| name | skila |
| description | Distill in-context Claude Code session memory into production-ready Anthropic-spec skill packages. Invoke /skila whenever the user types /skila or asks to distill the current session into reusable skills. Presents a multi-select of [NEW@global], [NEW@local], and [UPDATE→<existing>] proposals, runs validate + lint gates, and writes complete skill packages (SKILL.md + scripts/ + references/ + assets/ as needed) to ~/.claude/skills/ or <repo>/.claude/skills/. Also use when: user says 'capture this workflow', 'save this as a skill', or 'add this to my skill library'. |
| compatibility | {"node":">=20"} |
| skila | {"version":"0.1.0","status":"published","parentVersion":null,"revisionCount":0,"lastImprovedAt":"2026-04-19T00:00:00Z","changelog":[{"version":"0.1.0","date":"2026-04-19","change":"Initial v0.1.0 skill package (Phase 6 dogfood)"}],"source":"user-edit-via-web"} |
Overview
skila is a TypeScript Claude Code plugin that continuously evolves a
personal skill library from live session memory. It inverts every learner
gap identified in v1: no Python, no fire-and-forget distillation, no silent
overwrites, and no opaque quality gates.
When /skila Fires
The /skila slash command is the primary trigger. Execute this procedure
only when:
- The user explicitly invokes
/skila, OR
- The user says "capture this workflow", "save this as a skill", or
"add this to my skill library".
If loaded by any other means, do nothing and return immediately.
Distill Workflow
Step 1 — Read the Proposal Criteria
Read references/proposal-criteria.md. Apply the three criteria as a
disjunction (any one criterion suffices for promotion):
- Criterion 1: Multi-step, multi-tool workflow that succeeded.
- Criterion 2: Reusable workflow likely to recur across sessions.
- Criterion 3: User correction or stated preference that should persist.
Extract candidates from the agent's current in-context conversation memory
only — do NOT read ~/.claude/projects/ or any JSONL transcript files.
Step 2 — Inventory Scan
Run the inventory scanner to discover installed skills:
node skills/skila/scripts/scan.mjs
Capture the JSON list of {name, description, scope, path} objects.
If the script exits non-zero, surface stderr and abort.
Step 3 — LLM Judge Pass
For each distilled candidate, classify as [NEW] or [UPDATE→<name>]
using the current inventory (Step 2) and the last 30 tool-trace entries
from the session. Emit [UPDATE→X] only when X exactly matches a name
in the inventory. Apply the Wave-1 soft cap of 8 rows; collapse excess into
[+N more low-confidence candidates omitted].
Row format (see assets/proposal-row.tmpl for exact template):
[NEW@global] <proposed-name> <one-line reason>
[NEW@local] <proposed-name> <one-line reason>
[UPDATE→X] X <one-line reason>
[UPDATE→X@staging] X <one-line reason> (in staging)
Step 4 — Validate Gate (BLOCKING)
For each approved row, draft a SKILL.md using assets/SKILL.md.tmpl.
Run the validator:
node skills/skila/scripts/validate.mjs <draft-path>
If validate exits non-zero, surface all errors and do not write the
skill to ~/.claude/skills/. Fix errors before proceeding.
Step 5 — Lint Gate (Advisory)
Run the linter on each approved draft:
node skills/skila/scripts/lint.mjs <draft-path>
Lint warnings are advisory — they never block a proposal, but append
(WARN: <reason>) inline next to the row in the multi-select UI.
Step 6 — Write to Staging
Validated skills are written to ~/.claude/skills/.draft-skila/<name>/.
The frontmatter MUST include skila.status: staging. The web UI
(skila serve → port 7777) shows staged skills for review before promotion.
Step 7 — User Approval + Promotion
Present the multi-select AskUserQuestion with all rows. For each approved
selection:
[NEW@global] → write to ~/.claude/skills/<name>/[NEW@local] → write to <cwd>/.claude/skills/<name>/[UPDATE→X] → bump skila.version, append to skila.changelog,
set skila.parentVersion to prior version, write to published path.[UPDATE→X@staging] → write to staging tier; explicit /skila promote
or web UI action required to replace the published version.
Quality Bar
Read references/quality-bar.md before accepting any proposal. The three
structural rules are:
-
Deterministic procedures → scripts/: If a workflow step is a
deterministic, repeatable Node script (FS walk, frontmatter parse, regex
validation), ship it in scripts/ and reference it by path in SKILL.md.
Use .mjs wrappers that delegate to node dist/cli.js.
-
Domain knowledge → references/: Stable, enumerable knowledge
(schema specs, decision criteria, error tables) goes in references/.
SKILL.md body must direct the agent to read the file.
-
Standardized output → assets/: Templates, prompt scaffolds, and
row format specifications go in assets/. SKILL.md body references them
by path.
SKILL.md body MUST be ≤ 500 lines. Garbage skills (prose-only stubs with
no artifacts) are rejected at the blocking validate gate.
5 Superiority Dimensions
skila v2 intentionally inverts five learner-described weaknesses of v1:
| Dimension | v1 Gap | v2 Inversion |
|---|
| Language | Python runtime | TypeScript only; node dist/cli.js |
| Iteration | Fire-and-forget distillation | Every skill carries skila.changelog; revisions are visible |
| Overwrite safety | Silent replacement of published skills | UPDATE requires web approval or /skila promote |
| Validation | Advisory Python lint | BLOCKING TypeScript validate gate (exits non-zero) |
| Feedback | No usage signal | ~/.claude/skila-data/feedback.json tracks successRate + invocations |
Staging Tier
New skills land in ~/.claude/skills/.draft-skila/<name>/ with
skila.status: staging. Claude Code's loader skips directories whose name
starts with ., so staged skills do not load until explicitly promoted.
Auto-promotion to published requires a feedback gate: successRate ≥ 0.7
over at least 3 invocations. Manual override is always available via
/skila promote <name> or the web UI.
Web UI (skila serve)
Run node dist/cli.js serve to open the Obsidian-style three-pane control
panel at http://127.0.0.1:7777:
- Left sidebar: skill list grouped by status (draft / staging / published
/ archived / disabled) with status badges and search filter.
- Center pane: CodeMirror 6 markdown editor for SKILL.md + tabs for
scripts/, references/, assets/.
- Right inspector: version timeline, feedback sparkline
(successRate + usageCount), action buttons (Promote, Archive, Disable,
Reactivate, Rollback to v0.X).
The web UI is the recommended path for reviewing staged skills before
promotion.
Hooks (Passive Feedback Collection)
Two hooks declared in plugin.json run passively:
- PostToolUse: records tool invocation outcome to
~/.claude/skila-data/feedback.json.
- Stop: records session-end signal.
These hooks are stateless writers only — no LLM calls, no skill writes.
All heavier work (judge calls, web ops) is initiated by the user from
/skila or the web UI.
Frontmatter Schema (v2)
Every skila-produced SKILL.md MUST include the full v2 schema block.
Read references/skill-creator-schema.md for the canonical specification.
Use assets/SKILL.md.tmpl as the scaffold when creating new skills.
Required fields: name, description, compatibility, and the full
skila.* block (version, status, parentVersion, revisionCount,
lastImprovedAt, changelog, source).
File Reference
| Path | Purpose |
|---|
scripts/validate.mjs | Delegate to node dist/cli.js validate |
scripts/lint.mjs | Delegate to node dist/cli.js lint |
scripts/scan.mjs | Delegate to node dist/cli.js list |
references/quality-bar.md | Three structural rules for skill artifacts |
references/proposal-criteria.md | Three promotion criteria (disjunction) |
references/skill-creator-schema.md | Anthropic spec + skila v2 extensions |
assets/SKILL.md.tmpl | Frontmatter scaffold for new skills |
assets/prompts/prompt-templates.md | Distillation + judge prompt templates |
assets/proposal-row.tmpl | AskUserQuestion row format variants |
