skill-creator

Skill Creator

A guide for creating well-structured, reusable Claude Code skills.

Communicating with the user

Pay attention to context cues to gauge familiarity. Keep explanations accessible — don't assume deep technical knowledge unless the user demonstrates it.

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Creating a skill

Capture Intent

Understand what the skill should enable. Extract from the current task context:

1. What should this skill enable Claude to do?
2. When should this skill trigger? (what user phrases / contexts)
3. What's the expected output format or artifact?

Interview and Research

Proactively think about edge cases, input/output formats, success criteria, and dependencies before writing. If useful libraries or APIs are involved, check what's available in the environment first.

Write the SKILL.md

Based on the task requirements, fill in these components:

• name: Skill identifier (must match the folder name)
• description: When to trigger, what it does. This is the primary triggering mechanism — include both what the skill does AND specific contexts for when to use it. To combat undertriggering, make the description a little "pushy": instead of "How to do X", write "How to do X. Use this skill whenever the user mentions X, Y, or Z, even if they don't explicitly ask for it."
• the rest of the skill body

Skill Writing Guide

Anatomy of a Skill

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

Progressive Disclosure

Skills use a three-level loading system:

1. Metadata (name + description) — Always in context (~100 words)
2. SKILL.md body — In context whenever skill triggers (<500 lines ideal)
3. Bundled resources — Loaded on demand (unlimited size)