use-skilo

name	use-skilo
description	Creates, installs, validates, and formats Agent Skills. Use when developing skills from templates, installing skills from git repositories, linting against the specification, or managing skills across AI coding agents.
license	MIT OR Apache-2.0

Use Skilo

Skilo is a CLI tool for developing Agent Skills.

Installation

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/manuelmauro/skilo/main/install.sh | sh

Quick Start

skilo new my-skill        # Create from template
skilo add owner/repo      # Install from git
skilo lint .              # Validate against spec
skilo fmt .               # Format SKILL.md files

Run skilo -h for all commands and options.

ALWAYS Validate Skills

Run skilo lint and skilo fmt before committing any skill changes. These commands enforce the Agent Skills Specification and catch common issues.

# Validate and format in one command
skilo check .

# Strict mode for CI (warnings become errors)
skilo check --strict .

Skill Structure

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md        # Required: manifest with YAML frontmatter
├── scripts/        # Optional: executable code
├── references/     # Optional: additional docs (loaded on-demand)
└── assets/         # Optional: static resources

Frontmatter Requirements

Required Fields

name (1-64 characters)

• Lowercase alphanumeric and hyphens only (a-z, 0-9, -)
• Must NOT start/end with - or contain --
• Must match parent directory name

description (1-1024 characters)

• Describe WHAT the skill does AND WHEN to use it
• Include keywords that help agents match user requests

Optional Fields

• license - Keep short, reference LICENSE file for details
• compatibility (max 500 chars) - Environment requirements (e.g., Requires git, docker)
• metadata - Key-value pairs for custom properties
• allowed-tools - Space-delimited list of pre-approved tools (experimental)

Best Practices

Write Effective Descriptions

The description is how agents decide when to activate your skill. Be specific.

# Good - specific, keyword-rich
description: Extracts text and tables from PDF files, fills PDF forms, and merges multiple PDFs. Use when working with PDF documents or when the user mentions PDFs, forms, or document extraction.

# Bad - vague, no activation cues
description: Helps with PDFs.

Keep Body Content Concise

The entire SKILL.md body loads when the skill activates. Keep it under 500 lines.

• Include step-by-step instructions
• Add examples of inputs and outputs
• Cover common edge cases
• Move detailed material to references/

Use Progressive Disclosure

Structure skills to minimize context usage:

1. Metadata (~100 tokens) - name + description loaded at startup for all skills
2. Instructions (<5000 tokens) - Full body loaded when skill activates
3. Resources (on-demand) - scripts/, references/, assets/ loaded only when needed

Write Self-Contained Scripts

Scripts in scripts/ should:

• Be self-contained or clearly document dependencies
• Include helpful error messages
• Handle edge cases gracefully

Organize References Effectively

Files in references/ are loaded on-demand:

• Keep files focused (one file = one concept)
• Use relative paths from skill root
• Avoid deeply nested reference chains

Lint Rules

Skilo enforces these rules (configure in .skilorc.toml):

Code	Rule	Default
E001	name_format	enabled
E002	name_length	64 chars
E003	name_directory	enabled
E004	description_required	enabled
E005	description_length	1024 chars
E006	compatibility_length	500 chars
E009	references_exist	enabled
W001	body_length	500 lines
W002	script_executable	enabled
W003	script_shebang	enabled

CI Integration

- name: Validate skills
  run: |
    curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/manuelmauro/skilo/main/install.sh | sh
    skilo check --strict skills/