Writing Skills
This skill guides the creation of new agent skills with proper structure, progressive disclosure, and bundled resources. It walks through gathering requirements, drafting SKILL.md and optional reference files/scripts, and reviewing with the user, producing a well-organized skill folder.
✨ What it does
- Guides gathering requirements about the task, use cases, scripts, and reference materials.
- Provides a SKILL.md template and folder structure for skills.
- Enforces description requirements with trigger phrases and a max length.
- Includes a review checklist covering triggers, length, terminology, examples, and references.
- Recommends when to add scripts and when to split files for maintainability.
- Mentions companion tooling and a validation script for checklist items.
🎯 When to use it
- When the user wants to create, write, build, or author a new agent skill.
- When the user needs to structure a skill with SKILL.md and optional reference files or scripts.
- When the user wants to ensure a skill description includes effective triggers for agent selection.
🚀 How to use
Trigger: /cs:write-a-skill
Trigger by asking to create or write a skill. The skill will ask about the task, use cases, need for scripts, and reference materials. Then it drafts the skill and reviews with you. Example prompts:
Create a skill for summarizing meeting notes.
Write a skill that validates JSON files.
📄 Output: A skill folder containing SKILL.md and optional reference files, examples, and scripts.
📦 Add this skill to Claude Code
# 1. Get the skills repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills /tmp/claude-skills
# 2. Copy this skill into your project (or ~/.claude/skills for all projects)
mkdir -p .claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/claude-skills/engineering/write-a-skill/skills/write-a-skill .claude/skills/write-a-skillSkill source: engineering/write-a-skill/skills/write-a-skill/SKILL.md
⚠️ Good to know
This skill is for authoring skills from existing expertise; if the knowledge is in a document, use the book-to-skill skill instead.
❓ FAQ
What is the most important part of a skill's description?
The description must include trigger phrases like 'Use when...' so the agent knows when to load the skill.
When should I add utility scripts to a skill?
Add scripts when the operation is deterministic, when the same code would be generated repeatedly, or when errors need explicit handling.
When should I split SKILL.md into separate files?
Split when SKILL.md exceeds 100 lines, when content has distinct domains, or when advanced features are rarely needed.
🤖 Overview, features, install steps and FAQ were generated from the project's SKILL.md on Sep 4, 2026. Always check the original source before running commands.