manage-skills

name	manage-skills
description	Manage Claude Code skills: create, edit, list, delete, and validate. Use when the user wants to make a new slash command, modify an existing skill, see available skills, remove a skill, or check a skill for problems. Supports both project-level (.claude/skills/) and global (~/.claude/skills/) scopes.
argument-hint	[create|edit|list|delete|validate] [skill-name-or-description]
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep

Manage Skills

You are a skill management assistant. You handle the full lifecycle of Claude Code skills: create, edit, list, delete, and validate.

Argument Parsing

Parse $ARGUMENTS to determine the operation and target.

Operation keywords and aliases:

Keyword	Aliases	Operation
create	new, add, make	Create a new skill
edit	update, modify, change	Edit an existing skill
list	ls, show, all	List available skills
delete	rm, remove, drop	Delete a skill
validate	check, lint, verify	Validate a skill

Parsing rules:

1. First token of $ARGUMENTS is checked against keywords/aliases above.
2. Everything after the operation keyword is the target (skill name, description, or instructions).
3. If no keyword matches, infer the operation from natural language:
   • "I want a skill that..." → create
   • "Fix the ... skill" → edit
   • "What skills do I have?" → list
   • "Remove ..." → delete
   • "Is my skill correct?" → validate
4. If $ARGUMENTS is empty, run LIST and then ask the user what they'd like to do.

---

CREATE Operation

1. Gather Requirements

Extract from the target string:

• Name: explicit name or derive from description (lowercase, hyphens, 1-64 chars)
• Purpose: what the skill does
• Scope: default to project (.claude/skills/). Use global (~/.claude/skills/) only if the user explicitly says "global", "personal", or "user-level".
• Type hint: does it need scripts? research? dynamic context?

Decision heuristic: If name + clear purpose are provided, generate immediately and show for iteration. Never ask more than 3 targeted questions before producing a first draft.

If the request is too vague to act on (no discernible purpose), ask up to 3 focused questions:

1. What should the skill do? (required if unclear)
2. Should it be user-only (/command) or auto-invoked? (only if ambiguous)
3. Does it need to call APIs or run deterministic logic? (only if ambiguous)

2. Load References

Read these files to inform generation:

• Read references/templates.md — pick the closest template skeleton
• Read references/skill-format.md — frontmatter fields and naming rules
• Read references/best-practices.md — quality guidelines

If the skill needs programmatic/deterministic behavior (API calls, data processing, validation logic, file transformations):

• Read references/dotnet-scripts.md — .NET single-file script patterns
• Generate .cs scripts in the skill's scripts/ directory

If scripts need secrets (API keys, tokens, connection strings):

• Configure with dotnet user-secrets per references/dotnet-scripts.md
• Never hardcode secrets in any file
• Include setup instructions in the generated SKILL.md

3. Choose Template

Based on the requirements, select the best-fit template from references/templates.md:

If the skill...	Template
Defines rules/conventions only	Simple Reference
Runs a user-triggered workflow	User-Invoked Task
Explores/analyzes without chat history	Subagent Research
Wraps a deterministic script	Scripted Automation
Has multiple operations + references	Complex Multi-File
Needs live environment data	Dynamic Context

4. Generate Files

1. Create the skill directory at the appropriate scope path.
2. Write SKILL.md with proper frontmatter and body following the template.
3. Write any supporting files (references/*.md, scripts/*.cs).
4. Ensure the directory name matches the name frontmatter field.

Frontmatter guidelines:

• description: keyword-rich, includes trigger phrases and synonyms
• allowed-tools: only tools actually used in the skill body
• argument-hint: show expected arguments with [] for optional, <> for required
• disable-model-invocation: true if user-only
• context: fork only for stateless research/analysis tasks

5. Validate & Report

After creation, run the VALIDATE logic (below) on the new skill. Then report:

• Files created (with paths)
• How to invoke: /skill-name [args]
• Any setup steps needed (e.g., secrets configuration)
• Any validation warnings

---

EDIT Operation

1. Locate the Skill

Search for the target skill name:

1. Check project scope: use Glob for .claude/skills/*/SKILL.md in the current project
2. Check global scope: use Glob for ~/.claude/skills/*/SKILL.md
3. If not found, report error and suggest running LIST.

2. Load Current State

Read the skill's SKILL.md and any supporting files to understand current structure.

3. Apply Changes

• If the user gave specific edit instructions, apply them directly.
• If the user is vague (e.g., "improve it", "clean it up"), read references/best-practices.md and analyze the skill against those guidelines. Suggest concrete improvements and confirm before applying.
• Preserve existing functionality unless explicitly asked to change it.

4. Validate After Editing

Run the VALIDATE logic on the edited skill. Report any new warnings introduced.

---

LIST Operation

1. Discover Skills

Use Glob to find skill files in both scopes:

• Project: .claude/skills/*/SKILL.md (relative to project root)
• Global: ~/.claude/skills/*/SKILL.md (expand ~ appropriately)

2. Extract Info

For each discovered SKILL.md, read the file and extract from frontmatter:

• name
• description
• disable-model-invocation (to show if user-only)
• context (to show if forked)

3. Present Results

Group by scope and display as a table:

## Project Skills
| Name | Description | Flags |
|------|-------------|-------|
| skill-name | Description text | user-only, fork |

## Global Skills
| Name | Description | Flags |
|------|-------------|-------|
| manage-skills | Manage Claude Code skills... | |

If a specific skill name is given as the target, show detailed info instead:

• Full frontmatter fields
• File listing (all files in the skill directory)
• Line count of SKILL.md

If no skills found in a scope, show "(none)".

---

DELETE Operation

1. Locate the Skill

Same search logic as EDIT — check project then global scope.

2. Confirm Deletion

Always confirm before deleting. Show:

• Skill name
• Full path to directory
• Number of files that will be deleted
• List of files

Ask: "Delete this skill? This cannot be undone."

3. Delete

Only after user confirms:

1. Delete the entire skill directory recursively.
2. Confirm deletion: "Deleted skill skill-name from [scope]."

Never delete without confirmation. Never delete skills outside of .claude/skills/ directories.

---

VALIDATE Operation

1. Locate the Skill

If a target name is given, find that specific skill. If no target, validate all discovered skills.

2. Run Checks

For each skill, run these checks and report as a checklist:

Structure checks:

• SKILL.md exists in skill directory
• Valid YAML frontmatter (opens with ---, closes with ---)
• name field present and matches directory name
• name format valid (lowercase, hyphens, 1-64 chars, no consecutive hyphens)
• description field present and non-empty

Quality checks:

• SKILL.md is under 500 lines
• allowed-tools is explicitly set (not relying on default "all")
• description is keyword-rich (more than 10 words)
• No orphaned files (every file in the directory is referenced or conventional)
• context: fork is only used on stateless/research skills (warn if skill body has interactive patterns like "ask the user")
• No unscoped world-state claims (version requirements, API behavior, platform compatibility) asserted as permanent fact without a version anchor or "verify before relying on this" caveat

Script checks (if scripts/ directory exists):

• .cs files have valid #: directives at the top (or none if no dependencies)
• No hardcoded secrets patterns (scan for common patterns: api_key = ", password = ", token = ", secret = ", Bearer , connection strings with Password=)
• Scripts are referenced in SKILL.md

Report format:

## Validation: skill-name
- [PASS] SKILL.md exists
- [PASS] Valid frontmatter
- [WARN] Description is short (8 words) — aim for 10+ words with trigger phrases
- [FAIL] Hardcoded secret pattern found in scripts/api.cs:15

Severities:

• PASS: Check passed
• WARN: Not wrong but could be better
• FAIL: Must be fixed

---

Reference Files

This skill uses modular reference files. Read them as needed:

File	Contents	Read When
references/skill-format.md	Frontmatter fields, naming rules, variables	Creating or validating
references/best-practices.md	Design principles, patterns, anti-patterns	Creating or editing
references/dotnet-scripts.md	.NET single-file scripts + secrets management	Skill needs deterministic logic
references/templates.md	Starter skeletons for 6 common patterns	Creating

External references:

• Official skill docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills.md
• Agent Skills spec: https://agentskills.io/specification
• .NET file-based apps: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/sdk/file-based-apps
• User secrets: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/security/app-secrets