compound-skill

name	compound-skill
description	Use when creating a compound skill — a structured knowledge base for a project or topic that uses a SKILL.md routing table and reference documents. Covers the research phase, topic decomposition, SKILL.md frontmatter and routing table format, reference document structure, cross-referencing, and maintenance. Triggers on: "compound skill", "create skill", "write skill", "skill template", "skill structure", "routing table", "reference document", "skill authoring", "skill creation guide".
user-invocable	true

Creating a Compound Skill

Guide for creating a compound skill — a structured knowledge base that provides in-depth reference documentation for a project, technology, or topic. A compound skill consists of a SKILL.md routing table and a set of reference documents in a references/ directory.

Sub-Resources

Load the reference that matches your task. When in doubt, load multiple references.

Keywords	Reference
research, source code analysis, documentation review, topic decomposition, sub-topic identification, scope boundaries, audience analysis, information sources	references/research.md
SKILL.md, frontmatter, name, description, triggers, user-invocable, routing table, Sub-Resources table, Quick Guide, Cross-Project References, data flow diagram	references/skill-md.md
reference document, structure, heading, code example, table, cross-reference, source attribution, depth level, naming convention	references/reference-doc.md
cross-reference, link, overlap avoidance, delegation, Cross-Project References, stay on topic, DRY, complementary scope	references/cross-referencing.md
maintenance, update triggers, adding references, removing references, keeping current, version skew, changelog	references/maintenance.md

Quick Guide

• How do I start creating a compound skill? → references/research.md
• How do I write the SKILL.md routing table? → references/skill-md.md
• How do I structure a reference document? → references/reference-doc.md
• How do I handle cross-references without duplicating? → references/cross-referencing.md
• How do I keep a skill up to date? → references/maintenance.md
• What goes in the frontmatter description? → references/skill-md.md
• How do I decide on sub-topics? → references/research.md
• How do I name reference files? → references/reference-doc.md
• When should I link to another skill instead of writing? → references/cross-referencing.md

Cross-Project References

These existing compound skills serve as real-world examples:

• carapace-dev — library development skill with 20+ references (carapace repo, skills/carapace-dev/)
• bash — shell internals skill with 5 references (carapace repo, skills/bash/)
• jj — VCS reference skill with 12 references (carapace-jjlex repo, skills/jj/)