California

When to Use

User needs California-specific guidance that generic U.S. advice usually gets wrong: choosing a region, moving, licensing, housing, taxes, wildfire and earthquake readiness, healthcare, schools, commuting, or statewide trip planning.

This skill should activate for four modes: visiting, moving to California, living in California, and operating a California-based business.

Architecture

This skill works statelessly for one-off California questions. If the user wants continuity across sessions, memory lives in ~/california/. If ~/california/ does not exist, read setup.md, explain planned local storage in plain language, and ask for confirmation before creating files. See memory-template.md for structure.

~/california/
└── memory.md     # User context, region, timelines, constraints, and open loops

Quick Reference

Topic	File
Setup guide	setup.md
Memory template	memory-template.md
Regions, metros, and base-city tradeoffs	regions.md
Move-in sequence and relocation checklist	moving-and-settling.md
Driver license, registration, smog, and DMV flow	california-dmv-and-vehicles.md
Renting, buying, insurance pressure, and property fit	housing-and-insurance.md
Electricity, water, gas, internet, and recurring bills	utilities-and-bills.md
Taxes, salary reality, and total cost of life	costs-and-taxes.md
Wildfire, earthquake, flood, and outage readiness	hazards-and-preparedness.md
Laws, scams, and practical safety	laws-and-safety.md
Schools, childcare, and family-location logic	family-and-schools.md
Health insurance, care access, and plan selection	healthcare-and-coverage.md
Work, startups, LLCs, and statewide business tradeoffs	work-and-business.md
Transit, driving, and commute design	transit-and-commutes.md
Road trips, parks, and visiting strategy	road-trips-and-visiting.md
Official sources map	sources.md

Core Rules

1. Classify the User Before Giving Advice

• Decide which California mode applies first: visitor, future resident, current resident, or business operator.
• Then anchor the answer to the user's region, metro, county, ZIP, and school district when those variables change the recommendation.
• If that context is missing, ask for it before pretending California is one market.

2. Separate State Rules from Local California Reality

• California-level rules are only the first layer. City, county, utility territory, school district, coastal or inland climate, and insurance exposure often change the real answer.
• Always label which parts are statewide and which parts must be verified locally.
• For address-specific questions, prefer official portals over generic summaries.

3. California Is a Set of Distinct Operating Environments

• Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire, San Diego, Sacramento, Central Coast, and mountain or desert regions do not solve the same problem.
• Never compare them as if only rent changes.
• The correct answer usually depends on housing cost, commute shape, hazard exposure, and job geography together.

4. Total Cost Beats Headline Rent or Salary

• Include state income tax, sales tax variation, car or transit cost, parking, utilities, insurance, and hazard-driven costs.
• For homeowners and renters, mention wildfire or earthquake readiness, deductible pressure, and availability problems when relevant.
• Use costs-and-taxes.md before saying a place is "worth it."

5. Hazard Planning Changes Good Advice

• Wildfire, smoke, earthquake, flood, mudslide, drought, heat, and outage risk are not side notes.
• Adjust home choice, commute, trip design, and insurance guidance around actual exposure.
• When hazard risk matters, lead with readiness and fallback plans, not scenery.

6. Deliver Sequence, Not Brochure Copy

• California users often need deadlines, documents, portals, and tradeoffs.
• For administrative topics, answer in the form "do this today / this week / later" whenever possible.
• For destination or relocation topics, show why one base region fits better than another.
• Before creating or changing local files in ~/california/, explain the planned write and ask for confirmation.

7. Use Official Sources for Unstable Rules

• DMV steps, smog rules, tax rates, wildfire insurance issues, district boundaries, and health-coverage details can change.
• Verify current information from the official state or local source before giving precise compliance steps.
• If current verification is blocked, say so plainly and avoid false precision.

Common Traps

• Treating California like one state experience instead of multiple different markets and risk zones.
• Recommending a neighborhood or suburb without checking commute shape, insurance stress, and district fit.
• Comparing salaries without subtracting state tax, parking, transit, utilities, and local cost pressure.
• Ignoring wildfire, smoke, earthquake, or flood exposure until after housing is narrowed.
• Mixing up DMV, CDTFA, FTB, Covered California, CPUC-regulated utilities, and local school or county systems.
• Planning California travel by map distance instead of traffic, mountain timing, permits, and seasonal hazard conditions.

External Endpoints

Endpoint	Data Sent	Purpose
https://www.ca.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly wants form guidance	State services and resident tasks
https://www.dmv.ca.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly provides case details	Driver license, REAL ID, registration, and smog workflows
https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly wants tax-specific guidance	Sales tax and local district tax guidance
https://www.ftb.ca.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly wants income-tax guidance	State income tax references and resident tax workflows
https://www.calfire.ca.gov	ZIP, county, or region references if the user asks for wildfire-specific guidance	Wildfire preparedness and local fire-risk context
https://www.earthquake.ca.gov	Page requests only	Earthquake alerts and preparedness guidance
https://www.insurance.ca.gov	ZIP, county, or region references if the user asks for insurance or wildfire-loss guidance	Insurance help, wildfire consumer protections, and claims guidance
https://www.coveredca.com	County or ZIP if the user asks for marketplace coverage help	Health insurance marketplace and plan lookup
https://www.cde.ca.gov	ZIP, city, district, or school references if the user asks for school matching	Education and school district framework

No other data is sent externally.

Security & Privacy

Data that may leave your machine:

• Public page requests to official California agencies and official service portals
• ZIP, county, or district data only when the user asks for location-specific guidance

Data that stays local:

• Region preference, move timeline, family constraints, vehicle notes, and open tasks in ~/california/

This skill does NOT:

• Submit government forms on the user's behalf without explicit instruction
• Store credentials, SSNs, or payment information in local memory
• Assume local rules when the answer depends on a city, county, district, or utility territory

Trust

By using this skill, location details such as ZIP, county, or district may be checked against official California or local-government websites when the user asks for precise guidance.

Only install if you trust those public services with that lookup context.

Related Skills

Install with clawhub install <slug> if user confirms:

• travel — General itinerary design and travel planning structure
• car-rental — Rental car, pickup, and handoff decisions for California trips
• home-buying — Deeper purchase workflow support after region and housing fit are narrowed
• health-insurance — More detailed insurance-plan comparison and terminology support
• business — Broader business operations guidance beyond California-specific rules

Feedback

• If useful: clawhub star california
• Stay updated: clawhub sync