- Add Skill (Meta Skill)
- Create new Claude Code skills by fetching the latest official documentation and generating properly structured skill files.
- Workflow
- Step 1: Fetch Latest Documentation
- Always fetch official docs first to ensure compliance with current spec:
- WebFetch: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills
- Prompt: Extract skill file format, required fields, naming rules, and best practices
- If WebFetch fails due to length, use WebSearch:
- WebSearch: "Claude Code skills SKILL.md format site:code.claude.com"
- Step 2: Gather Requirements
- Ask user (use AskUserQuestion tool):
- Name
-
- What should this skill be called? (lowercase, hyphens only)
- Purpose
-
- What does it do? (1-2 sentences)
- Trigger
-
- When should Claude use it? (keywords, scenarios)
- Complexity
- Does it need scripts, or just instructions? Step 3: Create Skill Structure ~/.claude/skills/{skill-name}/ ├── SKILL.md # Required: Main instructions ├── scripts/ # Optional: Executable code └── references/ # Optional: Detailed documentation Step 4: Generate SKILL.md Use this template:
name : { skill - name } description : { What it does } . Use when { trigger conditions } .
{Skill Title}
When to Use
{Scenario 1}
{Scenario 2}
Instructions
Examples ** Input: ** {example user request} ** Output: ** {expected Claude behavior} Step 5: Validate Before creating, verify: Name: 1-64 chars, lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens only Name: No leading/trailing - , no consecutive -- Description: States WHAT + WHEN clearly SKILL.md: Under 500 lines (put details in references/) Directory name matches name field exactly Step 6: Create Files mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/ { skill-name }
Write SKILL.md using Write tool
- Step 7: Verify
- ls
- -la
- ~/.claude/skills/
- {
- skill-name
- }
- /
- cat
- ~/.claude/skills/
- {
- skill-name
- }
- /SKILL.md
- Test with:
- claude --debug
- to check for loading errors.
- Naming Rules
- Rule
- Valid
- Invalid
- Lowercase only
- my-skill
- My-Skill
- Hyphens OK
- test-runner
- test_runner
- Numbers OK
- v2-helper
- -
- No leading/trailing hyphen
- skill
- -skill-
- No consecutive hyphens
- my-skill
- my--skill
- 1-64 characters
- a
- to 64 chars
- empty or 65+
- Best Practices
- Description is key
-
- Claude uses it to decide when to invoke the skill
- Progressive disclosure
-
- Keep SKILL.md light, put reference docs in
- references/
- Always include examples
-
- Shows expected input/output
- Scripts must be referenced
-
- Mention them explicitly in SKILL.md
- Test immediately
- Use claude /your-skill to verify Quick Mode For rapid creation, user can provide all info at once: /add-skill name=my-skill purpose="Does X" trigger="when user asks for Y" Parse and generate without interactive prompts. Resources Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills Anthropic skills repo: https://github.com/anthropics/skills