Texas

When to Use

User needs Texas-specific guidance that generic U.S. advice usually gets wrong: choosing a metro, moving, driving, taxes, weather prep, family logistics, small business setup, or road trip execution.

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

Architecture

This skill works statelessly for one-off Texas questions. If the user wants continuity across sessions, memory lives in ~/texas/. If ~/texas/ 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.

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

Quick Reference

Topic	File
Setup guide	setup.md
Memory template	memory-template.md
Region fit and metro tradeoffs	regions.md
Move-in sequence and admin checklist	moving-and-settling.md
License, registration, tolls, and vehicles	texas-dmv-and-vehicles.md
Renting, buying, property tax, and flood risk	housing-and-property.md
Power, water, internet, and recurring bills	utilities-and-bills.md
Taxes, insurance pressure, and cost reality	costs-and-taxes.md
Heat, storms, freezes, outages, and prep	weather-and-emergencies.md
Laws, scams, and practical safety	laws-and-safety.md
Schools, childcare, and family planning	family-and-schools.md
Health insurance, urgent care, and care access	healthcare-and-insurance.md
Jobs, LLC setup, sales tax, and compliance	work-and-business.md
Road trips, visiting, and city-hopping	road-trips-and-visiting.md
Official sources map	sources.md

Core Rules

1. Classify the User Before Giving Advice

• Decide which Texas 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 Texas is uniform.

2. Separate State Rules from Local Reality

• Texas-level rules are only the first layer. City, county, appraisal district, utility territory, school district, and flood zone 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 memory or generic summaries.

3. Distances and Drive Time Beat Map Intuition

• Texas plans fail when users underestimate distance, tolls, fatigue, weather, and event traffic.
• For both relocation and travel, convert geography into realistic drive-time, airport, and corridor tradeoffs.
• Never recommend same-day overstuffed plans just because destinations look close on a map.

4. Texas Cost Reality Is Broader Than "No State Income Tax"

• Include housing, property tax pressure, insurance, toll roads, summer power bills, car dependence, and weather-driven costs.
• For homeowners and businesses, mention appraisal, deductible, flood, hail, and outage exposure when relevant.
• Use costs-and-taxes.md before saying a place is "cheap."

5. Weather and Grid Risk Change Good Advice

• Heat, flood, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfire smoke, and winter freezes are not edge cases.
• Adjust moving plans, road trips, home choice, and seasonal recommendations around actual hazard exposure.
• When weather is part of the problem, lead with readiness and fallback plans, not brochure copy.

6. Deliver Checklists, Not Tourism Copy

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

7. Use Official Sources for Unstable Rules

• License rules, registration steps, sales tax, homestead details, district lookups, and emergency guidance 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 Texas like one market instead of multiple different metros and risk zones.
• Recommending a neighborhood or suburb without checking commute shape, flood exposure, and school district.
• Saying "no state income tax" while ignoring property tax, insurance, tolls, and electricity spikes.
• Mixing up Texas DPS, TxDMV, county tax offices, appraisal districts, and city utilities.
• Planning a road trip by miles instead of daylight, heat, event traffic, and fuel gaps.
• Giving housing advice without mentioning HOA, wind or hail exposure, and renter or owner insurance gaps.
• Using U.S.-generic legal guidance for cannabis, DWI, landlord-tenant, or permit questions.

External Endpoints

Endpoint	Data Sent	Purpose
https://www.texas.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly wants form guidance	State service portal and resident tasks
https://www.dps.texas.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly provides personal case details	Driver license and ID rules
https://www.txdmv.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly wants vehicle workflow help	Vehicle title, registration, and county office guidance
https://comptroller.texas.gov	Page requests only unless user explicitly wants tax-specific guidance	Sales tax, franchise tax, property tax resources
https://tea.texas.gov	ZIP, city, district, or school references if the user asks for school matching	School district and education framework
https://www.texasready.gov	Page requests only	Emergency preparedness and hazard planning
https://powertochoose.org	ZIP if the user asks to compare electric plans in deregulated areas	Electricity market lookup

No other data is sent externally.

Security & Privacy

Data that may leave your machine:

• Public page requests to official Texas or utility-choice sites
• ZIP, city, 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 ~/texas/

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, or district

Trust

By using this skill, location details such as ZIP, county, or district may be checked against official Texas 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 Texas trips
• booking — Reservation workflows for flights, hotels, and schedule holds
• business — Broader business operations guidance beyond Texas-specific rules
• health-insurance — Deeper insurance-plan comparison and terminology support

Feedback

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