skill-creator

# Skill Creator

This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills.

## About Skills

Skills are modular, self-contained packages that extend Claude's capabilities by
providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools. Think of them as
"onboarding guides" for specific domains or tasks—they transform Claude from a
general-purpose agent into a specialized agent equipped with procedural
knowledge that no model can fully possess.

### What Skills Provide

1. Specialized workflows - Multi-step procedures for specific domains
2. Tool integrations - Instructions for working with specific file formats or
   APIs
3. Domain expertise - Company-specific knowledge, schemas, business logic
4. Bundled resources - Scripts, references, and assets for complex and
   repetitive tasks

## Core Principles

### Concise is Key

The context window is a public good. Skills share the context window with
everything else Claude needs: system prompt, conversation history, other Skills'
metadata, and the actual user request.

**Default assumption: Claude is already very smart.** Only add context Claude
doesn't already have. Challenge each piece of information: "Does Claude really
need this explanation?" and "Does this paragraph justify its token cost?"

Prefer concise examples over verbose explanations.

### Set Appropriate Degrees of Freedom

Match the level of specificity to the task's fragility and variability:

**High freedom (text-based instructions)**: Use when multiple approaches are
valid, decisions depend on context, or heuristics guide the approach.

**Medium freedom (pseudocode or scripts with parameters)**: Use when a preferred
pattern exists, some variation is acceptable, or configuration affects behavior.

**Low freedom (specific scripts, few parameters)**: Use when operations are
fragile and error-prone, consistency is critical, or a specific sequence must be
followed.

Think of Claude as exploring a path: a narrow bridge with cliffs needs specific
guardrails (low freedom), while an open field allows many routes (high freedom).

### Anatomy of a Skill

Every skill consists of a required SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources:

```
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter metadata (required)
│   │   ├── name: (required)
│   │   └── description: (required)
│   └── Markdown instructions (required)
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/          - Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.)
    ├── references/       - Documentation intended to be loaded into context as needed
    └── assets/           - Files used in output (templates, icons, fonts, etc.)
```

#### SKILL.md (required)

Every SKILL.md consists of:

- **Frontmatter** (YAML): Contains `name` and `description` fields. These are
  the only fields that Claude reads to determine when the skill gets used, thus
  it is very important to be clear and comprehensive in describing what the
  skill is, and when it should be used.
- **Body** (Markdown): Instructions and guidance for using the skill. Only
  loaded AFTER the skill triggers (if at all).

#### Bundled Resources (optional)

##### Scripts (`scripts/`)

Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.) for tasks that require deterministic
reliability or are repeatedly rewritten.

- **When to include**: When the same code is being rewritten repeatedly or
  deterministic reliability is needed
- **Example**: `scripts/rotate_pdf.py` for PDF rotation tasks
- **Benefits**: Token efficient, deterministic, may be executed without loading
  into context
- **Note**: Scripts may still need to be read by Claude for patching or
  environment-specific adjustments

##### References (`references/`)

Documentation and reference material intended to be loaded as needed into
context to inform Claude's process and thinking.

- **When to include**: For documentation that Claude should reference while
  working
- **Examples**: `references/finance.md` for financial schemas,
  `references/mnda.md` for company NDA template, `references/policies.md` for
  company policies, `references/api_docs.md` for API specifications
- **Use cases**: Database schemas, API documentation, domain knowledge, company
  policies, detailed workflow guides
- **Benefits**: Keeps SKILL.md lean, loaded only when Claude determines it's
  needed
- **Best practice**: If files are large (>10k words), include grep search
  patterns in SKILL.md
- **Avoid duplication**: Information should live in either SKILL.md or
  references files, not both. Prefer references files for detailed information
  unless it's truly core to the skill—this keeps SKILL.md lean while making
  information discoverable without hogging the context window. Keep only
  essential procedural instructions and workflow guidance in SKILL.md; move
  detailed reference material, schemas, and examples to references files.

##### Assets (`assets/`)

Files not intended to be loaded into context, but rather used within the output
Claude produces.

- **When to include**: When the skill needs files that will be used in the final
  output
- **Examples**: `assets/logo.png` for brand assets, `assets/slides.pptx` for
  PowerPoint templates, `assets/frontend-template/` for HTML/React boilerplate,
  `assets/font.ttf` for typography
- **Use cases**: Templates, images, icons, boilerplate code, fonts, sample
  documents that get copied or modified
- **Benefits**: Separates output resources from documentation, enables Claude to
  use files without loading them into context

#### What to Not Include in a Skill

A skill should only contain essential files that directly support its
functionality. Do NOT create extraneous documentation or auxiliary files,
including:

- README.md
- INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md
- QUICK_REFERENCE.md
- CHANGELOG.md
- etc.

The skill should only contain the information needed for an AI agent to do the
job at hand. It should not contain auxilary context about the process that went
into creating it, setup and testing procedures, user-facing documentation, etc.