New Skill

New Skill — Skill Creator

When This Fires

• User asks to "create a skill", "make a new skill", "save this as a skill"
• Agent nudge fires after solving a complex, reusable problem

Steps

1. Check existing skills first

Read ~/.katana/memory/skills/_index.md to see if a similar skill already exists. If yes → update the existing skill instead of creating a duplicate.

2. Gather info

• Name: kebab-case (e.g., jwt-auth-pattern)
• Category: coding, devops, research, personal, automation, or ask user
• Description: Concise trigger text (max 200 chars, wrapped in quotes)

3. Create the skill folder

~/.katana/memory/skills/{category}/{skill-name}/
├── SKILL.md              # Main skill file
├── references/           # (optional) supporting docs
└── scripts/              # (optional) executable helpers

4. Write SKILL.md

---
aliases: [{skill-name}]
name: {skill-name}
description: "{concise description}"
created: {YYYY-MM-DD}
agent: {which-agent-created-this}
tags: [skill, {category}, {relevant-tags}]
times_used: 0
last_used: null
---

# {Skill Title}

## When to Use
{When should the agent trigger this skill}

## Steps
{Step-by-step instructions}

## Gotchas
{Common pitfalls and edge cases}

## Related
- Created during [[{session-name}]]

5. Update the index

Append to ~/.katana/memory/skills/_index.md:

## {Category}
- [[{skill-name}]] — {brief description}

6. Confirm

✓ Created skill: {skill-name}
  Location: ~/.katana/memory/skills/{category}/{skill-name}/
  Indexed in: ~/.katana/memory/skills/_index.md

Rules

• Put instructions, code snippets, bash commands INLINE in SKILL.md
• Only use references/ for large files that would bloat the skill
• Only use scripts/ for executable files the agent runs directly
• Keep SKILL.md under 500 lines
• Always use [[wikilinks]] to connect to related sessions/projects
• Always include the aliases frontmatter field for Obsidian wikilink resolution