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agent-skills-creator

Guides creation of best-practice agent skills following the open format specification. Covers frontmatter, directory structure, progressive disclosure, reference files, rules folders, and validation. Use when creating a new skill, authoring SKILL.md, setting up a rules-based audit skill, structuring a skill bundle, or asking "how to write a skill."

personAuthor: jakexiaohubgithub
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Agent Skills Creator

Create skills that follow the Agent Skills open format. Covers the full lifecycle from pattern selection through validation and README update.

Reference Files

| File | Read When | |------|-----------| | references/format-specification.md | Default: frontmatter constraints, directory structure, naming rules | | references/skill-patterns.md | Choosing a pattern or need a structural template for a specific skill type | | references/quality-checklist.md | Final validation before shipping |

Choose a Skill Pattern

| Pattern | When to use | Example | Key files | |---------|-------------|---------|-----------| | Simple/hub | Dispatch to 2-5 focused files by track | ui-design | SKILL.md + track files | | Workflow | Multi-step process with progressive loading | agents-md, review-pr | SKILL.md + references/ | | Rules-based | Audit/lint with categorized rules | typography-audit, docs-writing | SKILL.md + rules/ | | Mixed | Workflow with conditional references | multi-tenant-architecture | SKILL.md + references/ |

Decision guide:

  • Auditing or linting against a checklist: rules-based
  • Guiding a multi-step process: workflow
  • Dispatching to different tracks by context: simple/hub
  • Unsure: start with workflow (most flexible)

Load references/skill-patterns.md for structural templates and skeletons of each pattern.

Creation Workflow

Copy this checklist to track progress:

Skill creation progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Choose skill pattern
- [ ] Step 2: Create directory and frontmatter
- [ ] Step 3: Write SKILL.md body
- [ ] Step 4: Add reference or rule files
- [ ] Step 5: Validate with quality checklist
- [ ] Step 6: Update README.md
- [ ] Step 7: Smoke-test installation

Step 1: Choose skill pattern

Use the pattern table above. Load references/skill-patterns.md for full templates.

Step 2: Create directory and frontmatter

Load references/format-specification.md for hard constraints.

  • Create skills/<name>/SKILL.md
  • Folder name must match name field (kebab-case)
  • name: max 64 chars, lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens, no "anthropic" or "claude"
  • description: max 1024 chars, third-person voice, include "Use when..." triggers with specific keywords

Step 3: Write SKILL.md body

  • Keep under 500 lines; split into reference files if longer
  • Only add context Claude does not already have
  • Use consistent terminology throughout
  • Include a copyable progress checklist for multi-step workflows
  • Include validation/feedback loops for quality-critical tasks

Step 4: Add reference or rule files

Workflow/mixed pattern: add references/ folder with focused files. Link each from SKILL.md with "Read when..." guidance in a table.

Rules-based pattern: add rules/ folder. See the rules folder section below.

Simple/hub pattern: add track files alongside SKILL.md. Link from a tracks table.

Key constraints:

  • References must be one level deep from SKILL.md (no chains)
  • Files over 100 lines need a table of contents at the top
  • Files are only loaded when explicitly listed in SKILL.md

Step 5: Validate

Load references/quality-checklist.md and run all applicable checks.

Step 6: Update README.md

Add a row to the Skills table:

| `<skill-name>` | <phase> | <one-line description> |

Phases used in this repo: Before coding, Project start, Design, Build, Design/dev, Writing/audit, Pre-ship, Pre-merge, Pre-launch, Architecture, Maintenance, Authoring.

Step 7: Smoke-test

Install and confirm files appear in the target directory:

cp -R skills/<name> ~/.claude/skills/
ls ~/.claude/skills/<name>/

Rules Folder Structure

For rules-based skills (audits, lints, checklists), create a rules/ folder with:

rules/_sections.md

Category map with impact levels. Format:

# Sections

This file defines all sections, their ordering, impact levels, and descriptions.
The section ID (in parentheses) is the filename prefix used to group rules.

---

## 1. Category Name (prefix)

**Impact:** CRITICAL | HIGH | MEDIUM-HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW-MEDIUM
**Description:** One sentence explaining why this category matters.

rules/_template.md

Template for individual rule files:

---
title: Rule Title Here
impact: MEDIUM
tags: tag1, tag2
---

## Rule Title Here

Brief explanation of the rule and why it matters.

**Incorrect (description of what's wrong):**

[code block with bad example]

**Correct (description of what's right):**

[code block with good example]

Individual rule files

  • Named <prefix>-<slug>.md where prefix matches the section ID
  • One rule per file
  • Each file follows the _template.md structure

SKILL.md priority table

Include a table mapping categories to prefixes and rule counts:

| Priority | Category | Impact | Prefix | Rules |
|----------|----------|--------|--------|-------|
| 1 | Category Name | CRITICAL | `prefix-` | N |

Anti-patterns

  • Dumping full specification into SKILL.md body (use reference files)
  • Creating reference-to-reference chains (keep one level deep)
  • Including time-sensitive content ("before August 2025, use...")
  • Restating what Claude already knows (how to write Markdown, general coding advice)
  • Using "I audit..." or "Use this to..." voice in descriptions (use third-person)
  • Adding README.md, CHANGELOG.md, or INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md to the skill folder
  • Dropping files in folders without linking them from SKILL.md

Related Skills

  • agents-md for auditing AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md instruction files
  • docs-writing for documentation quality rules