Writing Skills

Writing Skills

Goal

Create skills that Cursor can discover and apply effectively.

Storage Locations

• Personal skills: ~/.cursor/skills/
• Project skills: .cursor/skills/

Do not create custom skills in ~/.cursor/skills-cursor/; that directory is reserved for Cursor's built-in skills.

Good Skill Structure

Each skill should live in its own directory:

skill-name/
  SKILL.md
  optional-reference.md
  optional-examples.md

SKILL.md Requirements

• YAML frontmatter with name and description
• concise body with clear instructions
• optional references for heavier material

Naming Rules

• lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
• short, descriptive, and easy to trigger from user language

Description Rules

• say what the skill is for and when to use it
• include likely trigger words
• avoid vague labels like "helper" or "workflow"

Authoring Advice

• optimize for real usage, not theory
• keep the main file concise
• move heavier references into separate files
• test the skill on realistic prompts after writing it