Skill Adapter
Overview
Analyzes existing plugins in the repository to extract their capabilities, then synthesizes and applies those learned patterns to the current task. Functions as a universal skill chameleon that discovers relevant plugins, extracts their approaches and methodologies, and adapts them to novel requests.
Prerequisites
- Read access to the
plugins/ directory tree (community, packages, examples categories)
grep and find available on PATH for plugin discovery- Familiarity with the plugin structure:
commands/*.md, agents/*.md, skills/*/SKILL.md, and scripts/
Instructions
- Analyze the user's task to identify the core capability needed, the domain (security, devops, testing, documentation, etc.), and key requirements or constraints (see
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/how-it-works.md).
- Search existing plugins for relevant capabilities using file globbing across
plugins/community/, plugins/packages/, and plugins/examples/ directories. Match on plugin.json descriptions and keyword fields.
- For each relevant plugin discovered, extract capabilities from its components:
- Commands (
commands/*.md): read content, extract approach and input/output patterns.
- Agents (
agents/*.md): understand roles, decision-making patterns, expertise areas.
- Skills (
skills/*/SKILL.md): read instructions, extract core capability and tool usage.
- Scripts (
scripts/*.sh, *.py): analyze logic, identify reusable patterns and error handling.
- Synthesize extracted patterns by merging complementary approaches, simplifying where possible, and ensuring compatibility with the current environment.
- Apply the adapted skill to the user's task, following the learned methodology while adjusting syntax, tools, and output format to match the current context.
- Report which plugins were consulted, what patterns were extracted, and how they were adapted for the current task.
Output
A structured adaptation report containing:
- List of plugins analyzed and capabilities extracted from each
- The synthesized approach combining relevant patterns
- The direct application of that approach to the user's task
- Any caveats or limitations of the adapted skill
Error Handling
| Error |
Cause |
Solution |
| No matching plugins found |
Search terms too narrow or domain not represented |
Broaden search keywords; check alternative categories; fall back to general-purpose approach |
| Plugin directory inaccessible |
Missing read permissions or incorrect path |
Verify plugins/ directory exists and permissions allow traversal |
| Incompatible patterns |
Extracted approaches conflict with current environment |
Prioritize the most relevant plugin's approach; discard conflicting elements |
| Empty skill/command files |
Plugin has stub content without real instructions |
Skip that plugin and note it as incomplete; rely on other sources |
Examples
Learning code analysis from security plugins:
Task: "Analyze this codebase for issues."
Process: Discover owasp-top-10-scanner, code-quality-enforcer, and security-audit-agent. Extract OWASP vulnerability checks, complexity/duplication metrics, and dependency scanning patterns. Synthesize a multi-layer analysis covering security, quality, and dependencies. Apply to the target codebase (see ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/example-workflows.md).
Adopting documentation skills:
Task: "Generate API documentation."
Process: Find api-documenter, openapi-generator, readme-builder. Extract code parsing, OpenAPI spec generation, and hierarchical documentation structuring. Combine into an end-to-end pipeline: parse endpoints, generate spec, create interactive docs, build README.
Learning automation from DevOps plugins:
Task: "Automate deployment process."
Process: Search DevOps category for deployment, CI/CD, and Docker plugins. Extract build-test-deploy-verify workflows, parallel job patterns, and service orchestration. Adapt to the user's specific tech stack and infrastructure.
Resources
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/how-it-works.md -- detailed five-phase adaptation process${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/example-workflows.md -- end-to-end workflow examples${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/errors.md -- error handling patterns
1---2name: skill-adapter-23description: Execute analyzes existing plugins to extract their capabilities, then adapts and applies those skills to the current task. Acts as a universal skill chameleon that learns from other plugins. Activates when you request "skill adapter" functionality. Use when appropriate context detected. Trigger with relevant phrases based on skill purpose.4license: MIT5---6# Skill Adapter
7
8## Overview
9
10Analyzes existing plugins in the repository to extract their capabilities, then synthesizes and applies those learned patterns to the current task. Functions as a universal skill chameleon that discovers relevant plugins, extracts their approaches and methodologies, and adapts them to novel requests.
11
12## Prerequisites
13
14- Read access to the `plugins/` directory tree (community, packages, examples categories)
15- `grep` and `find` available on PATH for plugin discovery
16- Familiarity with the plugin structure: `commands/*.md`, `agents/*.md`, `skills/*/SKILL.md`, and `scripts/`
17
18## Instructions
19
201. Analyze the user's task to identify the core capability needed, the domain (security, devops, testing, documentation, etc.), and key requirements or constraints (see `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/how-it-works.md`).
212. Search existing plugins for relevant capabilities using file globbing across `plugins/community/`, `plugins/packages/`, and `plugins/examples/` directories. Match on `plugin.json` descriptions and keyword fields.
223. For each relevant plugin discovered, extract capabilities from its components:
23 - **Commands** (`commands/*.md`): read content, extract approach and input/output patterns.
24 - **Agents** (`agents/*.md`): understand roles, decision-making patterns, expertise areas.
25 - **Skills** (`skills/*/SKILL.md`): read instructions, extract core capability and tool usage.
26 - **Scripts** (`scripts/*.sh`, `*.py`): analyze logic, identify reusable patterns and error handling.
274. Synthesize extracted patterns by merging complementary approaches, simplifying where possible, and ensuring compatibility with the current environment.
285. Apply the adapted skill to the user's task, following the learned methodology while adjusting syntax, tools, and output format to match the current context.
296. Report which plugins were consulted, what patterns were extracted, and how they were adapted for the current task.
30
31## Output
32
33A structured adaptation report containing:
34- List of plugins analyzed and capabilities extracted from each
35- The synthesized approach combining relevant patterns
36- The direct application of that approach to the user's task
37- Any caveats or limitations of the adapted skill
38
39## Error Handling
40
41| Error | Cause | Solution |
42|---|---|---|
43| No matching plugins found | Search terms too narrow or domain not represented | Broaden search keywords; check alternative categories; fall back to general-purpose approach |
44| Plugin directory inaccessible | Missing read permissions or incorrect path | Verify `plugins/` directory exists and permissions allow traversal |
45| Incompatible patterns | Extracted approaches conflict with current environment | Prioritize the most relevant plugin's approach; discard conflicting elements |
46| Empty skill/command files | Plugin has stub content without real instructions | Skip that plugin and note it as incomplete; rely on other sources |
47
48## Examples
49
50**Learning code analysis from security plugins:**
51Task: "Analyze this codebase for issues."
52Process: Discover `owasp-top-10-scanner`, `code-quality-enforcer`, and `security-audit-agent`. Extract OWASP vulnerability checks, complexity/duplication metrics, and dependency scanning patterns. Synthesize a multi-layer analysis covering security, quality, and dependencies. Apply to the target codebase (see `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/example-workflows.md`).
53
54**Adopting documentation skills:**
55Task: "Generate API documentation."
56Process: Find `api-documenter`, `openapi-generator`, `readme-builder`. Extract code parsing, OpenAPI spec generation, and hierarchical documentation structuring. Combine into an end-to-end pipeline: parse endpoints, generate spec, create interactive docs, build README.
57
58**Learning automation from DevOps plugins:**
59Task: "Automate deployment process."
60Process: Search DevOps category for deployment, CI/CD, and Docker plugins. Extract build-test-deploy-verify workflows, parallel job patterns, and service orchestration. Adapt to the user's specific tech stack and infrastructure.
61
62## Resources
63
64- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/how-it-works.md` -- detailed five-phase adaptation process
65- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/example-workflows.md` -- end-to-end workflow examples
66- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/errors.md` -- error handling patterns
jeremylongshore