Update Skill

Manage Skill Templates

Skills are reusable actions or workflows invocable as slash commands or auto-triggered by the AI.

Finding Existing Skills

List directories in <%= skillTemplatePath() %>/ to discover existing skills. Each skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file. Read the SKILL.md frontmatter to understand what each skill does.

Additional Template Directories

This project may have additional template directories configured via additionalTemplateDirs. To find them, search the project root for all config files matching universal-ai-config.* (e.g. universal-ai-config.config.ts, universal-ai-config.overrides.config.ts, and any other variants) and read the additionalTemplateDirs field from each. If the user asks to update a template that doesn't exist in the main templates directory, or explicitly refers to shared/global/external templates:

1. Read all universal-ai-config.* config files in the project root to find additionalTemplateDirs paths
2. Search those directories for the relevant skill
3. IMPORTANT: Before editing any file outside the main <%= config.templatesDir %>/ directory, ask the user for explicit confirmation — these are shared templates that may affect other projects

Deciding What to Do

• Create new: when the task/workflow is distinct from existing skills
• Update existing: when a skill covers similar ground but needs changes — modify its SKILL.md or supporting files
• Delete: remove the entire skill directory when a skill is obsolete

Creating a New Skill

1. Create a directory: <%= skillTemplatePath() %>/{skill-name}/
2. Create SKILL.md inside it with frontmatter and instructions
3. Optionally add supporting files (templates, scripts, examples) in the same directory

Frontmatter Fields

See the Skills section in <%= instructionPath('uac-template-guide') %> for the complete field reference and per-target override syntax. Key fields: name, description, disableAutoInvocation, userInvocable, allowedTools, model, hooks.

Supporting Files

Skills can include additional files in their directory. These are automatically copied to generated output during uac generate. .md extra files are rendered through EJS (with access to target, config, path helpers), while non-.md files are copied as-is.

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md          # Main instructions (required)
├── template.md       # Template for the AI to fill in (EJS rendered)
├── examples/
│   └── sample.md     # Example output (EJS rendered)
└── scripts/
    └── helper.sh     # Script the AI can execute (copied raw)

Reference supporting files from SKILL.md so the AI knows they exist.

Example

---
name: create-component
description: Scaffold a new React component with tests and styles
argumentHint: '[component-name]'
---

Create a new React component named $ARGUMENTS:

1. Create the component file in src/components/
2. Add unit tests
3. Add a Storybook story
4. Export from the components index

After Changes

Run uac generate to regenerate target-specific config files and verify the output.

Reminder: Always edit templates in <%= skillTemplatePath() %>/ — never edit generated target-specific files directly.

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