| name | skill-source-citations |
| description | Requires durable citations when authoring or researching Agent Skills—maintain references/sources.md per skill, link external research, and record provenance in PRs. Use when creating skills, updating SKILL.md, doing web research for skills, or auditing missing sources. |
| license | MIT |
| type | governance |
| metadata | {"author":"skill-steward","version":"1.0.0","category":"marketplace"} |
Skill source citations
Rule: Knowledge borrowed from docs, papers, other repos, or chat research must be saved as links in the skill tree—not only in conversation.
When to use
- Creating or editing any
skills/{name}/SKILL.md
- Researching harness/MCP/marketplace patterns before writing a skill
- Reviewing a PR that adds procedural claims without sources
Per-skill file (required in skill_steward)
Maintain skills/{name}/references/sources.md:
# Sources
| Topic | URL | Used for |
|-------|-----|----------|
| Agent Skills spec | https://agentskills.io/ | Frontmatter rules |
| … | … | … |
## Changelog
- 2026-05-29: initial citations
Template: citation-template.md.
Workflow (create or update skill)
- Before writing — list URLs you will rely on in
references/sources.md (can start sparse).
- In SKILL.md — link to spec/docs inline where non-obvious; prefer
references/ for long material.
- After research — append new rows + changelog entry; never leave “we read X” only in chat.
- In PR — one line in description: “Sources updated in
references/sources.md.”
- Validate —
pnpm run validate warns if sources.md is missing.
What to cite
| Cite | Example |
|---|
| Official specs | agentskills.io, Cursor/Claude/Codex docs |
| Papers / research | SkillOpt, SkillsBench arXiv |
| Reference implementations | product MCPs, Codex plugin-eval |
| Blog/guides | Only if procedure is non-obvious; prefer primary docs |
Do not cite ephemeral chat URLs or private tokens.
Cross-skill index
Guild-wide references: docs/STANDARDS.mdx, DESIGN_FAQ.mdx.
Related skills
| Task | Skill |
|---|
| Scaffold skill | skill-authoring-lifecycle |
| Evaluate / improve | skill-eval-improve |
| Spec audit | skill-authoring-lifecycle |
Sources discipline (this skill)
See references/sources.md.
Install
npx skills add arenukvern/skill_steward --skill skill-source-citations
