# Skill Creator

> Guide for creating effective skills. This skill should be used when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.

- Skill: `liueggy/skill-creator` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add liueggy/skill-creator`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/liueggy/skill-creator/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: liueggy (https://skillmd.com/u/liueggy)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/liueggy/skill-creator

---


# Skill Creator

This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills.

## About Skills

Skills are modular, self-contained packages that extend Claude's capabilities by providing
specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools. Think of them as "onboarding guides" for specific
domains or tasks—they transform Claude from a general-purpose agent into a specialized agent
equipped with procedural knowledge that no model can fully possess.

### What Skills Provide

1. Specialized workflows - Multi-step procedures for specific domains
2. Tool integrations - Instructions for working with specific file formats or APIs
3. Domain expertise - Company-specific knowledge, schemas, business logic
4. Bundled resources - Scripts, references, and assets for complex and repetitive tasks

## Core Principles

### Concise is Key

The context window is a public good. Skills share the context window with everything else Claude needs: system prompt, conversation history, other Skills' metadata, and the actual user request.

**Default assumption: Claude is already very smart.** Only add context Claude doesn't already have. Challenge each piece of information: "Does Claude really need this explanation?" and "Does this paragraph justify its token cost?"

Prefer concise examples over verbose explanations.

### Set Appropriate Degrees of Freedom

Match the level of specificity to the task's fragility and variability:

- **High freedom (text-based instructions)**: Use when multiple approaches are valid.
- **Medium freedom (pseudocode or scripts with parameters)**: Use when a preferred pattern exists.
- **Low freedom (specific scripts, few parameters)**: Use when operations are fragile, consistency is critical, or a specific sequence must be followed.

### Anatomy of a Skill

Every skill consists of a required SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources:

```
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│   ├── YAML frontmatter (name + description required)
│   └── Markdown instructions
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
    ├── scripts/       - Executable code
    ├── references/    - Documentation loaded as needed
    └── assets/        - Files used in output (templates, icons, etc.)
```

#### SKILL.md Frontmatter

- `name` (required): The skill name
- `description` (required): What the skill does and when to trigger it. Be comprehensive—this is the primary triggering mechanism.

#### SKILL.md Body

Instructions and guidance, loaded after the skill triggers. Keep under 500 lines; split into reference files when approaching this limit.

### Progressive Disclosure

Skills use three loading levels:
1. **Metadata** - Always in context (~100 words)
2. **SKILL.md body** - When skill triggers (<5k words)
3. **Bundled resources** - As needed (unlimited)

## Skill Creation Process

1. **Understand** the skill with concrete examples from the user
2. **Plan** reusable contents (scripts, references, assets)
3. **Create** the SKILL.md with proper frontmatter and instructions
4. **Test** by using the skill on real tasks
5. **Iterate** based on actual usage

### Writing the SKILL.md

- Use imperative/infinitive form
- `description` field should include all "when to use" triggers (body is loaded after triggering)
- Only add context Claude doesn't already have
- Prefer concise examples over verbose explanations
- Keep essential workflow in SKILL.md; move detailed reference material to separate files

### What NOT to Include

Do not create extraneous files: README.md, INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md, CHANGELOG.md, etc. The skill should only contain what an AI agent needs to do the job.