skill-generator

Skill Generator

A meta-skill for creating project-specific skills as a codebase evolves. New modules, recurring patterns, and adopted libraries each carry conventions worth capturing; this skill decides whether to capture them, and how.

When to activate

• A significant new module or feature introduces conventions no existing skill covers
• A pattern recurs across two or more files and is likely to recur again
• A new integration, library, or framework is adopted
• The user asks to generate or create a skill

Core concepts

• Skills are instructional, not executable — they steer agent behavior through precise prose, not runnable code.
• Recurrence threshold — do not create a skill for a one-off pattern; wait until it appears in at least two or three places.
• Composition over duplication — reference existing skills instead of restating them.
• Generated once, maintained after — a skill that drifts from the code is worse than no skill.

Layout

Paths below are relative to the skills root: the directory that holds the installed skills. The skills CLI installs to <project>/.agents/skills/ (project scope) or ~/.agents/skills/ (global), and vendoring writes into the same project path. Detect the root from the environment rather than assuming it, but .agents/skills/ is the one to expect.

Project-specific skills live in a project/ subdirectory of that root:

<skills-root>/
├── recursive-exploration/SKILL.md   ← installed generic skills
├── typescript-standard/SKILL.md
└── project/                          ← yours; survives re-install and re-vendoring
    └── {domain}/SKILL.md

Keeping project skills under project/ is what makes re-installing or re-vendoring the generic skills safe.

Process

1. Verify the trigger

Confirm at least one holds:

• New module or feature — a distinct area (an API layer, a component system, a queue worker) with its own conventions.
• Recurring pattern — the same approach has appeared in 2+ places and will likely appear again.
• New dependency — a library or service that requires specific usage patterns.