Skill Creator

This skill helps you design, write, test, and maintain high-quality agent skills.

Skill format overview

A skill is a directory containing at minimum a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill
description: Clear one-sentence description of when to use this skill and what it does.
---

# My Skill

Detailed instructions...

Optional companions: reference docs, scripts, templates, examples.

Best practices for good skills

1. Narrow scope — One clear job per skill. Reliability drops when a skill tries to do too many things.
2. Strong description — The description is routing logic for the model. Make it specific about triggers and use cases.
3. Progressive disclosure — Put high-signal gotchas and critical rules early. Keep the body focused.
4. Gotchas section — Explicitly document failure modes and anti-patterns.
5. Deterministic scripts — For fragile or precise steps, prefer scripts over pure LLM generation.
6. Test cases — Include realistic evaluation scenarios.

Workflow for creating a new skill

1. Clarify the exact capability needed
2. Draft the YAML frontmatter + outline
3. Write the core instructions
4. Add gotchas and edge cases
5. Optionally add scripts / references
6. Test with the agent (with and without the skill)
7. Iterate based on results

Updating an existing skill

• Keep the name stable unless there is a strong reason to change it
• Expand the description carefully (it affects routing)
• Prefer additive changes over rewrites when the skill is already in use