Claude Code Authoring Kit
Comprehensive reference for Claude Code Skills, sub-agents, plugins, slash commands, hooks, memory, settings, sandboxing, headless mode, and advanced agent patterns.
Documentation Index
Core Features:
- reference/claude-code-skills-official.md - Agent Skills creation and management
- reference/claude-code-sub-agents-official.md - Sub-agent development and delegation
- reference/claude-code-plugins-official.md - Plugin architecture and distribution
- reference/claude-code-custom-slash-commands-official.md - Command creation and orchestration
Configuration:
- reference/claude-code-settings-official.md - Configuration hierarchy and management
- reference/claude-code-memory-official.md - Context and knowledge persistence
- reference/claude-code-hooks-official.md - Event-driven automation
- reference/claude-code-iam-official.md - Access control and security
Advanced Features:
- reference/claude-code-sandboxing-official.md - Security isolation
- reference/claude-code-headless-official.md - Programmatic and CI/CD usage
- reference/claude-code-devcontainers-official.md - Containerized environments
- reference/claude-code-cli-reference-official.md - Command-line interface
- reference/claude-code-statusline-official.md - Custom status display
- reference/advanced-agent-patterns.md - Engineering best practices
Quick Reference
Skills: Model-invoked extensions in ~/.claude/skills/ (personal) or .claude/skills/ (project). Three-level progressive disclosure. Max 500 lines.
Sub-agents: Specialized assistants via Task(subagent_type="..."). Own 200K context. Cannot spawn sub-agents. Use /agents command.
Plugins: Reusable bundles in .claude-plugin/plugin.json. Include commands, agents, skills, hooks, MCP servers.
Commands: User-invoked via /command. Parameters: $ARGUMENTS, $1, $2. File refs: @file.
Hooks: Events in settings.json. PreToolUse, PostToolUse, SessionStart, SessionEnd, PreCompact, Notification.
Memory: CLAUDE.md files + .claude/rules/*.md. Enterprise to Project to User hierarchy. @import syntax.
Settings: 6-level hierarchy. Managed to file-managed to CLI to local to shared to user.
Sandboxing: OS-level isolation. Filesystem and network restrictions. Auto-allow safe operations.
Headless: -p flag for non-interactive. --allowedTools, --json-schema, --agents for automation.
Skill Creation
Progressive Disclosure Architecture
Level 1 (Metadata): Name and description loaded at startup, approximately 100 tokens per Skill
Level 2 (Instructions): SKILL.md body loaded when triggered, under 5K tokens recommended
Level 3 (Resources): Additional files loaded on demand, effectively unlimited
Required Format
Create a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter containing name in kebab-case and description explaining what it does and when to use it in third person. Maximum 1024 characters for description. After the frontmatter, include a heading with the skill name, a Quick Start section with brief instructions, and a Details section referencing REFERENCE.md for more information.
Best Practices
- Third person descriptions (does not I do)
- Include trigger terms users mention
- Keep under 500 lines
- One level deep references
- Test with Haiku, Sonnet, Opus
Sub-agent Creation
Using /agents Command
Type /agents, select Create New Agent, define purpose and tools, press e to edit prompt.
File Format
Create a markdown file with YAML frontmatter containing name, description explaining when to invoke (use PROACTIVELY for auto-delegation), tools as comma-separated list (Read, Write, Bash), and model specification (sonnet). After frontmatter, include the system prompt.
Critical Rules
- Cannot spawn other sub-agents
- Cannot use AskUserQuestion effectively
- All user interaction before delegation
- Each gets own 200K context
Plugin Creation
Directory Structure
Create my-plugin directory with .claude-plugin/plugin.json, commands directory, agents directory, skills directory, hooks/hooks.json, and .mcp.json file.
Manifest (plugin.json)
Create a JSON object with name, description explaining plugin purpose, version as 1.0.0, and author object containing name field.
Commands
Use /plugin install owner/repo to install from GitHub.
Use /plugin validate . to validate current directory.
Use /plugin enable plugin-name to enable a plugin.
Advanced Agent Patterns
Two-Agent Pattern for Long Tasks
Initializer agent: Sets up environment, feature registry, progress docs
Executor agent: Works single features, updates registry, maintains progress
See reference/advanced-agent-patterns.md for details.
Orchestrator-Worker Architecture
Lead agent: Decomposes tasks, spawns workers, synthesizes results
Worker agents: Execute focused tasks, return condensed summaries
Context Engineering Principles
- Smallest set of high-signal tokens
- Just-in-time retrieval over upfront loading
- Context compaction for long sessions
- External memory files persist outside window
Tool Design Best Practices
- Consolidate related functions into single tools
- Return high-signal context-aware responses
- Clear parameter names (user_id not user)
- Instructive error messages with examples
Explore/Search Performance Optimization
When using Explore agent or direct exploration tools (Grep, Glob, Read), apply these optimizations to prevent performance bottlenecks with GLM models:
AST-Grep Priority
- Use structural search (ast-grep) before text-based search (Grep)
- Load moai-tool-ast-grep skill for complex pattern matching
- Example:
sg -p 'class $X extends Service' --lang python is faster than grep -r "class.*extends.*Service"
Search Scope Limitation
- Always use
path parameter to limit search scope
- Example:
Grep(pattern="func ", path="internal/core/") instead of Grep(pattern="async def")
File Pattern Specificity
- Use specific Glob patterns instead of wildcards
- Example:
Glob(pattern="internal/core/*.go") instead of Glob(pattern="src/**/*.py")
Parallel Processing
- Execute independent searches in parallel (single message, multiple tool calls)
- Maximum 5 parallel searches to prevent context fragmentation
Workflow: Explore-Plan-Code-Commit
Phase 1 Explore: Read files, understand structure, map dependencies
Phase 2 Plan: Use think prompts, outline approach, define criteria
Phase 3 Code: Implement iteratively, verify each step, handle edges
Phase 4 Commit: Descriptive messages, logical groupings, clean history
MoAI-ADK Integration
Core Skills
- moai-foundation-claude: This authoring kit
- moai-foundation-core: SPEC system and workflows
- moai-foundation-philosopher: Strategic thinking
Essential Sub-agents
- spec-builder: EARS specifications
- manager-ddd: DDD execution
- expert-security: Security analysis
- expert-backend: API development
- expert-frontend: UI implementation
Security Features
Sandboxing
- Filesystem: Write restricted to cwd
- Network: Domain allowlists via proxy
- OS-level: bubblewrap (Linux), Seatbelt (macOS)
Dev Containers
- Security-hardened with firewall
- Whitelisted outbound only
- --dangerously-skip-permissions for trusted only
Headless Safety
- Always use --allowedTools in CI/CD
- Validate inputs before passing to Claude
- Handle errors with exit codes
Resources
For detailed patterns and working examples, see the reference directory.
Version History:
- v5.0.0 (2026-01-11): Converted to narrative format per CLAUDE.md Documentation Standards
- v4.0.0 (2026-01-06): Added plugins, sandboxing, headless, statusline, dev containers, CLI reference, advanced patterns
- v3.0.0 (2025-12-06): Added progressive disclosure, sub-agent details, integration patterns
- v2.0.0 (2025-11-26): Initial comprehensive release
