# Awesome List Creator
> Create, curate, and maintain high-quality awesome lists on GitHub. Use when the user wants to build a curated resource list, organize tools by category or role, create a GitHub-based directory, or maintain an existing awesome list. Handles the full lifecycle: research and discover tools, organize by use-case workflows, deduplicate, format as clean markdown tables, add GitHub badges, and publish.
- Skill: `serenakeyitan/awesome-list-creator` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add serenakeyitan/awesome-list-creator`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/serenakeyitan/awesome-list-creator/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Docs & Writing
- License: CC0-1.0
- Author: serenakeyitan (https://skillmd.com/u/serenakeyitan)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/serenakeyitan/awesome-list-creator
---
# Awesome List Creator
Create, curate, and maintain high-quality awesome lists on GitHub — from initial research through publishing and ongoing maintenance.
## When to Use This Skill
- User wants to create a curated resource list or directory
- User wants to organize tools, libraries, or skills by category
- User wants to build an "awesome list" style GitHub repo
- User asks to maintain, deduplicate, or improve an existing awesome list
- User wants to research and compare tools in a domain
## Workflow
Follow these steps in order. Each step builds on the previous one.
### Step 1: Define the Organizing Principle
Ask the user how they want to organize. The two dominant patterns are:
1. **By role / persona** — "Who are you?" (e.g., marketer, engineer, researcher). Best when tools serve different professional workflows.
2. **By use case** — "What are you trying to do?" (e.g., web scraping, data analysis). Best when tools are task-oriented.
Within either pattern, **every section should represent a real workflow step**, not just a technical category. For example, under a "Marketing" role:
```
Research competitors → Write SEO content → Build landing pages → Launch ads → Track analytics
```
Each arrow is a subsection. Each subsection should have a one-line description explaining what the use case is and why it matters.
### Step 2: Research and Collect
For each subsection, find the best tools. Prioritize:
1. **Open-source tools with GitHub stars** — verifiable quality signal
2. **Official MCP servers** from the tool vendor (e.g., Stripe MCP, Prisma MCP)
3. **Community skills** from ClawHub or the OpenClaw skills registry
4. **Actively maintained** — check last commit date, open issues
Search strategy:
- GitHub search: `"MCP server" + [domain]` or `"openclaw skill" + [domain]`
- ClawHub registry: https://clawhub.ai/skills?sort=downloads
- Reference lists: check existing awesome lists in the same space
- Web search for `"awesome" + [topic]` to find prior art
### Step 3: Deduplicate Ruthlessly
This is the most important curation step. For each subsection:
1. **Identify tools that serve the same purpose** — e.g., two database gateways, two image generators, two Twitter scrapers
2. **Keep the one with higher stars** or more complete feature set
3. **Never keep two tools that do the same thing** in the same section
4. **Cross-section duplicates are OK** if the tool genuinely serves different workflows in each section (e.g., a scheduling tool appearing under both "Sales > Meetings" and "Operations > Calendar")
### Step 4: Format as Markdown Tables
Use this exact table format for every section. The `![]()
` spacers enforce consistent column widths across all tables when rendered on GitHub:
```markdown
### Section Name
One-line description of the use case — what you're trying to accomplish and why.
| Name ![]()
| Description ![]()
|
|------|-------------|
| [Tool Name](https://github.com/org/repo) | One-line description ending with a period. ⭐1.2k |
| [Another Tool](https://clawhub.ai/author/skill) | Another description ending with a period. |
```
Rules:
- **Name column**: Link text is the tool name. Link URL goes to GitHub repo, ClawHub page, or official docs.
- **Description column**: One sentence, ends with a period. Include ⭐ star count if available. Add 🇨🇳 after the name link for China-market-specific tools.
- **Star counts**: Use abbreviated format — `⭐1.2k`, `⭐450`, `⭐27k`.
- **No bold, no extra columns** — keep it minimal and scannable.
### Step 5: Structure the Full README
```markdown
# Awesome [Topic]
[](https://awesome.re)
[](https://github.com/user/repo/pulls)
[](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
**One-line pitch.**
Second line with more detail.
[Section 1](#section-1) • [Section 2](#section-2) • [Section 3](#section-3)
---
Brief explanation of how this list is organized and what makes it different.
## Contents
- [Section 1](#section-1)
- [Section 2](#section-2)
- ...
---
## Section 1
*Workflow narrative: Step A → Step B → Step C → Step D.*
### Subsection
... tables ...
---
back to top
## Contributing
... guidelines ...
## Related Lists
| List | Description |
|------|-------------|
| [org/repo](link) | Description. |
## License
[](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
```
### Step 6: Set Up the GitHub Repo
After writing the README, configure the repo:
```bash
# Set description
gh repo edit --description "A curated list of [topic] — [value prop]."
# Add topics for discoverability
gh repo edit --add-topic awesome --add-topic awesome-list --add-topic [domain-topics]
# Set homepage to the README anchor
gh repo edit --homepage "https://github.com/user/repo#awesome-topic"
```
### Step 7: Ongoing Maintenance
When maintaining an existing list:
1. **Audit for staleness** — check if linked repos are archived or unmaintained
2. **Deduplicate new additions** — every PR should be checked against existing entries in the same section
3. **Update star counts** — refresh periodically (stars change)
4. **Fill workflow gaps** — if a subsection has only 1 tool, research whether better options exist now
## Quality Standards
- Every tool must have a working link (GitHub, ClawHub, or official docs)
- Descriptions must be factual, not marketing copy
- Star counts must be verifiable
- One tool per purpose per section — no padding
- Sections with zero tools should be removed, not left empty
- Contributing guidelines must include a "no duplicates" rule
## Common Pitfalls
- **Padding with low-quality entries** to make a section look bigger — resist this
- **Organizing by technology** instead of by use case — think "what is the user trying to accomplish?"
- **Keeping both sides of a duplicate** because "they're slightly different" — if 90% of the functionality overlaps, pick one
- **Missing workflow steps** — walk through the real workflow and check if any step has zero tools
- **Inconsistent formatting** — every table must use the same column widths and structure