How do I install the Skill Gen skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add octaviantocan/skill-gen in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Skill Gen safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Skill Gen?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Skill Gen free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Skill Gen?

octaviantocan (@octaviantocan) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Skill Gen by octaviantocan — Agent Skill

Name: Skill Gen
Author: octaviantocan

File contents

skill-gen

Scans source files for //<skill-gen> markers, extracts skill fragments (markdown with YAML frontmatter), merges them by skill name, and writes SKILL.md files to the configured output folder. Pawrrtal's canonical output is .agent/skills/ (agentic-stack brain); .agents/skills/ and .cursor/plugins/pawrrtal/skills/ mirror it.

Full specification: packages/ci/skill-gen/SPEC.md

Quick Reference

Fragment Format

Embed skill fragments in any source file using comment markers:

//<skill-gen>
// ---
// name: my-skill
// description: "What this skill teaches agents."
// ---
//
// ## Section Heading
//
// Markdown body content here.
//</skill-gen>

name (required): identifies which skill this fragment belongs to. Fragments sharing the same name are merged.
description (required): used in the generated SKILL.md frontmatter.
Extra frontmatter such as paths: is preserved in generated output.
Comment prefixes (// or #) are stripped automatically.

Template Variables

Variable	Expands to
`$$file`	Relative path from repo root to the source file
`$$directory`	Relative path from repo root to the source file's directory

Use \$$ to produce a literal $$file / $$directory in the output.

CLI Commands

# Generate skill files from source fragments
bun run skill-gen:generate

# Check if generated skills are up-to-date (CI mode)
bun run skill-gen:check

# Run e2e tests against fixtures
bun run skill-gen:e2e-test

Merge Rules

Field	Strategy
`name`	Must match (merge key)
`description`	Last writer wins (warns if different)
extra frontmatter	Later non-empty declarations win (warns if different)
body	Concatenated in source-file order (sorted by relative path)

Key Behaviors

Fragments without valid name/description frontmatter are silently skipped.
Hand-written SKILL.md files (without AUTO-GENERATED header) are never overwritten.
The references/ subdirectory is not managed by skill-gen -- those remain hand-written.
Output files include  header with source file paths.

Project Layout

packages/ci/skill-gen/
  SPEC.md               full specification
  src/
    index.ts            Effect v4 CLI entrypoint
    scan.ts             file tree walker + fragment extractor
    parse.ts            comment stripping + frontmatter parsing
    merge.ts            merge logic (concatenate bodies)
    output.ts           write / diff output files
    e2e.ts              e2e fixture comparison (collect/compare SKILL.md files)
  e2e-test/             test input fixtures
  e2e-test-expected/    expected output for e2e comparison

---name: skill-gendescription: Use when adding, modifying, generating, checking, or debugging repo-local skill fragments embedded in source code with //<skill-gen> markers.---# skill-genScans source files for `//<skill-gen>` markers, extracts skill fragments (markdown with YAML frontmatter), merges them by skill name, and writes `SKILL.md` files to the configured output folder. Pawrrtal's canonical output is `.agent/skills/` (agentic-stack brain); `.agents/skills/` and `.cursor/plugins/pawrrtal/skills/` mirror it.**Full specification:** `packages/ci/skill-gen/SPEC.md`## Quick Reference### Fragment FormatEmbed skill fragments in any source file using comment markers:```ts//<skill-gen>// ---// name: my-skill// description: "What this skill teaches agents."// ---//// ## Section Heading//// Markdown body content here.//</skill-gen>```- **`name`** (required): identifies which skill this fragment belongs to. Fragments sharing the same name are merged.- **`description`** (required): used in the generated SKILL.md frontmatter.- Extra frontmatter such as `paths:` is preserved in generated output.- Comment prefixes (`//` or `#`) are stripped automatically.### Template Variables| Variable | Expands to ||----------|------------|| `$$file` | Relative path from repo root to the source file || `$$directory` | Relative path from repo root to the source file's directory |Use `\$$` to produce a literal `$$file` / `$$directory` in the output.### CLI Commands```bash# Generate skill files from source fragmentsbun run skill-gen:generate# Check if generated skills are up-to-date (CI mode)bun run skill-gen:check# Run e2e tests against fixturesbun run skill-gen:e2e-test```### Merge Rules| Field | Strategy ||-------|----------|| `name` | Must match (merge key) || `description` | Last writer wins (warns if different) || extra frontmatter | Later non-empty declarations win (warns if different) || body | Concatenated in source-file order (sorted by relative path) |### Key Behaviors- Fragments without valid `name`/`description` frontmatter are silently skipped.- Hand-written SKILL.md files (without `AUTO-GENERATED` header) are never overwritten.- The `references/` subdirectory is not managed by skill-gen -- those remain hand-written.- Output files include `` header with source file paths.### Project Layout```packages/ci/skill-gen/ SPEC.md full specification src/ index.ts Effect v4 CLI entrypoint scan.ts file tree walker + fragment extractor parse.ts comment stripping + frontmatter parsing merge.ts merge logic (concatenate bodies) output.ts write / diff output files e2e.ts e2e fixture comparison (collect/compare SKILL.md files) e2e-test/ test input fixtures e2e-test-expected/ expected output for e2e comparison```

Frequently asked questions

Skill Gen