| name | lmd-writing-skills |
| description | Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment |
Writing Skills (lmd delegation stub)
Writing skills IS Test-Driven Development applied to process documentation.
Write the pressure test first. Watch the agent fail without the skill. Write the
minimal skill. Watch it comply. Close loopholes.
Core principle: If you didn't watch an agent fail without the skill, you don't
know if the skill teaches the right thing.
Violating the letter of the rules is violating the spirit of the rules.
Body renders one phase at a time — never read it from disk.
Rendering, diagnosis and fallback: see the lmd-rendering-skills skill.
REQUIRED BACKGROUND: lmd-test-driven-development — it defines the
RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle and the Iron Law this skill adapts to documentation.
The Iron Law
NO SKILL WITHOUT A FAILING TEST FIRST
Applies to NEW skills AND EDITS. Wrote the skill before the test? Delete it.
Start over. Delete means delete.
Phases
red → green → refactor. The rationalizations phase is read when tempted to skip a step.
Companions
skill-anatomy — what a skill is, types, directory/file structure, SKILL.md template, anti-patternsskill-discovery-optimization — description/keyword/naming/token rules + discovery workflowbulletproofing — close loopholes, rationalization tables, match-the-form-to-the-failuretesting/methodology — RED→GREEN→REFACTOR testing workflow (pressure scenarios, rationalization tables)testing/skill-types — how to test discipline/technique/pattern/reference skillstesting/creation-checklist — TDD (test-driven development)-adapted checklist before deploying a skillclaude-md-testing-example — worked example of a test campaignflowchart-conventions — when to use graphviz, shape/naming conventionsanthropic-best-practices — Anthropic's official skill authoring guidancepersuasion-principles — research foundation for bulletproofing
Final Rule
New or edited skill -> baseline test exists and failed first
Otherwise -> not done
No exceptions without your human partner's permission.
