skill-creator

name	skill-creator
description	Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills. Use when users want to create a skill from scratch, edit or optimize an existing skill, or turn a workflow into a reusable skill.

Skill Creator

A skill for creating new skills and iteratively improving them.

Process

1. Decide what the skill should do and roughly how
2. Write a draft of the skill
3. Create a few test prompts and try them
4. Evaluate the results qualitatively
5. Rewrite the skill based on feedback
6. Repeat until satisfied

Capture Intent

Start by understanding the user's intent:

1. What should this skill enable Claude to do?
2. When should this skill trigger? (what user phrases/contexts)
3. What's the expected output format?
4. Should we set up test cases?

Interview and Research

Proactively ask questions about edge cases, input/output formats, example files, success criteria, and dependencies.

Write the SKILL.md

Based on the user interview, fill in:

• name: Skill identifier (lowercase, hyphens)
• description: When to trigger, what it does. Make it "pushy" — include specific contexts so Claude doesn't undertrigger.
• body: Instructions, examples, patterns

Skill Structure

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description required)
│   └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/    - Executable code
    ├── references/ - Docs loaded as needed
    └── assets/     - Templates, icons, fonts

Writing Style

• Use imperative form in instructions
• Explain the why behind everything — don't just write MUSTs
• Include examples with Input/Output format
• Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines
• Start with a draft, then improve with fresh eyes

Description Tips

The description is the primary triggering mechanism. Make it specific:

Bad: "Format data" Good: "Analyze and format CSV data files. Use whenever the user mentions data analysis, CSV files, tabular data, spreadsheets, or wants to understand data structure."

Iteration Loop

1. Apply improvements to the skill
2. Rerun test cases
3. Ask for user feedback
4. Repeat until happy

How to improve

• Generalize from feedback — don't overfit to test examples
• Keep the prompt lean — remove what's not pulling its weight
• Explain the why — understanding beats rigid instructions
• Look for repeated work — bundle scripts that subagents keep reinventing