# Create Package Skill

> Interactive wizard that walks service teams through creating a package-specific skill for their Azure SDK package. Scans the package, detects customization patterns, scaffolds a SKILL.md with references, and validates with vally lint. The skill is placed inside the package's .github/skills/ directory so find-package-skill discovers it automatically. WHEN: create package skill; add service skill; bootstrap skill for package; new package skill; skill for my SDK package; write skill for search; write skill for cosmos.

- Skill: `azure-azure-sdk-for-python/create-package-skill` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 8 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add azure-azure-sdk-for-python/create-package-skill`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/azure-azure-sdk-for-python/create-package-skill/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: Azure (https://skillmd.com/u/azure-azure-sdk-for-python)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/azure-azure-sdk-for-python/create-package-skill

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# Create Package Skill Wizard

> **Minimal beats comprehensive. Human-written beats auto-generated. Scaffold and iterate.**

> Skills encode tribal knowledge — the "I wish someone had told me" stuff that's hard to learn from just reading code. Focus on what's non-obvious and package-specific.

## Interaction Protocols

**CONFIRM Protocol** (asset-producing steps — creating files):
1. PRESENT the proposed assets and explain why.
2. ASK exactly one question: "Create now (recommended), edit first, or skip?"
3. ACT immediately. Create → write files this turn. Edit → refine, re-ask. Skip → move on.

**DECIDE Protocol** (informational/correction steps — no files created):
1. PRESENT the information or findings.
2. ASK one specific question appropriate to the decision.
3. PROCEED based on the answer.

One question at a time. Respect "skip" — never re-ask or defer.

## Wizard Flow

Run each phase in order. **Progressive loading:** Read only the current phase file.

| Phase | Description | Instructions |
|---|---|---|
| **Phase 0** | 🧭 Scan Package — detect architecture, customizations, key files | [phases/00-scan-package.md](phases/00-scan-package.md) |
| **Phase 1** | 📝 Scaffold SKILL.md — generate skill with step-by-step post-regen workflow (Option A) or reference-manual structure (Option B) | [phases/01-scaffold-skill.md](phases/01-scaffold-skill.md) |
| **Phase 2** | 📚 Generate References — create customizations.md (required) and optionally architecture.md | [phases/02-generate-references.md](phases/02-generate-references.md) |
| **Phase 3** | Validate -- run vally lint | [phases/03-validate.md](phases/03-validate.md) |
| **Phase 4** | 📋 Finalize — confirm discoverable location, summarize | [phases/04-finalize.md](phases/04-finalize.md) |

## Guardrails

**Content:**
- Every line must be non-obvious and package-specific. No generic Python/SDK boilerplate.
- SKILL.md should be under 500 tokens (soft limit). Move details to references/.
- References under 1000 tokens each. Split if larger.
- Never duplicate what's already in `.github/copilot-instructions.md` or shared skills.

**Relationship to existing SDK tools:**
- Package skills **complement** the Azure SDK MCP tools (`azsdk_package_generate_code`, `azsdk_package_build_code`, `azsdk_customized_code_update`, etc.) — they do NOT replace them.
- MCP tools handle deterministic operations (generate, build, test). Package skills provide the reasoning context an agent needs to use those tools correctly for a specific package, plus the package-specific verification commands the tools do not know about.
- Reference the existing tools for the overall workflow (e.g., "Run `tsp-client update` or `azsdk_package_generate_code`"), but DO include the copy-pasteable verification commands an agent needs: import smoke tests (`python -c "from ... import ..."`), `ApiVersion` reconciliation (`grep`, `python -c "import json; ..."`), diff commands (`git diff --name-only | grep ...`), and the package validation invocation (`azsdk_package_run_check with checkType="All"`).
- Never paraphrase an MCP tool's entire contract. Do include the one-line invocations the agent will run.

**Structure:**
- Skill directory: `sdk/<service>/<package-name>/.github/skills/<package-name>/`
- Directory name MUST match `name` field in frontmatter (vally lint enforces this).
- `name` is the distribution package name, e.g. `azure-search-documents`, `azure-ai-projects`, `azure-mgmt-appconfiguration`.
- Use semicolons to separate trigger phrases in description (YAML-safe).

**Security:**
- Never embed secrets or credentials in skill content.
- Never instruct agents to bypass CI, pylint, mypy, pyright, or other gating tools.
- Never instruct agents to edit files inside `_generated/` (or any file with the `"Code generated by Microsoft (R) Python Code Generator"` header) — always route through `_patch.py` or sibling hand-written modules.

## Key Principles (from eval data)

Our eval showed that skill **structure** matters more than **volume**:

| Pattern | Impact |
|---|---|
| Numbered step-by-step post-regen workflow (Option A) | Agent executes verification top-to-bottom without inventing steps |
| Copy-pasteable verification commands (import smoke tests, `ApiVersion` reconciliation, git diff of generated operations/models) | Agent actually runs the checks instead of guessing whether customizations still work |
| "Expose new generated methods through `_patch.py`" step (mixin inheritance / override / polymorphic / create-or-update / list / `__all__` re-export) | Agent wires new generated operations into the public surface instead of leaving them unreachable |
| "Check `_patch.py` FIRST" directives | Changes agent default from "fix the error location" to "check the customization layer" |
| Per-file `Depends On` / `Defines` / `After Regeneration, Verify` inventory in `customizations.md` | Agent can pinpoint exactly which generated symbol a breakage maps to |
| Generated-file detection guidance (directory OR header comment) | Agent correctly identifies auto-generated files under both `_generated/` and inline layouts |
| Async parity checklist | Agent remembers to mirror sync changes into `aio/` |
| CHANGELOG / README update step | Prevents "silent" releases that ship new operations without docs |

## References (load on demand)

- [references/skill-template.md](references/skill-template.md) -- SKILL.md template with required sections
- [references/validation-tools.md](references/validation-tools.md) -- vally lint, CI workflow setup