Creating a Compound Skill
Guide for creating a compound skill — a structured knowledge base that provides in-depth reference documentation for a project, technology, or topic. A compound skill consists of a SKILL.md routing table and a set of reference documents in a references/ directory.
Sub-Resources
Load the reference that matches your task. When in doubt, load multiple references.
| Keywords |
Reference |
| research, source code analysis, documentation review, topic decomposition, sub-topic identification, scope boundaries, audience analysis, information sources |
references/research.md |
| SKILL.md, frontmatter, name, description, triggers, user-invocable, routing table, Sub-Resources table, Quick Guide, Cross-Project References, data flow diagram |
references/skill-md.md |
| reference document, structure, heading, code example, table, cross-reference, source attribution, depth level, naming convention |
references/reference-doc.md |
| cross-reference, link, overlap avoidance, delegation, Cross-Project References, stay on topic, DRY, complementary scope |
references/cross-referencing.md |
| maintenance, update triggers, adding references, removing references, keeping current, version skew, changelog |
references/maintenance.md |
Quick Guide
- How do I start creating a compound skill? → references/research.md
- How do I write the SKILL.md routing table? → references/skill-md.md
- How do I structure a reference document? → references/reference-doc.md
- How do I handle cross-references without duplicating? → references/cross-referencing.md
- How do I keep a skill up to date? → references/maintenance.md
- What goes in the frontmatter description? → references/skill-md.md
- How do I decide on sub-topics? → references/research.md
- How do I name reference files? → references/reference-doc.md
- When should I link to another skill instead of writing? → references/cross-referencing.md
Cross-Project References
These existing compound skills serve as real-world examples:
- carapace-dev — library development skill with 20+ references (carapace repo,
skills/carapace-dev/)
- bash — shell internals skill with 5 references (carapace repo,
skills/bash/)
- jj — VCS reference skill with 12 references (carapace-jjlex repo,
skills/jj/)
Source: carapace-sh/carapace — distributed by TomeVault.
1---2name: carapace-sh-carapace-carapace3description: Creating a Compound Skill4---56# Creating a Compound Skill78Guide for creating a compound skill — a structured knowledge base that provides in-depth reference documentation for a project, technology, or topic. A compound skill consists of a **SKILL.md** routing table and a set of **reference documents** in a `references/` directory.910## Sub-Resources1112Load the reference that matches your task. When in doubt, load multiple references.1314| Keywords | Reference |15|----------|----------|16| research, source code analysis, documentation review, topic decomposition, sub-topic identification, scope boundaries, audience analysis, information sources | [references/research.md](references/research.md) |17| SKILL.md, frontmatter, name, description, triggers, user-invocable, routing table, Sub-Resources table, Quick Guide, Cross-Project References, data flow diagram | [references/skill-md.md](references/skill-md.md) |18| reference document, structure, heading, code example, table, cross-reference, source attribution, depth level, naming convention | [references/reference-doc.md](references/reference-doc.md) |19| cross-reference, link, overlap avoidance, delegation, Cross-Project References, stay on topic, DRY, complementary scope | [references/cross-referencing.md](references/cross-referencing.md) |20| maintenance, update triggers, adding references, removing references, keeping current, version skew, changelog | [references/maintenance.md](references/maintenance.md) |2122## Quick Guide2324- **How do I start creating a compound skill?** → [references/research.md](references/research.md)25- **How do I write the SKILL.md routing table?** → [references/skill-md.md](references/skill-md.md)26- **How do I structure a reference document?** → [references/reference-doc.md](references/reference-doc.md)27- **How do I handle cross-references without duplicating?** → [references/cross-referencing.md](references/cross-referencing.md)28- **How do I keep a skill up to date?** → [references/maintenance.md](references/maintenance.md)29- **What goes in the frontmatter description?** → [references/skill-md.md](references/skill-md.md)30- **How do I decide on sub-topics?** → [references/research.md](references/research.md)31- **How do I name reference files?** → [references/reference-doc.md](references/reference-doc.md)32- **When should I link to another skill instead of writing?** → [references/cross-referencing.md](references/cross-referencing.md)3334## Cross-Project References3536These existing compound skills serve as real-world examples:3738- **carapace-dev** — library development skill with 20+ references (carapace repo, `skills/carapace-dev/`)39- **bash** — shell internals skill with 5 references (carapace repo, `skills/bash/`)40- **jj** — VCS reference skill with 12 references (carapace-jjlex repo, `skills/jj/`)4142---43> Source: [carapace-sh/carapace](https://github.com/carapace-sh/carapace) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).44<!-- tomevault:4.0:skill_md:2026-06-28 -->
tomevault-io