create-skill

Skill: Creating Agent Skills

This skill teaches how to create Agent Skills for this project following the VS Code Agent Skills standard.

What Are Agent Skills?

Agent Skills are folders of instructions, scripts, and resources that AI agents (Copilot, Claude, etc.) can load when relevant to perform specialized tasks. They are:

• Portable: Work across VS Code, Copilot CLI, and GitHub Copilot coding agent
• On-demand: Only loaded when relevant to the current task
• Composable: Multiple skills can work together
• Resource-rich: Can include scripts, examples, templates, and documentation

When to Create a Skill

Create a skill when you need to:

• Document a repeatable workflow or process
• Teach domain-specific knowledge that applies to multiple tasks
• Provide scripts, templates, or examples for common operations
• Define specialized capabilities that go beyond coding standards

Don't create a skill when you just need:

• Coding standards or style guidelines → Use custom instructions instead
• One-time documentation → Use regular markdown files
• File-specific rules → Use glob-based instructions

Skill Directory Structure

.github/skills/
└── your-skill-name/
    ├── SKILL.md           # Required: Skill definition
    ├── script.sh          # Optional: Helper scripts
    ├── template.ts        # Optional: Code templates
    └── examples/          # Optional: Example files
        └── example-1.md

SKILL.md Format

Every skill must have a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: skill-name
description: Clear description of what the skill does and when to use it
---

# Skill Title

Detailed instructions, guidelines, and examples...

Frontmatter Fields

Field	Required	Description
name	Yes	Unique identifier, lowercase with hyphens (max 64 chars)
description	Yes	What it does and when to use it (max 1024 chars)

Writing Effective Descriptions