skill-creator
Guide for creating effective skills. Use when users want to create a
When & Why to Use This Skill
The Skill Creator is a comprehensive framework designed to streamline the development of modular Claude skills. It provides a standardized methodology for packaging specialized knowledge, executable scripts, and instructions, ensuring that AI agents operate with high efficiency and optimal context window management. By following these structured principles, developers can create reusable, scalable, and high-performance capabilities for agentic workflows.
Use Cases
- Standardizing AI agent capabilities: Use the framework to create a consistent structure for all custom skills within a development team.
- Optimizing context usage: Apply the 'Concise is Key' principle to reduce token consumption while maintaining agent performance.
- Developing complex workflows: Organize multi-step processes into structured directories containing scripts, documentation, and templates.
- Iterative skill refinement: Follow the 5-step creation process to move from initial concept to a tested, production-ready AI skill.
- Implementing progressive disclosure: Structure large instruction sets into manageable sub-modules to prevent agent confusion and improve focus.
| name | skill-creator |
|---|---|
| description | Guide for creating effective skills. Use when users want to create a |
| version | 1.0.0 |
Skill Creator
Skills are modular packages that extend Claude's capabilities by providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools.
Core Principles
Concise is Key
The context window is a shared resource. Only add context Claude doesn't already have. Challenge each piece: "Does Claude really need this?"
Anatomy of a Skill
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│ ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description)
│ └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
├── scripts/ - Executable code
├── references/ - Documentation
└── assets/ - Templates, images
SKILL.md Format
---
name: my-skill-name
description: A clear description of what this skill does and when to use it
---
# My Skill Name
[Instructions for Claude when this skill is active]
## Examples
- Example usage 1
- Example usage 2
## Guidelines
- Guideline 1
- Guideline 2
Skill Creation Process
Step 1: Understand with Examples
Gather concrete examples of how the skill will be used. Ask:
- "What functionality should this skill support?"
- "What would a user say that should trigger this skill?"
Step 2: Plan Reusable Contents
Analyze examples to identify:
- Scripts: Code that gets rewritten repeatedly
- References: Documentation Claude needs to reference
- Assets: Templates, images for output
Step 3: Initialize
Create the skill directory structure with SKILL.md and resource folders.
Step 4: Implement
- Start with reusable resources (scripts, references, assets)
- Write clear SKILL.md with proper frontmatter
- Test scripts by actually running them
Step 5: Iterate
Use the skill on real tasks, notice struggles, improve.
Progressive Disclosure
Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines. Split content:
# PDF Processing
## Quick start
[code example]
## Advanced features
- **Form filling**: See [FORMS.md](FORMS.md)
- **API reference**: See [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md)
What NOT to Include
- README.md
- INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md
- CHANGELOG.md
- User-facing documentation
Skills are for AI agents, not humans.
Scientific Skill Interleaving
This skill connects to the K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills ecosystem:
Graph Theory
- networkx [○] via bicomodule
- Universal graph hub
Bibliography References
general: 734 citations in bib.duckdb
Cat# Integration
This skill maps to Cat# = Comod(P) as a bicomodule in the equipment structure:
Trit: 0 (ERGODIC)
Home: Prof
Poly Op: ⊗
Kan Role: Adj
Color: #26D826
GF(3) Naturality
The skill participates in triads satisfying:
(-1) + (0) + (+1) ≡ 0 (mod 3)
This ensures compositional coherence in the Cat# equipment structure.