| name | skill-creator |
| description | Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills. Use when users want to create a skill from scratch, edit or optimize an existing skill, or turn a workflow into a reusable skill. |
Skill Creator
A skill for creating new skills and iteratively improving them.
Process
- Decide what the skill should do and roughly how
- Write a draft of the skill
- Create a few test prompts and try them
- Evaluate the results qualitatively
- Rewrite the skill based on feedback
- Repeat until satisfied
Capture Intent
Start by understanding the user's intent:
- What should this skill enable Claude to do?
- When should this skill trigger? (what user phrases/contexts)
- What's the expected output format?
- Should we set up test cases?
Interview and Research
Proactively ask questions about edge cases, input/output formats, example files, success criteria, and dependencies.
Write the SKILL.md
Based on the user interview, fill in:
- name: Skill identifier (lowercase, hyphens)
- description: When to trigger, what it does. Make it "pushy" — include specific contexts so Claude doesn't undertrigger.
- body: Instructions, examples, patterns
Skill Structure
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│ ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description required)
│ └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
├── scripts/ - Executable code
├── references/ - Docs loaded as needed
└── assets/ - Templates, icons, fonts
Writing Style
- Use imperative form in instructions
- Explain the why behind everything — don't just write MUSTs
- Include examples with Input/Output format
- Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines
- Start with a draft, then improve with fresh eyes
Description Tips
The description is the primary triggering mechanism. Make it specific:
Bad: "Format data"
Good: "Analyze and format CSV data files. Use whenever the user mentions data analysis, CSV files, tabular data, spreadsheets, or wants to understand data structure."
Iteration Loop
- Apply improvements to the skill
- Rerun test cases
- Ask for user feedback
- Repeat until happy
How to improve
- Generalize from feedback — don't overfit to test examples
- Keep the prompt lean — remove what's not pulling its weight
- Explain the why — understanding beats rigid instructions
- Look for repeated work — bundle scripts that subagents keep reinventing
