skill-creator

name	Skill Creator
description	Guidance for creating effective modular skills for Claude. Use when creating or refining skills to ensure they are concise, follow progressive disclosure patterns, and provide appropriate degrees of freedom.

Skill: Skill Creator

This skill provides a comprehensive framework for designing and implementing effective skills. Skills are modular packages that extend capabilities by providing specialized knowledge and workflows.

Core Principles

Concise is Key

The context window is a limited resource. Claude is already smart; only add context it doesn't already have.

• Challenge every paragraph: Does this justify its token cost?
• Prefer examples: Use concise code/text snippets over verbose explanations.

Set Appropriate Degrees of Freedom

Match the level of specificity to the task's fragility:

• High Freedom (Text/Heuristics): Use when multiple approaches are valid or decisions are context-dependent.
• Medium Freedom (Pseudocode/Templates): Use when a preferred pattern exists but some variation is acceptable.
• Low Freedom (Specific Scripts): Use when operations are fragile, consistency is critical, or a specific sequence must be followed.

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Anatomy of a Skill

A skill consists of a required SKILL.md and optional bundled resources.

• SKILL.md: Main entry point with metadata and core workflow instructions.
• scripts/: Executable code for deterministic reliability.
• references/: Heavy-lifting documentation loaded only when needed.
• assets/: Files used in output (templates, icons, boilerplate) not loaded into context.

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Design Patterns

To keep skills lean and effective, follow these patterns:

• Progressive Disclosure: Use a multi-level loading system to manage context efficiently.
  • See Progressive Disclosure Guide
• Resource Management: Properly utilize scripts, references, and assets.
  • See Resource Guidelines

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Skill Creation Workflow

The creation process follows a systematic 6-step approach:

1. Understand with concrete examples.
2. Plan reusable contents.
3. Initialize the skill structure.
4. Edit and implement resources.
5. Package into a .skill file.
6. Iterate based on usage.

Detailed instructions: See Creation Workflow