create-skill-sample

Create a New GitHub Copilot Skill Sample

This skill guides creating new custom skill samples for the pnp/copilot-prompts repository. These samples live inside samples/skills/ and represent reusable instruction files (SKILL.md) that teach GitHub Copilot how to perform specific, repeatable tasks.

Before Starting

Critical: Always ask the user for the following information before scaffolding:

1. Skill name — a short, descriptive name for the skill (e.g., "Code Review for C#", "API Documentation Generator", "Unit Test Scaffolder")
2. Skill purpose — a clear description of what the skill does. What task does it teach GitHub Copilot to perform?
3. Trigger phrases — 3–5 example phrases a user might say to activate the skill (e.g., "review my C# code", "generate API docs")
4. Inputs needed — what information the skill needs from the user before it can proceed (e.g., a source file, a framework version, a language)
5. Output format — what the skill produces (e.g., a Markdown report, generated code files, a checklist)
6. Steps — the high-level steps the skill follows (3–7 steps). Each step should be a discrete action.
7. Rules — any hard constraints the skill must always follow (e.g., "never modify source files directly")
8. Author name — the contributor's full name
9. Author GitHub username — the contributor's GitHub handle

If the user doesn't provide all details upfront, ask for the missing ones before proceeding.

Sample Directory Structure

Create the sample in samples/skills/{skill-name}/:

samples/skills/{skill-name}/
├── SKILL.md                  # The skill definition file (core contribution)
├── README.md                 # Documentation and usage instructions
├── assets/
│   └── sample.json           # Metadata for the M365 Solution Gallery

Folder naming rules:

• Use lowercase and hyphens only (e.g., code-review-csharp, api-docs-generator, unit-test-scaffolder)
• Do NOT use periods/dots in the folder name
• Keep it concise but descriptive — 2–5 words
• Do NOT include prefixes like m365- or github- — skill folders use plain descriptive names