Updated README.md; added metadata.yml; the lead branch is now master, inactive branches became tags

README.md

-# parser-skeleton
+This is a NOMAD parser for [skeleton](). It will read skeleton input and
+output files and provide all information in NOMAD's unified Metainfo based Archive format.
 
-## About
+## Preparing code input and output file for uploading to NOMAD
 
-This is not a real parser, its a skeleton for parsers. To write you own parsers, its
-best to fork this skeleton and use it as a template.
+NOMAD accepts `.zip` and `.tar.gz` archives as uploads. Each upload can contain arbitrary
+files and directories. NOMAD will automatically try to choose the right parser for you files.
+For each parser (i.e. for each supported code) there is one type of file that the respective
+parser can recognize. We call these files `mainfiles` as they typically are the main
+output file a code. For each `mainfile` that NOMAD discovers it will create an entry
+in the database that users can search, view, and download. NOMAD will associate all files
+in the same directory as files that also belong to that entry. Parsers
+might also read information from these auxillary files. This way you can add more files
+to an entry, even if the respective parser/code might not directly support it.
 
-## Setup and run example
+For skeleton please provide at least the files from this table if applicable to your
+calculations (remember that you can provide more files if you want):
 
-We are currently targeting Python 3.6. Some nomad dependencies might still have problems
-with 3.7++. It will definitely not work with 2.x. If you run into troubles, you could
-try to ignore some dependencies. Most of them are only used in the DFT context.
 
-Best use a virtual environment:
-```
-virtualenv -p python3 .pyenv
-source .pyenv/bin/activate
-```
 
-Clone and install the nomad infrastructure and the necessary dependencies (including this parser)
+To create an upload with all calculations in a directory structure:
+
 ```
-git clone https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/nomad-lab/nomad-FAIR nomad
-cd nomad
-git submodule update --init
-pip install --upgrade pip
-pip install --upgrade setuptools
-pip install -r requirements.txt
-./dependencies.sh -e
-pip install -e .
+zip -r <upload-file>.zip <directory>/*
 ```
 
-The parsers (among other things) are git submodules. The `./dependencies.sh` will run
-through all the sub modules and install them as pip packages (be in you virtual env!).
+Go to the [NOMAD upload page](https://nomad-lab.eu/prod/rae/gui/uploads) to upload files
+or find instructions about how to upload files from the command line.
+
+## Using the parser
 
-Fork this project on [gitlab](https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/nomad-lab/parser-skeleton).
-Rename your fork in its settings/advanced and move it to the nomad-lab namespace.
-Choose a name that starts with `parser-`, e.g. `parser-your-parser-name`.
-You'll need a [http://www.mpcdf.mpg.de](https://www.mpcdf.mpg.de/userspace/forms/onlineregistrationform) account.
+You can use NOMAD's parsers and normalizers locally on your computer. You need to install
+NOMAD's pypi package:
 
-Add your parser to the nomad project on a separate branch:
 ```
-git checkout -b your-parser-name
-git submodule add https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/nomad-lab/parser-your-parser-name dependencies/parsers/your-parser-name
+pip install nomad-lab
 ```
 
-Do the necessary changes:
-- [setup.py](setup.py): Change the project metadata
-- [skeletonparser](skeletonparser): Change the directory name, i.e. python package name (no uppercases, no `_` please)
-- [skeletonparser/__init__.py](skeletonparser/__init__.py): Implement your parser, change the class names
-- [skeletonparser/__main__.py](skeletonparser/__main__.py): Change the module/class names
-- [skeletonparser/skeleton.nomadmetainfo.json](skeletonparser/skeleton.nomadmetainfo.json): Change the name, add your metadata definitions.
-- [README.md](README.md): Change this readme accordingly.
-- probably some other things I forgot.
-
-General metadata quantities (those that we can agree on) go to
-`dependencies/nomad-meta-info/meta_info/nomad_meta_info/general.experimental.nomadmetainfo.json`.
-But we should agree first. In the mean time, just put them in [skeletonparser/skeleton.nomadmetainfo.json](skeletonparser/skeleton.nomadmetainfo.json).
-You can browse around `dependencies/nomad-meta-info/meta_info/nomad_meta_info/` to
-see example definitions. **You cannot add values or open sections without defining them first!**
-
-To run the parser:
+To parse code input/output from the command line, you can use NOMAD's command line
+interface (CLI) and print the processing results output to stdout:
+
 ```
-cd nomad/dependencies/parsers/your-parser-name
-python -m yourparserpythonpackage tests/example.metadata.json
+nomad parse --show-archive <path-to-file>
 ```
 
-## Docs
+To parse a file in Python, you can program something like this:
+```python
+import sys
+from nomad.cli.parse import parse, normalize_all
+
+# match and run the parser
+backend = parse(sys.argv[1])
+# run all normalizers
+normalize_all(backend)
 
-Click through the [nomad archive page](https://metainfo.nomad-coe.eu/nomadmetainfo_public/archive.html)
-to learn about the *meta-info* metadata format and how to define your metadata.
+# get the 'main section' section_run as a metainfo object
+section_run = backend.resource.contents[0].section_run[0]
+
+# get the same data as JSON serializable Python dict
+python_dict = section_run.m_to_dict()
+```
 
-Here is a more involved tutorial (but its pretty DFT and parsing text files specific):
-[nomad@fairdi docs](http://enc-staging-nomad.esc.rzg.mpg.de/fairdi/nomad/docs/parser_tutorial.html)
+## Developing the parser
 
-## FAQ
+Also install NOMAD's pypi package:
+
+```
+pip install nomad-lab
+```
+
+Clone the parser project and install it in development mode:
+
+```
+git clone https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/nomad-lab/parser-skeleton parser-skeleton
+pip install -e parser-skeleton
+```
 
-For any questions, **please open issues** (regarding parser development and using this skeleton)
-in this [parser-skeleton project](https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/nomad-lab/parser-skeleton/issues).
-We will compile a FAQ from your issues.
+Running the parser now, will use the parser's Python code from the clone project.

metadata.yml

+code-label: skeleton
+code-label-style: none, this is a template
+code-url: ''
+parser-dir-name: dependencies/parsers/skeleton/
+parser-git-url: https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/nomad-lab/parser-skeleton
+parser-specific: ''
+table-of-files: ''