Template Skill

Scaffold structured documents using industry best practices. Produces a draft; use /wordsmith:edit to refine.

When This Skill Activates

You're working on:

• Writing an RFC or design document
• Creating an Architecture Decision Record (ADR)
• Structuring a blog post or technical article
• Applying or creating custom templates

Workflow Selection

Announce which template you're using:

Request Pattern	Action	Reference
"RFC", "request for comments", "design doc", "proposal"	Apply RFC template	references/templates/rfc.md
"ADR", "architecture decision", "decision record"	Apply ADR template	references/templates/adr.md
"blog", "blog post", "article", "technical post"	Apply Blog template	references/templates/blog.md
"[custom name]" template	Apply user template	~/.claude/wordsmith/templates.jsonl
"list templates", "show my templates"	List all templates	See Template Management below
"create custom template", "save as template"	Create user template	See Template Management below
"delete template [name]"	Remove user template	See Template Management below

Usage

1. Detect template type from user request
2. Announce: "I'm using the template skill for [type] document"
3. Ask for required inputs (topic, context, audience)
4. Check for custom template in ~/.claude/wordsmith/templates.jsonl first
5. Fall back to built-in templates if no custom match
6. Generate scaffolded document with guidance
7. Prompt: "Draft ready. Use /wordsmith:edit to refine prose, or continue iterating."

Post-Scaffold Actions

After generating draft:

1. Offer to save modifications as custom template
2. Suggest /wordsmith:edit for prose refinement
3. Highlight any sections needing user input

Template Management

User templates stored at: ~/.claude/wordsmith/templates.jsonl

List Templates

Goal: Show all available templates (built-in + user) so user can choose.

Built-in templates: rfc, adr, blog

Create Template

Goal: Persist user's template definition for reuse.

Required information:

• Template name (must be unique)
• Sections with guidance (at minimum)
• Base template if extending existing

Constraints:

• Validate name uniqueness before saving
• Confirm with user before overwriting existing

JSONL Schema:

{
  "ts": "ISO-8601",
  "name": "template-name",
  "base": "rfc|adr|blog|null",
  "description": "One-line description",
  "sections": [{"name": "...", "required": true, "guidance": "..."}],
  "header_fields": ["field1", "field2"],
  "quality_checks": ["Check 1", "Check 2"],
  "source": "user"
}

Delete Template

Goal: Remove user template from storage.

Constraints:

• Cannot delete built-in templates
• Confirm before deleting

Rules

• Always check for custom templates before using built-ins
• Use Ask tool for required inputs before scaffolding
• Include quality checks at end of generated document
• Prompt for /wordsmith:edit after scaffolding
• Preserve user's existing content if iterating on a draft