Case study, Academy of Art University

Contract automation: from knowledge base to signed agreement

I automated the entire contract process at Academy of Art University. A Claude skill generates each contract, and a custom MCP connector I built for Adobe Sign handles drafting, personalization, and sending, all from the chat once I approve.

Role: Conceived and built
Context: Academy of Art University
Approach: Claude skill, custom MCP
Status: In use

The problem

Academy of Art University runs hundreds of agreements with the subject matter experts who build its courses. Once those contracts were centralized into a single system, the work of producing and sending each one was still manual: pull the right template, fill in the right terms, generate a PDF, set up the signature request with the correct people in the correct order, and write the email that goes with it. Every step was a chance to introduce an error, and the volume made it slow.

I turned that whole process into one reviewed, repeatable flow, grounded in the institution's own documents and finished by a tool I built specifically for it.

The pipeline

How a contract gets sent

1
Knowledge and templates
Knowledge files, templates, and normed documents serve as the source of truth.
2
Claude skill
A skill I built drafts each contract, correctly populated from the right inputs.
3
Finished PDF
The contract renders to a clean, signable PDF, ready for signature.
4
Adobe Sign connector
A custom MCP connector loads drafts with the right emails, personalized messages, and ordered signers.
5
Approve and send
A pre-send batch checklist is approved, then it sends straight from the chat.
Human in the loop

What I built

A Claude skill that generates each contract from curated knowledge files, templates, and normed documents, so the terms are correct and consistent every time.
A custom MCP connector for Adobe Sign, the final piece, that I built from scratch to close the gap between a finished PDF and a sent agreement.
Automatic setup of each Adobe Sign draft with the correct recipient emails, a personalized message, and signers placed in the right signing order.
A pre-send batch checklist that surfaces every agreement and its recipients for review, so I confirm the details before anything sends.
One-step sending from the Claude chat, so once the checklist is approved, the batch goes out without leaving the conversation.

A pipeline, not a single tool

The system is a pipeline with a person at the end. Institutional knowledge flows into a generation skill, the skill produces a clean PDF, the connector stages it in Adobe Sign exactly as it should go out, and a pre-send checklist keeps approval with me. The custom Adobe Sign connector is what makes it end-to-end: without it, the last mile falls back to a person copying files and addressing emails by hand.

In use
Generation skill
A Claude skill drafts each contract from knowledge files, templates, and normed documents, so terms stay correct and consistent.
In use
Adobe Sign connector
A custom MCP connector loads the finished PDFs into Adobe Sign as drafts, with the right emails, personalized messages, and ordered signers.
Human in the loop
Pre-send checklist
A batch checklist gates every send, so a person reviews and approves before a single agreement leaves the chat.

Why it works

Grounded in the institution's own knowledge files, templates, and normed documents, so generated contracts match the real standard.
End to end by design: a custom connector closes the last mile into Adobe Sign instead of handing it back to manual work.
Correct by construction, with emails, personalized messages, and signing order set automatically rather than re-entered each time.
A pre-send checklist keeps a person in control, so speed never comes at the cost of review.

Takeaway

The contract automation shows how I take an operational process end-to-end: ground it in real institutional knowledge, build the missing connective tool myself, and keep a clear human approval at the point it matters most.

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