto.io. Skip this step if you're using x402 — see the billing section above.

2. Install

pip install loreto-mcp

Or run directly without installing (requires uv):

uvx loreto-mcp

3. Configure Claude Code

User-scoped (works across all your projects) — add to ~/.claude/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "loreto": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["loreto-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "LORETO_API_KEY": "lor_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Project-scoped (shared with your team) — add to .mcp.json at your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "loreto": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["loreto-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "LORETO_API_KEY": "${LORETO_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Verify

Restart Claude Code and run /mcp — you should see loreto listed with six tools: generate_skills, get_quota, list_skills, get_skill, verify_artifacts, estimate_cost.

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Usage

Once connected, just ask Claude Code naturally:

Use Loreto to extract skills from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYcidOS9ozU

Extract skills from this article and save them to .claude/skills/

Check my Loreto quota before we start.

Claude calls generate_skills, receives the full skill package, and can write the files directly to your project.

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Available tools

Tool	Auth	Description
generate_skills	API key	Extract ranked skill packages from a URL. Returns full file contents ready to save. For x402 pay-per-call generations, see the billing section above.
get_quota	API key	Check calls used, monthly limit, and plan for your API key. (Not relevant on x402 — there is no quota; you pay $0.75 per call.)
list_skills	None	List all published Loreto catalog skills with their structured artifact and safety claims. Free for everyone.
get_skill	None	Fetch the full structured record for one catalog skill — artifacts, mcp, safety, governance, references, FAQ. Free for everyone.
verify_artifacts	None	Fetch the provenance manifest for a past generation by generation_id — works for both API-key and x402 generations. Free for everyone.
estimate_cost	None	Heuristic token + USD cost estimate by source kind, before running the pipeline. Free for everyone.

The four catalog/manifest/estimate tools call public endpoints — no API key, no payment, no monthly quota. Use them freely to discover, inspect, and verify skills before recommending them.

generate_skills parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
source	str	required	URL to analyze — YouTube, article, public PDF, or image
source_type	str	"auto"	"auto" | "youtube" | "article" | "pdf" | "image"
test_language	str	"python"	"python" | "typescript" | "javascript"
include_visuals	bool	true	Embed Mermaid diagrams in SKILL.md
context	str	null	1–3 sentence hint to guide extraction (max 500 chars)
themes_to_process	list[str]	null	Follow-up call: skill names from a previous response's queued themes

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Supported sources

Source	Notes
YouTube videos	Up to 60 minutes
Web articles	Any publicly accessible URL
PDFs	Up to 100 pages
Images	Diagrams, whiteboards, slides (up to 20 MB)

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Configuration

Environment variable	Required	Default	Description
LORETO_API_KEY	Yes	—	Your Loreto API key (lor_...)
LORETO_BASE_URL	No	https://api.loreto.io	Override for local development

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Plans

Free, Pro, and Enterprise tiers under Path A — see loreto.io/pricing for current limits. Path B (x402) has no tiers: $0.75 per generation, billed per call in USDC. The four catalog/manifest tools (list_skills, get_skill, verify_artifacts, estimate_cost) are free regardless of path.

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License

MIT