prompting
Meta-prompting system for dynamic prompt generation using templates, standards, and patterns. USE WHEN meta-prompting, template generation, prompt optimization, or programmatic prompt composition.
When & Why to Use This Skill
This Claude skill provides a comprehensive meta-prompting framework designed for dynamic prompt generation, optimization, and programmatic composition. By leveraging Handlebars-based templates and Anthropic's latest engineering standards, it enables users to build structured, reusable, and high-performance prompts that ensure consistency across complex AI agent workflows.
Use Cases
- Dynamic Agent Rosters: Automatically generate detailed agent definitions and skill sets from YAML data to manage modular multi-agent systems.
- Standardized Context Handoffs: Create precise 'Briefing' documents to pass context between different agents, ensuring seamless task transitions.
- Prompt Optimization & Auditing: Review and refine existing prompts against the latest Claude 4.x best practices and academic research to improve output quality.
- Template Validation: Programmatically check prompt templates for syntax errors and missing variables to prevent failures in automated production environments.
- Structured Workflow Design: Use reusable primitives like 'GATE' and 'STRUCTURE' to build multi-step reasoning patterns and validation checklists for AI agents.
| name | Prompting |
|---|---|
| description | Meta-prompting system for dynamic prompt generation using templates, standards, and patterns. USE WHEN meta-prompting, template generation, prompt optimization, or programmatic prompt composition. |
Prompting - Meta-Prompting & Template System
Invoke when: meta-prompting, template generation, prompt optimization, programmatic prompt composition, creating dynamic agents, generating structured prompts from data.
Overview
The Prompting skill owns ALL prompt engineering concerns:
- Standards - Anthropic best practices, Claude 4.x patterns, empirical research
- Templates - Handlebars-based system for programmatic prompt generation
- Tools - Template rendering, validation, and composition utilities
- Patterns - Reusable prompt primitives and structures
Workflow Routing
| Workflow | Trigger | File |
|---|---|---|
| RenderTemplate | "render template", "generate from template" | CLI tool |
| ValidateTemplate | "validate template", "check template syntax" | CLI tool |
| ApplyStandards | "review prompt", "optimize prompt" | Reference Standards.md |
Core Components
1. Standards.md
Complete prompt engineering documentation based on:
- Anthropic's Claude 4.x Best Practices (November 2025)
- Context engineering principles
- 1,500+ academic papers on prompt optimization
2. Templates/
Five core primitives for programmatic prompt generation:
| Primitive | Purpose |
|---|---|
| ROSTER | Agent/skill definitions from data |
| VOICE | Personality calibration settings |
| STRUCTURE | Multi-step workflow patterns |
| BRIEFING | Agent context handoff |
| GATE | Validation checklists |
3. Tools/
RenderTemplate.ts - Core rendering engine
bun run ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/Prompting/Tools/RenderTemplate.ts \
--template Primitives/Briefing.hbs \
--data path/to/data.yaml \
--output path/to/output.md
ValidateTemplate.ts - Template syntax checker
bun run ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/Prompting/Tools/ValidateTemplate.ts \
--template Primitives/Briefing.hbs
Examples
Example 1: Generate agent roster
User: "Generate a roster from my agents.yaml"
-> Uses RenderTemplate with Roster.hbs
-> Outputs formatted agent definitions
Example 2: Create briefing for research agent
User: "Brief the research agent on this task"
-> Uses RenderTemplate with Briefing.hbs
-> Generates complete agent context handoff
Example 3: Validate template syntax
User: "Check my new template for errors"
-> Uses ValidateTemplate
-> Reports syntax issues, missing variables
Best Practices
- Separation of Concerns - Templates for structure, YAML for content
- Keep Templates Simple - Business logic in TypeScript, not templates
- DRY Principle - Extract repeated patterns into partials
- Validate Before Rendering - Check all required variables exist
References
Standards.md- Complete prompt engineering guideTemplates/README.md- Template system overviewTools/RenderTemplate.ts- Implementation details