action-skill-contracts

## Context Use this skill when authoring or revising a skill that can mutate files, state, repositories, or external systems. Informational reference skills need not carry operational ceremony. ## Patterns - Start with an explicit `## SCOPE`: activation conditions, allowed targets, and exclusions. - Provide an ordered, deterministic workflow. State required inputs, the intended side effect, and the exact validation after each consequential operation. - Define STOP conditions for missing prerequisites, ambiguous scope, failed verification, and unavailable tools. A failed precondition must not look like success. - Point to a current canonical implementation or workflow when a procedure depends on repository behavior; do not copy volatile values into prose. - Keep one skill focused on one operational boundary. Link to related skills rather than combining unrelated governance, release, and documentation procedures. ## Examples `archival-integrity` defines a verified append-before-trim transaction. `gh-aw-enlistment` limits mutations through an explicit allowlist and ends with strict compilation. ## Anti-Patterns - Vague verbs such as “handle,” “ensure,” or “fix” without an observable success condition - Side effects that proceed after a failed validation - Treating a dated incident workaround as a permanent procedure without reconciling source - Adding action ceremony to a purely explanatory skill