Building Agent Skills

Overview

This skill enables the creation of Agent Skills following established best practices and patterns. It provides a structured workflow for gathering requirements, determining appropriate complexity (archetype), planning structure, generating artifacts, and validating the resulting skill.

The skill supports three archetypes:

• Simple: Single SKILL.md with inline instructions
• Moderate: SKILL.md with separate reference files
• Complex: Full Phase/Stage/Step hierarchy with schemas and scripts

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Table of Contents
• Prerequisites
• Workflow: Building Agent Skills
  • Important Workflow Guidelines
  • Phase 1: Discovery
    • Stage 1: Requirements Gathering
    • Stage 2: Analysis
  • Phase 2: Planning
    • Stage 3: Design
  • Phase 3: Implementation
    • Stage 4: Foundation
    • Stage 5: References
    • Stage 6: Automation
  • Phase 4: Validation
    • Stage 7: Quality Assurance
  • Phase 5: Iteration
    • Stage 8: Refinement

Prerequisites

Before starting the workflow you MUST:

1. Present complete workflow structure (Phases, Stages, Steps) to user
2. Explain Phase approval gates
3. Wait for user acknowledgment

Workflow: Building Agent Skills

This workflow guides you through creating an Agent Skill from requirements to validation. The workflow is organized into five distinct phases:

Phase 1: Discovery - Gather requirements and analyze complexity needs.

Phase 2: Planning - Design the skill structure and file organization.

Phase 3: Implementation - Generate all skill artifacts.

Phase 4: Validation - Verify skill correctness and quality.

Phase 5: Iteration - Refine based on feedback and ensure readiness.

Important Workflow Guidelines

When executing this workflow you MUST:

• Follow Phases, Stages, and Steps in order
• Announce Stage completions to the user
• Present complete Phase output at Phase boundaries
• Obtain explicit user approval before proceeding to the next Phase

Phase 1: Discovery

Stage 1: Requirements Gathering

Objective: Understand what the user needs to build

Step 1: Gathering Requirements

See Gathering Requirements Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Stage 2: Analysis

Objective: Determine appropriate skill architecture

Step 2: Determining Archetype

See Determining Archetype Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Phase 1 Approval Gate: Present complete requirements and archetype decision. Obtain explicit user approval before Phase 2.

Phase 2: Planning

Stage 3: Design

Objective: Create approved blueprint for the skill

Step 3: Planning Structure

See Planning Structure Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Phase 2 Approval Gate: Present complete structure plan including file manifest and generation order. Obtain explicit user approval before Phase 3.

Phase 3: Implementation

Stage 4: Foundation

Objective: Generate core skill definition

Step 4: Generating SKILL.md

See Generating SKILL.md Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Stage 5: References

Objective: Generate supporting documentation

Step 5: Generating Workflow References

See Generating Workflow References Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Step 6: Generating Schemas

See Generating Schemas Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Stage 6: Automation

Objective: Generate executable components

Step 7: Generating Scripts

See Generating Scripts Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Phase 3 Approval Gate: Present all generated artifacts for review. Obtain explicit user approval before Phase 4.

Phase 4: Validation

Stage 7: Quality Assurance

Objective: Verify skill correctness

Step 8: Validating Skill

See Validating Skill Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.

Phase 4 Approval Gate: Present validation results. Obtain explicit user approval before Phase 5.

Phase 5: Iteration

Stage 8: Refinement

Objective: Incorporate user feedback

Step 9: Iterating on Feedback

See Iterating on Feedback Workflow Step Reference for detailed guidance.