Source To Skill

Source To Skill

Turn source material into a skill candidate, not just a summary. This skill is the bridge between source digestion and skill creation: it extracts what is reusable, filters out what should stay reference-only, and packages the result for skill-creator or a nearby owner.

Read these references only when needed:

• source-archetypes.md for extraction patterns across people, books, theories, blogs, and mixed source bundles
• skill-candidate-packet.md for the packet schema and handoff fields
• distillation-tests.md for deciding whether the material is skill-worthy, reference-only, or still too weak
• upstream-patterns.md for external and local patterns worth borrowing without copying blindly

Use This Skill For

• turning a person, book, theory, blog, article, transcript, PDF, or note bundle into a reusable skill candidate
• extracting repeatable heuristics, workflows, task signatures, taste rubrics, operator rules, and failure modes from source material
• deciding whether source material should extend an existing skill, create a new one, or remain a reference page
• converting captured material into a skill_candidate_packet before using skill-creator
• synthesis tasks where the user wants more than a summary and specifically wants a reusable operational artifact

Do Not Use

• the user only wants a summary, notes, or reading memo
• the task is just to capture or download a page
  • use web-page-capture
• the task is academic paper reading without a skill-creation goal
  • use research-paper-reading-compass
• the user already knows the exact skill they want and needs scaffolding or editing
  • use skill-creator
• the source is anchored to a person and the user primarily wants a person-derived advisor, perspective, persona, or hybrid skill
  • route to persona-perspective-builder
• the source material is too thin, too noisy, or too one-off to support repeatable behavior
  • keep it as reference-only knowledge

Mutual Routing With persona-perspective-builder

These two skills overlap on person-shaped source bundles.

Route to persona-perspective-builder when:

• the person remains the main product, not just the source carrier
• the user wants how this person thinks / decides / speaks / should advise
• task signatures and taste should remain attached to that person-derived lens

Stay in source-to-skill when:

• the person is mainly carrying a reusable method or evaluator
• personhood becomes incidental once task structure and taste are extracted
• the best output is a playbook, method, evaluator, or router, not a person-derived skill

When routing, pass forward any extracted:

• task_signature
• taste_rubric
• operator_rules
• exemplars_and_anti_exemplars

Input Contract

Require only:

• source material or source pointers
• the intended use, if known

Source material may be:

• a URL
• pasted text
• a PDF or notes
• a PersonalBrain page or source bundle
• several mixed artifacts around one person, book, theory, or blog series

Infer when possible:

• source archetype
• likely skill owner
• whether the output should be extend, create, reference-only, or route

Ask follow-up questions only when the target use is ambiguous enough to change the distillation shape.

Output Contract

Always produce a skill_candidate_packet with:

• source_frame
• extract_type
• durable_units
• skill_shape
• ownership_decision
• handoff_hint

The packet should be concrete enough that skill-creator does not have to re-read the whole source set.

Workflow

1. Normalize the Source Bundle

Collect the minimum working bundle first.

Preferred helpers:

• use web-page-capture when the input is one or more article or social URLs
• use research-paper-reading-compass when the source is a paper or theory-heavy technical document
• use attach-personalbrain when the relevant source set already lives in PersonalBrain

Do not start distillation from a broken or partial capture unless the user explicitly accepts that limitation.

2. Classify the Source Archetype

Choose one primary archetype from source-archetypes.md:

• person
• book
• theory
• blog or article
• mixed bundle

If the bundle is mixed, choose one anchor archetype and treat the rest as supporting evidence.

If the anchor is person, make one explicit decision before continuing:

• person-as-product
• person-as-carrier

If it is person-as-product, route to persona-perspective-builder. If it is person-as-carrier, stay here and keep extracting the reusable operational core.

3. Extract Durable Units

Pull out only the units that can survive beyond the original source:

• job-to-be-done
• task signature
• recurring workflow
• taste rubric
• operator rules
• heuristics or decision rules
• vocabulary or framing
• constraints and anti-goals
• failure modes
• examples and anti-examples worth preserving

Use these definitions:

• task_signature
  • preferred task grain
  • favored starting point
  • expected inputs
  • done condition
  • escalation or delegation rule
• taste_rubric
  • what gets rewarded
  • what gets penalized
  • preferred trade-offs
  • what feels overbuilt, sloppy, naive, elegant, or durable
• operator_rules
  • compact instructions another agent could actually follow
  • rules, defaults, and refusal criteria that survive outside the source wording

Separate:

• observation
• inference
• assumption

Do not let admiration or source prestige turn weak evidence into canonical behavior.

4. Separate Skill-Worthy Content From Reference-Only Content

Run the tests in distillation-tests.md.

Keep skill-worthy:

• repeatable procedures
• reusable evaluators
• stable task signatures
• stable taste criteria
• operator rules that can guide future execution
• stable heuristics
• robust routing cues

Keep reference-only:

• biography
• long anecdotes
• historical context without action value
• one-off preferences that do not generalize
• single aesthetic remarks that never reappear in actions, critiques, or comparisons

5. Check Existing Ownership

Before proposing a new skill:

• search nearby skills first
• inspect the likely owner or adjacent owner
• decide whether the source material naturally extends an existing skill

Adjacent owners to check early:

• persona-perspective-builder for person-derived advisor or persona work
• proposal-critique-refine for critique logic that is already proposal-scoped
• thinking-lenses for prompt-shaping patterns that are mostly reasoning structure

Prefer:

• extend_existing_skill

over:

• create_new_skill

unless the source bundle clearly defines a new, non-overlapping job.

6. Choose the Skill Shape

Common output shapes:

• playbook
  • for repeatable workflows
• persona
  • for distilling a person's style, priorities, and decision patterns
• method
  • for theory-backed procedures or frameworks
• evaluator
  • for critique, audit, or review logic
• router
  • for choosing between related lanes

Choose the smallest shape that preserves the reusable core.

Do not force a persona shape here when the person-derived route should really be handled by persona-perspective-builder.

7. Build the Skill Candidate Packet

Use skill-candidate-packet.md.

Include:

• what the source is really teaching
• which task_signature seems most stable
• which taste_rubric appears repeated enough to operationalize
• which operator_rules are strong enough for direct reuse
• what should become trigger text
• what should become body instructions
• what should stay in references only
• whether the packet is strong enough to create now

8. Route the Follow-Up

Allowed next actions:

• extend_existing_skill
• create_new_skill
• route_to_adjacent_skill
• keep_reference_only

If the answer is create_new_skill or extend_existing_skill, hand off to skill-creator. If the answer is route_to_adjacent_skill, say which skill should take over and pass the packet forward. If the answer is keep_reference_only, stop honestly and suggest where the distilled notes should live instead.

Source-Type Notes

Person

Distill:

• the person's operating principles
• recurring choices and tradeoffs
• repeated task signatures
• repeated taste criteria
• signature vocabulary
• anti-patterns and red lines

Do not overfit to personality trivia. If personhood remains the main product rather than a carrier for a method, route to persona-perspective-builder.

Book

Distill:

• the core framework
• the chapters or concepts that actually change action
• the repeatable sequence or checklist
• what evidence or examples anchor the method

Do not recreate the whole book as a skill.

Theory

Distill:

• primitives
• assumptions
• when the theory applies
• when it breaks
• how it changes decisions in practice

Do not keep it purely abstract if the goal is a skill.

Blog Or Article

Distill:

• the operational playbook
• key distinctions
• concrete steps
• failure modes
• useful copyable examples

Do not preserve all prose; preserve only what changes execution.

Guardrails

• do not confuse source digestion with source worship
• do not create a new skill just because the source is interesting
• do not silently convert weak or one-off material into canonical behavior
• do not duplicate an existing skill when a bounded extension would do
• do not copy large source passages into SKILL.md
• do not mistake one nice sentence for a stable taste rubric
• do not mistake one successful task for a durable task signature
• do not skip the reference-only outcome when the evidence is not strong enough

Example Triggers

• Use $source-to-skill to distill this blog series into a reusable playbook skill.
• Use $source-to-skill to screen this person and their writing, extract the reusable task/taste core, and decide whether to route to persona-perspective-builder.
• Use $source-to-skill to convert this book's method into a skill-ready packet, then tell me whether it should extend an existing skill.
• Use $source-to-skill to extract the operational core of this theory and decide if it deserves a new skill or just references.
• Use $source-to-skill to extract the task signature and taste rubric from this mixed source bundle, then decide whether it should stay generic or route to persona-perspective-builder.