Remove Old Skills From Workflow

Remove Skills from Workflow

Guide for removing skills from an existing workflow and updating all related documentation.

When to Use

• User wants to remove a skill from a workflow
• User says "remove skill", "delete skill", "移除技能", "删除技能"
• Cleaning up unused or deprecated skills from a workflow

Removal Workflow

Step 1: Identify the Skill

Search for the skill name across the workflow to understand its usage:

# Find all references to the skill
grep -r "skill-name" /path/to/workflow/

Step 2: Delete Skill Folder

Remove the skill directory from the workflow:

rm -rf /path/to/workflow/.claude/skills/skill-name/

Step 3: Update skill-source.json (if exists)

Remove the skill entry from /path/to/workflow/.claude/skill-source.json

Step 4: Update All Related Documentation

After removing a skill, you MUST update these files:

Files to Update (7 files)

Documentation Update Checklist

For each documentation file, update:

• Skill count: Decrease the total skill count (e.g., "20 skills" → "19 skills")
• Skill tables: Remove the skill row from any skill listing tables
• Pipeline/stages: Remove skill references from pipeline diagrams or stage descriptions
• Skill combinations: Remove any skill chains that include the removed skill
• Example workflows: Remove or update examples that reference the skill

Example

Removing ppt-creator skill from talk-to-slidev-workflow:

# 1. Search for references
grep -r "ppt-creator" workflows/talk-to-slidev-workflow/

# 2. Delete skill folder
rm -rf workflows/talk-to-slidev-workflow/.claude/skills/ppt-creator/

# 3. Update skill-source.json
# Remove the ppt-creator entry

# 4. Update documentation files
# - Update skill count from 20 to 19
# - Remove ppt-creator from skill tables
# - Remove from pipeline Stage 6
# - Remove from skill combinations table

Important Notes

• Always search for skill references before removal to understand impact
• The root READMEs only need skill count updates in the workflow table
• Leave references/skill-sources.md unchanged (it documents ecosystem skills, not workflow-specific installations)
• If the skill is referenced in example workflows, either remove the example or update it to use alternative skills

Source: nicepkg/ai-workflow — distributed by TomeVault.