r-skill-family

name	r-skill-family
description	Coordinate the R skill family by routing new topics to the right r-* skills, researching current primary sources, and updating only the skills that need new doctrine. Use when expanding or propagating R skill guidance.
argument-hint	["topic or package"]
disable-model-invocation	true

R Skill Family

Treat the global R skills as one coordinated family. Route the topic first, research second, and update only the skills that genuinely need new doctrine.

Quick start

1. Read references/skill-routing-map.md.
2. Read references/update-scope-patterns.md.
3. List the requested topics, packages, functions, file types, and concrete user goals.
4. Classify each topic's R involvement:
   • core R;
   • R package workflow;
   • Shiny/app work;
   • modeling/statistics;
   • tables/reporting;
   • validation/data quality;
   • EDA/data engineering;
   • R-adjacent or intersection with R.
5. Rank the affected global r-* skills from most to least relevant.
6. Research current primary sources for the topic.
7. Update the implicated skills in rank order, starting with the one that should hold the deepest doctrine.
8. Validate every changed skill and record the work in the local workspace log when applicable.

Workflow

1. Identify requested topics and packages

• Extract the exact package names, functions, data formats, app surfaces, or workflow phases the user cares about.
• Split bundled requests into narrower topics when the routing differs.
• Preserve concrete nouns from the request so later updates stay specific.

2. Determine R involvement and the intersection with R

• Treat a topic as core R when it directly changes R code, R workflows, package behavior, or analyst-facing R practice.
• Treat a topic as R-adjacent when the underlying system is not purely R but materially changes how R work is built or run, such as Arrow/Parquet, GitHub Actions for R packages, databases queried from R, or JavaScript widgets inside Shiny.
• At the intersection, update the R-facing contract rather than trying to absorb the whole non-R domain into the R skills.
• If R is only incidental, do not force the topic across multiple R skills.

3. Rank the involved global R skills

• Use references/skill-routing-map.md to rank the skills from deepest doctrine holder to lightest downstream consumer.
• Start with the skill that should own the densest reusable guidance.
• Then update only the downstream skills that need routing notes, quick-start hooks, or narrower cross-skill references.
• Stop when additional edits would add only generic noise.

4. Research before editing

• Prefer official package sites, Posit docs, package vignettes, CRAN manuals, and other primary sources.
• For packages, APIs, and frameworks that may have changed recently, verify current behavior before writing doctrine.
• Save only reusable lessons, recurring failure patterns, and non-obvious package behavior.
• Mark inferences clearly when an update extends beyond direct repo evidence.

5. Update skills from most to least relevant

• Put the densest guidance in the most relevant skill.
• Prefer adding a narrow reference file over bloating SKILL.md.
• Add lighter coordination notes to secondary skills when they need to hand off, consume, or debug the same topic.
• Keep cross-skill language consistent so the family routes cleanly.

6. Validate and record the work

• Re-check each changed skill for valid YAML frontmatter, a clear description, working file references, and a SKILL.md entrypoint.
• Keep the SKILL.md frontmatter and instructions aligned whenever the skill meaning changes.
• Update the local LOG.md when working inside a workspace that tracks changes.
• Summarize which skills changed, why they changed, and which sources informed the update.

Current global R skill family

Primary r-* global skills:

• /r-advanced
• /r-data-validation
• /r-eda
• /r-model-builder
• /r-package-dev
• /r-shiny
• /r-shiny-debugging
• /r-skill-family
• /r-stats
• /r-tables-reporting

Companion R-adjacent surfaces:

• /init-r-workspace

Resources

• references/skill-routing-map.md
• references/update-scope-patterns.md