Skill Metadata Maintainer

Skill Metadata Maintainer

Maintain metadata in exactly one target skill.

This skill exists to initialize or update the metadata object inside one SKILL.md file while following repository rules from CONTRIBUTING.md.

Non-Negotiable Safety Rules

• You MUST operate on exactly one target skill per request.
• You MUST require the user to specify a unique target, such as the skill name, the skill directory path, or the SKILL.md path.
• You MUST NOT infer a bulk target such as "all skills", "the whole repo", or "every missing file" from ambiguous wording.
• If the request does not identify a single skill unambiguously, you MUST stop and ask the user to specify the exact target skill.
• Before modifying anything, you MUST read the existing SKILL.md and inspect the current metadata values if present.
• If any target metadata field already has a value and your change would add, replace, or normalize that value, you MUST explicitly show the user what exists now and ask for confirmation before writing.
• You MUST NOT silently overwrite existing metadata values.

Inputs

The request MUST identify one target skill by at least one of:

1. skill name, for example skill-metadata-maintainer
2. skill directory path, for example skills/skill-metadata-maintainer
3. SKILL.md file path

Optional user intent may also specify:

• initialize missing metadata only
• update selected metadata fields
• normalize metadata to repository convention

Source Of Truth

When generating or validating metadata, follow CONTRIBUTING.md.

Apply these rules:

• metadata.name: human-readable display name for the target skill, derived from the skill name by default by removing hyphens and capitalizing each word while preserving well-known brand casing and common all-caps acronyms
• metadata.description: purpose statement that describes what the skill is for, not how it works, and should stay under 150 characters
• metadata.author: initialize from the first Git author for the target SKILL.md
• metadata.created: initialize from the first Git timestamp for the target SKILL.md, formatted as UTC YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ssZ
• metadata.version: optional; keep unset by default, and only set or update it when the user explicitly asks for versioning

If Git history for the target SKILL.md is unavailable or incomplete, report that clearly and ask the user how to proceed. Do not invent author or created silently when the intended source of truth cannot be verified.

Required Workflow

Follow this sequence:

1. Resolve the target skill to one unique SKILL.md.
2. Read the target SKILL.md frontmatter and current metadata state.
3. Read CONTRIBUTING.md and use it as the governing spec.
4. Determine whether the user wants initialization, selective update, or normalization.
5. Inspect Git history for the target SKILL.md to derive author and created when needed.
6. Determine whether version should remain unset or be set explicitly according to CONTRIBUTING.md.
7. Prepare the exact metadata object that should exist after the change.
8. If any existing field with a current value would be changed, present a concise field-by-field diff and ask for explicit confirmation.
9. Only after confirmation, update the target SKILL.md.
10. Report the final applied metadata and any assumptions.

Confirmation Policy

You MUST ask for confirmation before writing when any of the following is true:

• metadata already exists
• any target metadata key already has a non-empty value
• your update would replace text, not just add a missing field
• your update would normalize formatting for an existing value
• your update would add, change, or remove version

The confirmation message SHOULD include:

• the target skill identifier
• the exact fields that would change
• the current value and proposed value for each changed field

Output Rules

When no overwrite confirmation is needed, return:

1. the resolved target skill
2. the metadata values to be written
3. the files changed

When overwrite confirmation is needed, return:

1. the resolved target skill
2. a concise before/after diff for each changed metadata field
3. a direct confirmation request before making edits

Red Flags

Stop and ask the user instead of editing if:

• the request names more than one skill
• the path points outside the repository's skill directories
• multiple skills match the provided identifier
• the requested change conflicts with CONTRIBUTING.md
• Git history does not provide a trustworthy source for author or created

Style

• Be strict about target scoping.
• Be explicit about overwrite risk.
• Prefer deterministic edits over inferred broad updates.
• Keep user-facing explanations short and concrete.