Converts a technical book (PDF or EPUB) into a structured Claude Code skill — extracting frameworks, mental models, principles, techniques, and anti-patterns the author crystallized. Use when the user wants to study a book through Claude, apply an author's frameworks while working, or build a reusable knowledge base from any PDF or EPUB.
Standardmäßig ist der Prompt ausgewählt, der zuerst die Quelle prüft. Sie können zu einem direkten Befehl wechseln oder eine lokale Kopie herunterladen.
Quelldateien prüfen
Lesen Sie SKILL.md und alle von SkillsMP angezeigten Begleitdateien, bevor Sie sich für eine Installation entscheiden.
Mit Codex oder Claude installieren Kopieren Sie diesen Prompt, fügen Sie ihn in Codex, Claude oder einen anderen Assistant ein und lassen Sie die Skill-Seite prüfen und installieren.
Ein direkter Befehl überspringt den Prüf-Prompt. Prüfen Sie die Quelle, bevor Sie ihn ausführen.
Converts a technical book (PDF or EPUB) into a structured Claude Code skill — extracting frameworks, mental models, principles, techniques, and anti-patterns the author crystallized. Use when the user wants to study a book through Claude, apply an author's frameworks while working, or build a reusable knowledge base from any PDF or EPUB.
when_to_use
Trigger phrases — "turn this book into a skill", "create a skill from this PDF", "create a skill from this EPUB", "I want to study X book", "add this book to my skills", "convert PDF to skill", "convert EPUB to skill", "analyze this book", "extract frameworks from this book". Accepts a path to a PDF or EPUB and optional skill name slug.
Transform written knowledge into actionable Claude Code skills by extracting structure — not producing summaries.
Philosophy
Books contain crystallized expertise: frameworks, principles, and techniques that took years to develop. This skill extracts that knowledge into a format Claude can leverage repeatedly.
Extract structure, not summaries. A skill isn't a book report. It's a toolkit of:
Named frameworks (mental models with clear application)
Actionable principles (rules that guide decisions)
Techniques (step-by-step methods)
Anti-patterns (what to avoid and why)
Voice calibration (how the author thinks and communicates)
Preserve the author's precision. Frameworks often have specific names for reasons. "The 5 Whys" isn't interchangeable with "ask why multiple times." Capture the exact formulation.
Layer depth appropriately. Simple books → simple skills. Complex books with 10+ frameworks → skills with reference files and on-demand chapters.
Modes of Operation
Three paths available. Route based on what the user asks:
1. Full Conversion (Default)
Trigger: User provides a PDF path without special instructions
Action: Run all steps below (Steps 0–9)
Output: Complete skill with SKILL.md, chapters/, glossary, patterns, cheatsheet
2. Analyze Only
Trigger: User says "analyze", "just extract", or "I want to review before generating"
Action: Run Steps 0–3, then produce a structured extraction report (frameworks, principles, techniques found). Stop — do NOT generate skill files.
Output: Analysis report for user review
3. Generate from Prior Analysis
Trigger: User has existing analysis notes or previously ran analyze-only
Action: Skip Steps 0–3, use the provided analysis as input, run Steps 4–9
Output: Skill files from the provided analysis
Step 0 — Out-of-scope check
If the argument is NOT a path to a PDF or EPUB file, stop and respond:
"book-to-skill requires a PDF or EPUB path. Usage: /book-to-skill /path/to/book.pdf [skill-name] or /book-to-skill /path/to/book.epub [skill-name]"
Step 1 — Validate input
test -f "" && ||
file | grep -iE && ||
$0
echo
"FILE_OK"
echo
"FILE_NOT_FOUND: $0"
"$0"
"pdf|epub|zip"
echo
"FORMAT_OK"
echo
"FORMAT_UNKNOWN"
Check the file extension (.pdf or .epub) or magic bytes (%PDF or PK zip header).
If the file is not found or the format is not supported, stop with a clear error message listing supported formats.
Step 1.5 — Identify book type
Before extracting, ask the user:
"What kind of content does this book have? This helps me choose the best extraction method.
Text-heavy — mostly prose, few or no tables/code (e.g. management, productivity, narrative non-fiction)
Not sure — I'll use the fast method and warn you if quality seems limited"
Store the answer as BOOK_TYPE:
Option 1 → BOOK_TYPE=technical
Option 2 → BOOK_TYPE=text
Option 3 → BOOK_TYPE=text
If BOOK_TYPE=technical, inform the user before proceeding:
"📐 Technical mode selected — using Docling for structure-aware extraction (tables, code blocks, formulas preserved as markdown). This takes ~1.5s per page, so expect a few minutes for longer books. Starting now…"
If BOOK_TYPE=text, inform:
"📄 Text mode selected — using fast extraction (pdftotext). Ready in seconds."
text → prioritize "Frameworks Introduced", "Mental Models", and "Key Takeaways"; skip empty technical sections
# Chapter N: <FullTitle>## Core Idea
<1–2 sentences: the single most important thing this chapter teaches>
## Frameworks Introduced-**<FrameworkName>**: <exactformulation — preservetheauthor'snaming> - When to use: <specificsituation> - How: <stepsorcriteria>## Key Concepts-**<Term>**: <precisedefinitionin1sentence>
(5–10 most important terms from this chapter)
## Mental Models
<2–4 frameworks or thinking tools. Write as "Use X when Y" or "Think of X as Y">
## Anti-patterns-**<Whattoavoid>**: <whyitfails>## Code Examples *(technical books only — omit if BOOK_TYPE=text)*
<!-- Copy the most instructive snippet from the chapter. Preserve indentation exactly. -->
```<language>
<key code example from this chapter>
What it demonstrates:
Reference Tables (technical books only — omit if BOOK_TYPE=text)
Key Takeaways
(3–7 takeaways a practitioner must remember)
Connects To
Ch N:
:
---
## Step 8 — Generate supporting files
### glossary.md
Create `~/.claude/skills/<skill_name>/glossary.md`:
- Every significant term from the book, alphabetically sorted
- Format: `**Term** — definition (Ch N)`
- Max 1,500 tokens
### patterns.md
Create `~/.claude/skills/<skill_name>/patterns.md`:
- All concrete techniques, design patterns, algorithms from the book
- Format: `## Pattern Name\n**When to use**: ...\n**How**: ...\n**Trade-offs**: ...`
- Max 2,000 tokens
### cheatsheet.md
Create `~/.claude/skills/<skill_name>/cheatsheet.md`:
- Decision tables, comparison matrices, quick-reference rules
- The content you'd want on a single printed page
- Max 1,000 tokens
---
## Step 9 — Generate the master SKILL.md
**CRITICAL TOKEN BUDGET: Keep SKILL.md body under 4,000 tokens.**
Compaction truncates from the END — put the most important content FIRST.
Create `~/.claude/skills/<skill_name>/SKILL.md`:
```markdown
---
name: <skill_name>
description: Knowledge base from "<Full Title>" by <Author(s)>. Use when applying <author>'s frameworks for <key topics, 3–6 terms>.
when_to_use: <10–15 trigger phrases based on book topics and terms. Comma-separated.>
allowed-tools: Read Grep
argument-hint: [topic, framework name, or chapter number]
---
# <Full Title>
**Author**: <Author(s)> | **Pages**: ~<N> | **Chapters**: <N> | **Generated**: <YYYY-MM-DD>
## How to Use This Skill
- **Without arguments** — `/skill-name` loads core frameworks for reference
- **With a topic** — `/skill-name replication` → I find and read the relevant chapter
- **With chapter** — `/skill-name ch05` → I load that specific chapter
- **Browse** — ask "what chapters do you have?" to see the full index
When you ask about a topic not covered in Core Frameworks below, I will read
the relevant chapter file before answering.
---
## Core Frameworks & Mental Models
<!-- ~2,000 tokens: the author's most important named frameworks and principles.
Preserve exact names. Write as "Use X when Y", "Prefer X over Y because Z".
This is a toolkit, not a summary. -->
<generate 2,000 tokens of the most critical frameworks and insights here>
---
## Chapter Index
| # | Title | Key Frameworks |
|---|-------|----------------|
| [ch01](chapters/ch01-<slug>.md) | <Title> | <framework1>, <framework2> |
| [ch02](chapters/ch02-<slug>.md) | <Title> | <framework1>, <framework2> |
...
## Topic Index
<!-- Alphabetical. Major terms/frameworks → chapter(s) that cover them. -->
- **<Term>** → ch<N>[, ch<N>]
- **<Term>** → ch<N>
## Supporting Files
- [glossary.md](glossary.md) — all key terms with definitions
- [patterns.md](patterns.md) — all techniques and design patterns
- [cheatsheet.md](cheatsheet.md) — quick reference tables and decision guides
---
## Scope & Limits
This skill covers the book content only. For hands-on implementation in your codebase,
combine with project-specific tools. For topics beyond this book, check related skills
or ask Claude directly.
Step 10 — Cleanup and report
rm -rf /tmp/book_skill_work
Then report to the user:
✅ Skill created: ~/.claude/skills/<skill_name>/
📚 Book: <Full Title> — <Author>
📄 Pages: ~<N> | Chapters: <N>
Files generated:
SKILL.md — core frameworks + index (~X tokens)
chapters/ — <N> chapter summaries (~X tokens each, ~X total)
glossary.md — key terms (~X tokens)
patterns.md — techniques & patterns (~X tokens)
cheatsheet.md — quick reference (~X tokens)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total skill size: ~X tokens (loaded on-demand, not all at once)
💡 Tip: run /cost in Claude Code to see the actual token usage for this session.
Usage:
/<skill_name> → load core frameworks
/<skill_name> <topic> → find and explain a topic
/<skill_name> ch<N> → dive into a specific chapter
Quality Rules
Extract structure, not summaries — capture named frameworks, exact formulations, anti-patterns; not chapter recaps
Preserve the author's precision — "The 5 Whys" ≠ "ask why multiple times"; keep exact naming
Density over completeness — a 1,000-token summary beats a 10,000-token excerpt
Practitioner voice — write "Use X when Y", not "The book explains X"
Front-load SKILL.md — compaction keeps the first 5,000 tokens; most important content comes first
Chapter files are on-demand — they don't count against skill budget until loaded
Never copy raw book text — always synthesize, summarize, extract signal
Topic index is critical — it's how Claude navigates to the right chapter file