Writing Skills

Use when creating or updating SKILL.md documentation - Explains how and why to create a skill.

tomevault-io Updated

File contents

Skills are used for context that may be useful to a coding agent, without bloating LLM context at times they're not useful.

Skills are only worthwhile if the coding agent fails a task without the skill.

Skills live in /.agents/skills, with each skill having its own directory.

SKILL.md

Front matter

  • Match the name to the directory name exactly.
  • Write the description as "Use when - " in under 30 words and third person.
  • Quote the description if it includes punctuation that could break YAML.

Markdown body

  • Write concise instructions for the skill topic.
  • Keep headings and bullet lists structured so readers can scan quickly.

Additional files

Other files, like scripts or data, may live in the directory and be referenced by the skill.

AGENTS.md

A GitHub Action automatically regenerates the skills list in AGENTS.md.


Converted and distributed by TomeVault — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.

tomevault-io/skills-registry/tree/main/dave1010--dave-engineer--writing-skills commit 978d312f1e

Frequently asked questions

npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/writing-skills-16