skill-creator

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. Also trigger when the user says 'create a skill', 'make a skill', 'improve this skill', 'update skill', 'turn this into a skill', or when a task is important and likely to repeat.

Skill Creator

A skill for creating new skills and iteratively improving them.

tabyAgent context

• Skills live at {{SKILLS_DIR}}/<name>/SKILL.md (user skills) or {{SYSTEM_SKILLS_DIR}}/<name>/SKILL.md (system skills).
• Use file_read to read existing skills, file_patch to write or edit SKILL.md files.
• Use terminal_run to run scripts, install packages, or test skills.
• After creating/updating a skill, it appears in the system prompt skill list on the next turn.
• Use skills_read <name> to verify the skill content.

High-level process

• Decide what you want the skill to do and roughly how it should do it
• Write a draft of the skill
• Improve the skill based on user feedback
• Repeat until satisfied

Communicating with the user

The skill creator may be used by people across a wide range of familiarity with coding jargon. Pay attention to context cues to understand how to phrase your communication.

It's OK to briefly explain terms if you're in doubt.

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Creating a skill

Capture Intent

Start by understanding the user's intent. The current conversation might already contain a workflow the user wants to capture (e.g., they say "turn this into a skill"). If so, extract answers from the conversation history first.

1. What should this skill enable the agent to do?
2. When should this skill trigger? (what user phrases/contexts)
3. What's the expected output format?

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 these components:

• name: Skill identifier (matches directory name)
• description: When to trigger, what it does. This is the primary triggering mechanism — include both what the skill does AND specific contexts for when to use it. Make the description "pushy" — combat undertriggering by listing many trigger phrases.
• the rest of the skill body

Anatomy of a Skill

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description required)
│   └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/    - Executable code for deterministic/repetitive tasks
    ├── references/ - Docs loaded into context as needed (read with file_read)
    └── assets/     - Files used in output (templates, icons, fonts)

Progressive Disclosure

Skills use a three-level loading system:

1. Metadata (name + description) - Always in context (~100 words)
2. SKILL.md body - In context whenever skill triggers (<500 lines ideal)
3. Bundled resources - As needed (read with file_read when needed)

Key patterns:

• Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines; if approaching this limit, add hierarchy with clear pointers to reference files.
• Reference files clearly from SKILL.md with guidance on when to read them
• For large reference files (>300 lines), include a table of contents

Writing Style

Prefer using the imperative form in instructions. Explain the why behind things rather than using heavy-handed MUSTs. Use theory of mind and make the skill general, not narrow to specific examples.

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Improving the skill

After writing the draft, improve the skill based on user feedback.

How to think about improvements

1. Generalize from the feedback. We're trying to create skills that can be used many times across many different prompts. Rather than put in fiddly overfitting changes, if there's a stubborn issue, try branching out and using different metaphors or recommending different patterns.

2. Keep the prompt lean. Remove things that aren't pulling their weight. If the skill is making the model waste time doing unproductive things, get rid of those parts.

3. Explain the why. Try hard to explain the why behind everything. If you find yourself writing ALWAYS or NEVER in all caps, reframe and explain the reasoning so the model understands why.

4. Look for repeated work. If multiple tasks resulted in writing similar helper scripts, bundle that script into the skill's scripts/ directory.

The iteration loop

After improving the skill:

1. Apply your improvements to the skill (using file_patch)
2. Present the changes to the user
3. Wait for feedback
4. Read the new feedback, improve again, repeat

Keep going until:

• The user says they're happy
• You're not making meaningful progress

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Core loop

1. Figure out what the skill is about
2. Draft or edit the skill (use file_patch to write SKILL.md)
3. Present to the user and get feedback
4. Improve the skill based on feedback
5. Repeat until you and the user are satisfied