Skill Creator

Guide for creating effective skills that extend Claude's capabilities.

About Skills

Skills are modular, self-contained packages providing:

1. Specialized workflows
2. Tool integrations
3. Domain expertise
4. Bundled resources

Core Principles

Concise is Key

The context window is shared. Only add context Claude doesn't already have. Challenge each piece: "Does Claude really need this?"

Set Appropriate Degrees of Freedom

• High freedom: Text instructions for flexible tasks
• Medium freedom: Pseudocode/scripts with parameters
• Low freedom: Specific scripts for fragile operations

Anatomy of a Skill

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description)
│   └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/          - Executable code
    ├── references/       - Documentation for context
    └── assets/           - Files for output

Progressive Disclosure

Three-level loading:

1. Metadata - Always in context (~100 words)
2. SKILL.md body - When skill triggers (<5k words)
3. Bundled resources - As needed (unlimited)

Skill Creation Process

Step 1: Understand with Examples

Gather concrete examples of how the skill will be used.

Step 2: Plan Reusable Contents

Identify scripts, references, and assets needed.

Step 3: Initialize

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

Step 4: Edit the Skill

• Implement scripts, references, assets
• Update SKILL.md with instructions
• Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines

Step 5: Package

scripts/package_skill.py <path/to/skill-folder>

Step 6: Iterate

Test on real tasks, notice struggles, improve.

SKILL.md Guidelines

Frontmatter:

• name: Skill name
• description: What it does AND when to use it

Body:

• Use imperative/infinitive form
• Reference bundled resources
• Keep under 500 lines