| name | lets-make-a-skill |
| description | Use when creating or improving a skill that must both perform well on real prompts AND hold under rationalization pressure (discipline rules, process guardrails, workflows agents might shortcut under time or sunk-cost pressure). |
| argument-hint | <skill-name> [create|update|<directive>] |
| user-invocable | true |
/skill-creator but using /super-duper-cat for worktree + parallel subagents, and
/writing-skills for pressure testing.
Iron Law: this skill — and any skill built using this skill — ships only
after a baseline (no-skill agents) is observed shortcutting under pressure. A
passing baseline means no rationalization to address, which means no skill
needed. See evals/baseline-results/ for the canonical RED-phase evidence
captured during this skill's own bring-up.
Orchestration
The tensions between /skill-creator's quant eval loop and /writing-skills'
pressure tests collapse when RED fans out as a single parallel grid.
RED — one turn, parallel subagents
For each test case, dispatch two subagents in parallel (with-skill halves are
skipped in RED because the skill does not exist yet):
| Permutation | Purpose |
|---|
| baseline × quant | /skill-creator pass-rate floor |
| baseline × pressure | /writing-skills rationalization capture |
Workspace:
<skill>-workspace/iteration-N/eval-<name>/
baseline/{quant,pressure}/
with-skill/{quant,pressure}/
Draft only after ALL baseline subagents return. Drafting early invalidates the
iteration. "Too small to need a baseline" is a rationalization — the cost of one
extra subagent is lower than the cost of a skill that does not address a real
rationalization.
GREEN — draft, then re-fire the full grid
Dispatch 4 subagents per test case (baseline re-run included so iteration-N is a
self-contained A/B). "Passes" requires BOTH:
- with-skill quant pass-rate is strictly greater than baseline quant pass-rate
in the same iteration.
- with-skill pressure run produces no new rationalizations not already countered
in the skill body.
A quant delta alone is not sufficient. A pressure pass alone is not sufficient.
Both, or the iteration fails.
REFACTOR
- New rationalization in with-skill pressure → close loophole in skill body (per
/writing-skills). Do not add a quant assertion.
- Quant regression → tighten skill body. Do not relax the assertion.
- Re-fire grid. Iterate until bulletproof.
Reports
benchmark.json + benchmark.md for the quant results. Generate these with
whatever reporting tooling is available in your environment; if you use
external /skill-creator helpers, treat them as external dependencies rather
than repo-local scripts.rationalizations.md — markdown table produced by a grader subagent reading
the pressure/ dirs.- Optional viewer: use any available quant-results viewer in your environment.
Keep the rationalization table as markdown next to the quant report.
Red flags — STOP if you catch yourself thinking
- "This skill is too small to need the pressure baseline" → run it anyway.
- "Quant improved, ship it" → check the pressure baseline first.
- "Serial is clearer than parallel subagents" → the grid IS the skill.
- "The partial baseline from yesterday is enough" → re-fire it in this iteration
so the A/B is self-contained.
All of these are rationalizations captured from baseline runs. Each one already
burned an iteration. Do not rediscover them.
