Agent Skills Creator

Create skills that follow the Agent Skills open format. Covers the full lifecycle from pattern selection through validation and README update.

Reference Files

File

Read When

references/format-specification.md

Default: frontmatter constraints, directory structure, naming rules

references/skill-patterns.md

Choosing a pattern or need a structural template for a specific skill type

references/quality-checklist.md

Final validation before shipping

Choose a Skill Pattern

Pattern

When to use

Example

Key files

Simple/hub

Dispatch to 2-5 focused files by track

design-ui

SKILL.md + track files

Workflow

Multi-step process with progressive loading

agents-md

,

plan-feature

SKILL.md +

references/

Rules-based

Audit/lint with categorized rules

audit-typography

,

docs-writing

SKILL.md +

rules/

Mixed

Workflow with conditional references

multi-tenant-platform-architecture

SKILL.md +

references/

Decision guide:

Auditing or linting against a checklist:

rules-based

Guiding a multi-step process:

workflow

Dispatching to different tracks by context:

simple/hub

Unsure: start with

workflow

(most flexible)

Load

references/skill-patterns.md

for structural templates and skeletons of each pattern.

Creation Workflow

Copy this checklist to track progress:

Skill creation progress:

- [ ] Step 1: Choose skill pattern

- [ ] Step 2: Create directory and frontmatter

- [ ] Step 3: Write SKILL.md body

- [ ] Step 4: Add reference or rule files

- [ ] Step 5: Validate with quality checklist

- [ ] Step 6: Update README.md

- [ ] Step 7: Smoke-test installation

Step 1: Choose skill pattern

Use the pattern table above. Load

references/skill-patterns.md

for full templates.

Step 2: Create directory and frontmatter

Load

references/format-specification.md

for hard constraints.

Create

skills//SKILL.md

Folder name must match

name

field (kebab-case)

name

max 64 chars, lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens, no "anthropic" or "claude"

description

max 1024 chars, third-person voice, include "Use when..." triggers with specific keywords

Step 3: Write SKILL.md body

Keep under 500 lines; split into reference files if longer

Only add context Claude does not already have

Use consistent terminology throughout

Include a copyable progress checklist for multi-step workflows

Include validation/feedback loops for quality-critical tasks

Step 4: Add reference or rule files

Workflow/mixed pattern

add

references/

folder with focused files. Link each from SKILL.md with "Read when..." guidance in a table.

Rules-based pattern

add

rules/

folder. See the rules folder section below.

Simple/hub pattern

add track files alongside SKILL.md. Link from a tracks table. Key constraints: References must be one level deep from SKILL.md (no chains) Files over 100 lines need a table of contents at the top Files are only loaded when explicitly listed in SKILL.md Step 5: Validate Load references/quality-checklist.md and run all applicable checks. Step 6: Update README.md Add a row to the Skills table: | <skill-name> | < phase

| < one-line description

| Phases used in this repo: Before coding, Project start, Design, Build, Design/dev, Writing/audit, Pre-ship, Pre-merge, Pre-launch, Architecture, Maintenance, Authoring. Step 7: Smoke-test Install and confirm files appear in the target directory: cp -R skills/ < name

~/.claude/skills/ ls ~/.claude/skills/ < name

/ Rules Folder Structure For rules-based skills (audits, lints, checklists), create a rules/ folder with: rules/_sections.md Category map with impact levels. Format:

Sections This file defines all sections, their ordering, impact levels, and descriptions. The section ID (in parentheses) is the filename prefix used to group rules.

1. Category Name (prefix) ** Impact: ** CRITICAL | HIGH | MEDIUM-HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW-MEDIUM ** Description: ** One sentence explaining why this category matters. rules/_template.md Template for individual rule files:

title : Rule Title Here impact : MEDIUM tags : tag1 , tag2

Rule Title Here Brief explanation of the rule and why it matters. ** Incorrect (description of what's wrong): ** [code block with bad example] ** Correct (description of what's right): ** [code block with good example] Individual rule files Named -.md where prefix matches the section ID One rule per file Each file follows the _template.md structure SKILL.md priority table Include a table mapping categories to prefixes and rule counts: | Priority | Category | Impact | Prefix | Rules | |

|

|

|

|

| | 1 | Category Name | CRITICAL | prefix- | N | Anti-patterns Dumping full specification into SKILL.md body (use reference files) Creating reference-to-reference chains (keep one level deep) Including time-sensitive content ("before August 2025, use...") Restating what Claude already knows (how to write Markdown, general coding advice) Using "I audit..." or "Use this to..." voice in descriptions (use third-person) Adding README.md, CHANGELOG.md, or INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md to the skill folder Dropping files in folders without linking them from SKILL.md