skill-creator

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Guide for creating effective skills. Use when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.

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[Prompt Templates and Packaging]

When & Why to Use This Skill

The Skill Creator is a comprehensive framework designed to help users build, standardize, and optimize modular Claude skills. It provides a structured methodology for extending Claude's capabilities through specialized knowledge, custom workflows, and tool integrations, ensuring that AI agents remain efficient, concise, and highly functional.

Use Cases

  • Case 1: Developing new modular skills to extend Claude's core functionality with domain-specific expertise or proprietary workflows.
  • Case 2: Standardizing the creation of SKILL.md files and directory structures to ensure consistent performance across different AI agent implementations.
  • Case 3: Optimizing context window usage by applying 'Concise is Key' principles to minimize token consumption while maximizing instruction clarity.
  • Case 4: Structuring complex agent capabilities that require a combination of executable scripts, reference documentation, and output templates.
nameskill-creator
descriptionGuide for creating effective skills. Use when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.
sourceanthropics/skills
licenseApache-2.0

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.