Creating skills

Creating Skills

Writes high-performance, token-efficient skill directories in skills/ and activates them immediately without restarting the bot.

Process

1. Gather Requirements

Ask the user (one question at a time if unclear):

• Name: Slug — lowercase, numbers, hyphens only, e.g. processing-reports
• Trigger: When should this activate? (→ becomes the description field)
• Behavior: What should the agent do step-by-step?
• Files: Heavy reference content? Templates? Scripts?

2. Select Archetype

Pick the right pattern from templates.md:

Archetype	When	SKILL.md budget
workflow	Step-by-step procedures	< 150 lines
reference-heavy	Lookup tables, schemas, large specs	< 80 lines + reference.md
tool-wrapper	Wraps specific tools with usage guidance	< 100 lines
persona	Role-play or communication style shifts	< 60 lines

3. Design the Structure

skills/<name>/
├── SKILL.md           # Always: main entry point (keep within archetype budget)
├── reference.md       # When: heavy content that would exceed budget
├── examples.md        # When: input/output examples help significantly
└── scripts/           # Rarely: utility scripts
    └── helper.py

Rules:

• References are one level deep only — no chained references
• Split only when SKILL.md exceeds archetype budget
• Every line earns its token cost — cut ruthlessly

4. Write SKILL.md

Required format:

---
name: skill-name-with-hyphens
description: Use when [triggering conditions only — third person, no workflow summary, max 1024 chars]
tags: [optional]
---

# Skill Title

One sentence overview.

## When to Use

- Concrete trigger phrase 1
- Concrete trigger phrase 2

## [Core Section]

Imperative instructions. No fluff.

## Supporting Files

**Topic**: See [reference.md](reference.md)

Frontmatter rules:

• name: lowercase, numbers, hyphens; max 64 chars; avoid "anthropic" / "claude"
• description: "Use when..."; triggers only; no how/what summary; third person; max 1024 chars
• A bad description causes the agent to skip reading the body — be precise about triggers

Body performance rules:

• Every sentence must directly enable action — delete explanatory prose
• Prefer bullet lists over paragraphs
• Use imperative mood throughout ("Call X", "Write Y", not "You should call X")
• No meta-commentary ("This skill helps you..."), no caveats

5. Self-Evaluate Before Writing

Before calling write_skill_file, verify:

☐ Description triggers are specific (not vague like "when the user needs help")
☐ Body is within archetype token budget
☐ Every line earns its token cost (no filler sentences)
☐ Instructions are imperative, not explanatory
☐ No time-sensitive content, no hardcoded values
☐ Description does NOT summarize how the skill works — triggers only

If any item fails — revise before writing.

6. Write Files

Call write_skill_file once per file. Always write SKILL.md first:

write_skill_file(skill_name="my-skill", relative_path="SKILL.md", content="...")
write_skill_file(skill_name="my-skill", relative_path="reference.md", content="...")

7. Activate

Call reload_skills after all files are written.

Report to user:

• Skill is live (no restart needed)
• Files created
• Trigger phrase that activates it

Description Writing Guide

# ✅ Good — triggering conditions only, third person
description: Use when the user asks to generate weekly reports, export data summaries, or create formatted output from raw data.

# ✅ Good — specific triggers
description: Use when analyzing code for bugs, reviewing pull requests, or the user asks for a code review.

# ❌ Bad — summarizes workflow (agent skips the body)
description: Use when creating reports — reads data, formats it, writes to file.

# ❌ Bad — first person
description: I help users create reports from their data.

Supporting Files

Skill archetypes and starter templates: See templates.md