skill-engineering

name	skill-engineering
description	Read this before using or modifying any skills. It covers skill selection, progressive loading, workflow discipline, and how to report skill/tooling failures correctly. [skill-hash:3bd6a71]

Skill Engineering

Use this skill before:

• using a skill you are not already holding in working memory
• creating a new skill
• modifying an existing skill

Required Workflow

• Use a skill when the user explicitly names it or when the task clearly matches its description.
• Do not automatically read every skill at the beginning, middle, or end of a turn.
• Read a SKILL.md only when it is likely relevant to the next action and you do not already have that exact contents in working memory.
• Treat (skill path, skill-hash) as the cache key. If the hash matches what you already read this session, do not re-read unless the user explicitly asks.
• Prefer the smallest set of skills that covers the task.
• Read only the specific referenced files you need.
• Follow the workflow required by the triggered skill instead of inventing an ad-hoc replacement.
• Prefer skill scripts, templates, and referenced resources over rewriting the workflow from scratch.
• When a skill requires a script-first workflow, use the script path the skill specifies.
• Do not substitute worktree-local wrappers for shared ~/.codex wrappers unless the skill explicitly says to.
• Keep context small. Do not duplicate long instructions that already live in the skill.
• If a required skill script or MCP tool fails in a non-input way, stop and report the tooling failure.
• If Robdex orchestration is available, contact the project's orchestrator with the failing tool or script invocation and truncated output, then pause until tooling is fixed.

Creating Or Updating Skills

• For creating or updating a skill, also read references/authoring-skills.md.
• Do not load authoring guidance unless you are actually creating or updating a skill.