skill-generator

name	skill-generator
description	Use when asked to create, generate, author, or bootstrap a NEW skill from a natural-language description. Turns "make me a skill that does X" into a stored SKILL.md by drafting valid frontmatter + body and writing it with the existing write_skill tool — dogfooding the skill system.

Skill Generator

Generate a new, reusable skill from a description and store it. The skill system already owns storage (write_skill → ~/.vanta/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md); this skill is the authoring discipline that feeds it. Do NOT hand-roll a file write.

When to use

The user describes a capability they want captured as a skill: "create a skill that summarizes PRs", "make a skill for our deploy checklist", "bootstrap a skill from this description".

Steps

1. Read the description. Extract the skill's purpose and WHEN it should fire.
2. Draft three fields:
   • name — a short kebab-case slug (lowercase, hyphens, no spaces). This becomes the directory; keep it slug-safe (no /, no ..).
   • description — ONE sentence stating when to use the skill. This is what recall matches against, so lead with the trigger ("Use when …").
   • body — a Markdown how-to: a # Title, then concise numbered steps or rules. Write the procedure, not prose about it.
3. Write it with the existing tool. Call write_skill with { name, description, body } (and optional tags). That persists and commits the SKILL.md and wires it into the registry — it appears in /skills and is recallable next session. Never write the file by hand.
4. Confirm. Report the stored slug and path from the tool result.

Rules

• One concern per skill. A description spanning several jobs → several skills.
• The description is the index entry — make it specific and trigger-first.
• The body must let an agent reproduce the behavior WITHOUT re-asking. No TODOs or placeholders.
• Reuse existing skills before generating a near-duplicate (recall first).

Reference

• write_skill tool — the storage path (do not reimplement it).
• skills/skill-gen.ts — pure buildSkillFromDescription / parseSkillModelOutput (prompt builder + JSON→{name, description, body} validator, kebab-validated so the path can't escape) if generating programmatically rather than authoring inline.
• skills/store.ts writeSkill — preserves created, bumps updated.

Verification

• After write_skill, the new skill shows in /skills and recall finds it by its description.
• The stored frontmatter has name, description, created, updated, tags.