skill-creator

Skill Creator

This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills. Windows PowerShell equivalents for the Unix shell commands used in examples are in references/windows.md.

About Skills

Skills are modular, self-contained packages that extend OpenHands's capabilities by providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools. Think of them as "onboarding guides" for specific domains or tasks—they transform OpenHands from a general-purpose agent into a specialized agent equipped with procedural knowledge that no model can fully possess.

What Skills Provide

1. Specialized workflows - Multi-step procedures for specific domains
2. Tool integrations - Instructions for working with specific file formats or APIs
3. Domain expertise - Company-specific knowledge, schemas, business logic
4. Bundled resources - Scripts, references, and assets for complex and repetitive tasks

Anatomy of a Skill

Every skill consists of a required SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources:

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter metadata (required)
│   │   ├── name: (required)
│   │   └── description: (required)
│   └── Markdown instructions (required)
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/          - Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.)
    ├── references/       - Documentation intended to be loaded into context as needed
    └── assets/           - Files used in output (templates, icons, fonts, etc.)

SKILL.md (required)

Metadata Quality: The name and description in YAML frontmatter determine when OpenHands will use the skill. Be specific about what the skill does and when to use it. Use the third-person (e.g. "This skill should be used when..." instead of "Use this skill when...").

Slash commands vs keyword triggers: SKILL.md frontmatter supports an optional triggers: field for keyword-based activation (e.g., triggers: [docker, container]). For slash commands (e.g., /codereview, /init), prefer creating a commands/command-name.md file in the plugin's commands/ directory instead of using slash triggers in SKILL.md. Slash triggers still work for backward compatibility but are deprecated in favor of the commands/ approach. See the Plugins guide for details.