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Guides creation of new Claude Code skills from scratch, covering SKILL.md anatomy, YAML frontmatter best practices, trigger phrases, and optional resources like scripts. Triggers on 'create a skill', 'new skill', 'scaffold skill'.
npx claudepluginhub closedloop-ai/claude-plugins --plugin platformThis skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.
This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills.
Guides Next.js Cache Components and Partial Prerendering (PPR) with cacheComponents enabled. Implements 'use cache', cacheLife(), cacheTag(), revalidateTag(), static/dynamic optimization, and cache debugging.
Guides building MCP servers enabling LLMs to interact with external services via tools. Covers best practices, TypeScript/Node (MCP SDK), Python (FastMCP).
Generates original PNG/PDF visual art via design philosophy manifestos for posters, graphics, and static designs on user request.
This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills.
Skills are modular, self-contained packages that extend Claude's capabilities by providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools. Think of them as "onboarding guides" for specific domains or tasks—they transform Claude from a general-purpose agent into a specialized agent equipped with procedural knowledge that no model can fully possess.
Every skill consists of a required SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources:
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│ ├── YAML frontmatter metadata (required)
│ │ ├── name: (required)
│ │ └── description: (required)
│ └── Markdown instructions (required)
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
├── scripts/ - Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.)
├── references/ - Documentation intended to be loaded into context as needed
└── assets/ - Files used in output (templates, icons, fonts, etc.)
Metadata Quality: The name and description in YAML frontmatter determine when Claude will use the skill.
Writing Effective Descriptions (max 1024 chars):
A good description answers two questions:
Strong example:
description: Extract text and tables from PDF files, fill forms, merge documents. Use when working with PDF files or when the user mentions PDFs, forms, or document extraction.
Weak example (avoid):
description: Helps with documents
Best practices:
Required Frontmatter Fields:
---
name: skill-name # Lowercase, hyphens only, max 64 chars
description: This skill should be used when [triggers]. It provides [capabilities].
---
Optional Frontmatter Fields:
---
name: skill-name
description: This skill should be used when [triggers].
# Tool restrictions (two syntax options)
allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob # Comma-separated string
allowed-tools: # YAML list (cleaner)
- Read
- Grep
- Glob
# Execution context
context: fork # Run in forked sub-agent context
agent: my-agent # Use specific agent's config
# Hooks in frontmatter
hooks:
PreToolUse:
- matcher: "Bash(*)"
hooks:
- type: command
command: "./validate.sh"
PostToolUse:
- matcher: "Write(*.py)"
hooks:
- type: command
command: "./format.sh"
once: true # Execute only once per session
Stop:
- hooks:
- type: command
command: "./cleanup.sh"
---
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
name | Yes | Lowercase, hyphens only, max 64 chars |
description | Yes | Max 1024 chars, must include trigger conditions |
allowed-tools | No | Comma-separated string or YAML list; applied to tools invoked by skill |
context | No | fork runs skill in forked sub-agent context |
agent | No | Use specific agent's system prompt, tools, and model |
hooks | No | PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop hooks for this skill |
Note: Skills automatically hot-reload when modified—no restart required.
scripts/)Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.) for tasks that require deterministic reliability or are repeatedly rewritten.
scripts/rotate_pdf.py for PDF rotation tasksreferences/)Documentation and reference material intended to be loaded as needed into context to inform Claude's process and thinking.
references/finance.md for financial schemas, references/mnda.md for company NDA template, references/policies.md for company policies, references/api_docs.md for API specificationsassets/)Files not intended to be loaded into context, but rather used within the output Claude produces.
assets/logo.png for brand assets, assets/slides.pptx for PowerPoint templates, assets/frontend-template/ for HTML/React boilerplate, assets/font.ttf for typographySkills use a three-level loading system to manage context efficiently:
*Unlimited because scripts can be executed without reading into context window.
The 500-line guideline: Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines. If content exceeds this, split detailed reference material into references/ files. This keeps context focused and avoids consuming tokens upfront—Claude loads additional files only when needed.
To create a skill, follow the "Skill Creation Process" in order, skipping steps only if there is a clear reason why they are not applicable.
Skip this step only when the skill's usage patterns are already clearly understood. It remains valuable even when working with an existing skill.
To create an effective skill, clearly understand concrete examples of how the skill will be used. This understanding can come from either direct user examples or generated examples that are validated with user feedback.
For example, when building an image-editor skill, relevant questions include:
To avoid overwhelming users, avoid asking too many questions in a single message. Start with the most important questions and follow up as needed for better effectiveness.
Conclude this step when there is a clear sense of the functionality the skill should support.
To turn concrete examples into an effective skill, analyze each example by:
Example: When building a pdf-editor skill to handle queries like "Help me rotate this PDF," the analysis shows:
scripts/rotate_pdf.py script would be helpful to store in the skillExample: When designing a frontend-webapp-builder skill for queries like "Build me a todo app" or "Build me a dashboard to track my steps," the analysis shows:
assets/hello-world/ template containing the boilerplate HTML/React project files would be helpful to store in the skillExample: When building a big-query skill to handle queries like "How many users have logged in today?" the analysis shows:
references/schema.md file documenting the table schemas would be helpful to store in the skillTo establish the skill's contents, analyze each concrete example to create a list of the reusable resources to include: scripts, references, and assets.
At this point, it is time to actually create the skill.
Skip this step only if the skill being developed already exists and iteration is needed. In this case, continue to the next step.
When creating a new skill from scratch, always run the init_skill.py script. The script conveniently generates a new template skill directory that automatically includes everything a skill requires, making the skill creation process much more efficient and reliable.
Usage:
scripts/init_skill.py <skill-name> --path <output-directory>
The script:
scripts/, references/, and assets/After initialization, customize or remove the generated SKILL.md and example files as needed.
When editing the (newly-generated or existing) skill, remember that the skill is being created for another instance of Claude to use. Focus on including information that would be beneficial and non-obvious to Claude. Consider what procedural knowledge, domain-specific details, or reusable assets would help another Claude instance execute these tasks more effectively.
To begin implementation, start with the reusable resources identified above: scripts/, references/, and assets/ files. Note that this step may require user input. For example, when implementing a brand-guidelines skill, the user may need to provide brand assets or templates to store in assets/, or documentation to store in references/.
Also, delete any example files and directories not needed for the skill. The initialization script creates example files in scripts/, references/, and assets/ to demonstrate structure, but most skills won't need all of them.
Writing Style: Write the entire skill using imperative/infinitive form (verb-first instructions), not second person. Use objective, instructional language (e.g., "To accomplish X, do Y" rather than "You should do X" or "If you need to do X"). This maintains consistency and clarity for AI consumption.
To complete SKILL.md, answer the following questions:
After testing the skill, users may request improvements. Often this happens right after using the skill, with fresh context of how the skill performed.
Iteration workflow: