stevesolun Write an effective skill
- Define the job, realistic trigger prompts, non-trigger prompts, expected output, and material failure modes.
- Choose the degree of freedom:
- Use judgment-based guidance when context admits several good approaches.
- Use parameters or pseudocode when a preferred pattern still needs adaptation.
- Use deterministic scripts or hard gates only when reliability, safety, or repeatability justifies the constraint.
- Keep metadata concise and discriminative. Put trigger conditions in the description; put execution guidance in the body.
- Assume the model already understands general software work. Preserve only domain knowledge, workflow choices, tool interfaces, and opinions that materially change behavior.
- Keep the entrypoint legible. Move branch-specific detail, catalogues, templates, and examples to direct references; avoid deep reference chains.
- Prefer positive target behavior and surrounding-context judgment over blanket prohibitions. State exact constraints where mistakes would be costly or hard to recover.
- Validate syntax and links, then test both triggering and output quality with fresh, realistic prompts. Compare against a no-skill baseline when the skill's value is uncertain.
- Prune repetition, stale material, and instructions that do not change model behavior.
Read GLOSSARY.md when shared vocabulary helps discuss invocation, information hierarchy, steering, or pruning.