| name | skill-creator |
| description | Use this skill to create new Agent Skills for GitHub Copilot. It guides you through the process of setting up the directory structure and the SKILL.md file. |
Skill Creator
This skill helps you create new Agent Skills for this repository. Agent Skills are specialized, repeatable tasks that GitHub Copilot can handle in agent mode.
Why Agent Skills?
- Specialized Workflows: Handle tasks like debugging or testing without repetitive prompting.
- Open Standard: Uses the Anthropic standard for portability across tools (VS Code, Copilot CLI, Cursor).
- Domain-Specific: Injects repo-specific instructions and resources on demand.
- Context Efficiency: Reduces context window bloat by loading only relevant skills.
Mental Model
Agent Skills are repository-level extensions.
- A skill is a directory under
.github/skills/.
- Each skill contains a mandatory
SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description) and a Markdown body.
- Copilot matches your request to a skill description and injects the content into its context.
Steps to Create a New Skill
- Choose a Name: Use lowercase and hyphens (e.g.,
my-new-skill).
- Create Directory: Create a directory at
.github/skills/<skill-name>/.
- Create SKILL.md: Create a
SKILL.md file inside that directory.
- Add Metadata: Include YAML frontmatter with
name and description.
name: The name of the skill (same as the directory name).description: A clear, prompt-aligned description (e.g., "Use for debugging failing GitHub Actions").
- Add Instructions: Write the markdown body with clear steps, examples, and guidance.
- Optional Resources: Add scripts, data files, or tools in the same directory.
Survival Kit
- Day 0: Install VS Code Insiders and enable Copilot.
- Week 1: Create your first skill and confirm it autoloads by writing a matching prompt.
- Week 2: Build production skills with scripts and share them in the team repo.
Best Practices
- One Job Per Skill: Keep skills focused. Split them if they become too large.
- Clear Descriptions: Vague descriptions cause irrelevant loading.
- No Secrets: Never embed secrets; use environment variables.
- Compactness: Keep skills compact to save context.
Example SKILL.md Template
---
name: <skill-name>
description: <clear-description-of-the-skill>
---
<instructions-and-examples-go-here>
Debugging & Observability
- Enable Copilot debug mode:
copilot.chat.debug=true.
- Check the VS Code output panel logs for skill injection.
- Use
/explain to see how the skill is being applied.
