Claude Skills

Goal: Create well-structured Agent Skills following best practices for discoverability, conciseness, and progressive disclosure.

IMPORTANT: Skills configuration should be concise and high-level. Only include context Claude does not already know.

Context

• $0 =
• $1 = or
• $2 = (conditionally required)

Instructions

If Action to be performed is create

If skill-name or instructions are not provided, then you should exit and ask the user to provide a skill name and instructions.

• Create a new skill in the .claude/skills/ directory with the name of the skill-name
• Configure the skill with the instructions provided by the user.
• The SKILL.md file should be created using the template from .claude/skills/claude-skills/templates/template.md
• Add resources(reference files, scripts, etc.) alongside the SKILL.md file only if necessary. Use folder to organize resources.
• Save the SKILL.md file to the .claude/skills/[skill-name]/SKILL.md file.

If Action to be performed is update

If skill-name or instructions are not provided, then you should exit and ask the user to provide a skill name and instructions.

• Update the existing skill in the .claude/skills/ directory with the name of the skill-name
• Configure the skill with the instructions provided by the user.
• The SKILL.md file should be updated using the template from .claude/skills/claude-skills/templates/template.md

If Action to be performed is delete

If skill-name is not provided, then you should exit and ask the user to provide a skill name.

• Delete the existing skill in the .claude/skills/ directory with the name of the skill-name
• Delete the SKILL.md file from the .claude/skills/[skill-name]/SKILL.md file.

If Action to be performed is list

• List all existing skills in the .claude/skills/ directory.

Note: Supporting files should be store within the skill folder. E.g. .claude/skills/[skill-folder-name]/[supporting file name or folder] Note: The folder name and the skill name should be the same.

Workflow

1. Analyze the arguments provided by the user.
2. Implement the conditional instructions based on the arguments provided by the user.
3. Read references: skills-docs.md and best-practices.md in .claude/skills/claude-skills/references/
4. Read the template from .claude/skills/claude-skills/templates/template.md
5. Implement the task based on the instructions above.
6. Validate the SKILL.md file against the acceptance criteria and the template.
7. Report completion with skill details and location.

Rules

• Only add context Claude doesn't already know
• Keep references one level deep from SKILL.md
• Provide one default approach, avoid offering multiple options
• Update task should only focus on updating skills and should not touch any other files or folders.
• Match freedom level to task fragility (high freedom for flexible tasks, low for critical operations)

Acceptance Criteria

• Skill saved to .claude/skills/[skill-name]/SKILL.md
• Name valid (max 64 chars, lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens only)
• Description valid (max 1024 chars, third person, no "I" or "you")
• Description includes what skill does AND when to use it
• SKILL.md body under 500 lines
• Consistent terminology throughout
• No duplicate or conflicting skills exist
• No time-sensitive information included
• Name defined using gerund form (e.g., processing-pdfs, analyzing-data)
• Skill's structure is consistent with the template provided.