| name | skf-create-skill |
| description | Compile a skill from a brief. Supports --batch for multiple briefs. Use when the user requests to "create a skill" or "compile a skill." |
Create Skill
Overview
Compiles a verified agent skill from a skill-brief.yaml and source code, producing an agentskills.io-compliant SKILL.md with provenance map, evidence report, and progressive disclosure references. The workflow is mostly autonomous with three interaction points — after ecosystem check (if match found), after source extraction (to confirm findings), and after content quality review (when tessl produces suggestions). Steps adapt behavior based on forge tier (Quick/Forge/Forge+/Deep). Zero hallucination tolerance: every instruction in the output must trace to source code with a confidence tier citation. A single run is not resumable — if it is interrupted mid-compile, re-run from the brief (only --batch checkpoints progress across briefs).
Conventions
- Bare paths (e.g.
references/<name>.md) resolve from the skill root.
references/ holds prompt content carved out of SKILL.md (workflow stages chained via frontmatter nextStepFile, plus static reference docs); scripts/ and assets/ hold deterministic helpers and templates.
{skill-root} resolves to this skill's installed directory (where customize.toml lives, if present).
{project-root}-prefixed paths resolve from the project working directory.
{skill-name} resolves to the skill directory's basename.
Role
You are operating in Ferris Architect mode — a skill compilation engine performing structural extraction and assembly. Apply zero hallucination tolerance: uncitable content is excluded, not guessed.
Workflow Rules
These rules apply to every step in this workflow:
- Never include content in SKILL.md that cannot be cited to source code
- Only load one step file at a time — never preload future steps
- Always communicate in
{communication_language}
- If
{headless_mode} is true, auto-proceed through confirmation gates with their default action, logging each auto-decision to the in-context headless_decisions[] buffer AND appending it as a JSON line to the on-disk auto-decision sink (established at step 1 §3) the moment it lands, so the audit trail survives context compaction before step 5 first writes the evidence report
Stages
| # | Step | File | Auto-proceed |
|---|
| 1 | Load Brief | references/load-brief.md | Yes |
| 2 | Ecosystem Check | references/ecosystem-check.md | Conditional |
| 2b | CCC Discover | references/sub/ccc-discover.md | Yes |
| 3 | Extract | references/extract.md | No (confirm) |
| 3b | Fetch Temporal | references/sub/fetch-temporal.md | Yes |
| 3c | Fetch Docs | references/sub/fetch-docs.md | Yes |
| 3d | Component Extraction | references/component-extraction.md | Conditional |
| 4 | Enrich | references/enrich.md | Yes |
| 5 | Compile | references/compile.md | Yes |
| 5a | Doc Sources | references/step-doc-sources.md | Yes |
| 5b | Auto-Shard | references/step-auto-shard.md | Yes |
| 5c | Doc-Rot | references/step-doc-rot.md | Yes |
| 6 | Validate | references/validate.md | Conditional |
| 7 | Generate Artifacts | references/generate-artifacts.md | Yes |
| 8 | Report | references/report.md | Yes |
| 9 | Workflow Health Check | references/health-check.md | Yes |
Sub-steps under references/sub/ are conditional branches (CCC discovery, temporal/doc enrichment) kept out of the top-level step count so main-line steps 1–9 drive the workflow. Step 3d (Component Extraction) stays top-level as an alternative main step that replaces the standard extraction path when scope.type: "component-library".
Invocation Contract
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|
| Inputs | brief_path (path to skill-brief.yaml) [required], --batch [optional] |
| Gates | step 2: Choice Gate [P] (if match) |
| Outputs | SKILL.md, context-snippet.md, metadata.json, provenance-map.json, evidence-report.md, references/ |
| Headless | All gates auto-resolve with default action when {headless_mode} is true |
On Activation
-
Load config from {project-root}/_bmad/skf/config.yaml and resolve:
output_folder, user_name, communication_language, document_output_language, sidecar_path, skills_output_folder, forge_data_folder
-
Resolve {headless_mode}: true if --headless or -H was passed as an argument, or if headless_mode: true in preferences.yaml. Default: false.
-
Resolve workflow customization. Run:
python3 {project-root}/_bmad/scripts/resolve_customization.py \
--skill {skill-root} --key workflow
The script merges the three customization layers per bmad-customize's structural merge rules (scalars override, arrays append): {skill-root}/customize.toml (bundled defaults), _bmad/custom/skf-create-skill.toml under {project-root} (team overrides, committed), and _bmad/custom/skf-create-skill.user.toml under {project-root} (personal overrides, gitignored). If the script fails or is missing, fall back to reading {skill-root}/customize.toml directly.
Apply the resolved values so the surface is not a silent no-op: execute each entry in workflow.activation_steps_prepend in order now; treat every entry in workflow.persistent_facts as standing context for the whole run (entries prefixed file: are paths or globs whose contents load as facts); and stash {onCompleteCommand} ← workflow.on_complete (empty string = no-op) for the final stage to invoke after the result JSON and metadata.json are finalized. After activation completes, execute each entry in workflow.activation_steps_append in order.
-
Load, read the full file, and then execute references/load-brief.md to begin the workflow.