Skill Creator

Skills are modular packages that extend Claude's capabilities by providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools.

Core Principles

Conciseness

The context window is shared. Only add information Claude doesn't already have. Challenge each piece: "Does this justify its token cost?"

Degrees of Freedom

• High freedom (text instructions): Multiple valid approaches, context-dependent decisions
• Medium freedom (pseudocode/scripts with params): Preferred pattern exists, some variation acceptable
• Low freedom (specific scripts): Fragile operations, consistency critical

Skill Anatomy

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter: name, description (required)
│   └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/     # Executable code for deterministic tasks
    ├── references/  # Documentation loaded as needed
    └── assets/      # Files used in output (templates, icons)

What NOT to Include

• README.md, CHANGELOG.md, INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md
• User-facing documentation
• Setup/testing procedures

Progressive Disclosure

1. Metadata (name + description) - Always in context (~100 words)
2. SKILL.md body - When skill triggers (<5k words, <500 lines)
3. Bundled resources - As needed by Claude

For design patterns, see:

• references/workflows.md - Multi-step processes and conditional logic
• references/output-patterns.md - Template and example patterns

Creation Process

Step 1: Understand with Examples

Gather concrete examples of how the skill will be used. Ask:

• What functionality should it support?
• What would trigger this skill?

Step 2: Plan Reusable Contents

For each example, identify:

• Scripts for repetitive code
• References for domain knowledge
• Assets for templates/boilerplate

Step 3: Initialize

python scripts/init_skill.py <skill-name> --path <output-directory>

Step 4: Edit

• Implement resources (scripts, references, assets)
• Write SKILL.md with proper frontmatter
• Delete unused example files

Frontmatter guidelines:

• description is the primary triggering mechanism
• Include both what skill does AND when to use it
• All "when to use" info goes in description, not body

Step 5: Package

python scripts/package_skill.py <path/to/skill-folder> [output-dir]

Validates and creates a distributable .skill file.

Step 6: Iterate

Use the skill on real tasks, notice struggles, update, and test again.