Hr Root Router Maintaining

HR root router maintenance

The root SKILL.md at the repository root is the entry point for the entire HR Skills library. It does not contain HR knowledge — its only job is to route requests to the right specialized skill package under skills/.

This skill tells AI assistants exactly how to update that router whenever the library changes.

Supported tasks

• Add a new skill entry to the correct routing section
• Remove a deprecated skill from the routing table
• Rename a skill entry when its directory is renamed
• Move a skill entry between routing sections
• Audit router for skills missing from the table or directories missing from skills/
• Update the frontmatter description field when new domains are added
• Suggest which routing section a new skill belongs in
• Generate a complete, ready-to-paste router table row
• Validate that all skills/<n>/SKILL.md paths resolve correctly

Router structure

The root SKILL.md has this layout — every edit must preserve it exactly:

frontmatter (---...---)
  name: hr-skills
  description: "..."       ← update when adding an entirely new domain
  metadata:
    author: Tuan Duc Tran
    version: "1.0.0"       ← bump patch version on every router change

# HR Skills              ← H1, never change
intro paragraph          ← never change

## How to use this skill ← never change
numbered rules 1-5       ← never change

## Routing tables        ← H2, never change
### <Section name>       ← H3 section headers (see canonical list below)
| Skill | Use when... |  ← routing table rows
...

## Notes                 ← H2, never change

Canonical routing sections

These are the current H3 section headers in order. New skills go into an existing section whenever possible. Only add a new H3 section when no existing one fits.

1. ### Talent acquisition & recruiting
2. ### Onboarding, offboarding & people operations
3. ### Performance, talent & career management
4. ### Compensation, benefits & rewards
5. ### Learning & development
6. ### Organizational development, design & change
7. ### Workforce planning & analytics
8. ### HR technology, data & AI
9. ### Compliance, labor relations & risk
10. ### Culture, engagement, experience & wellbeing
11. ### Project management & global/local context
12. ### Software-engineering & technical hiring specialists

Section 12 has a two-column format | Skill | Discipline | instead of | Skill | Use when the task involves... | — use the discipline column for tech-specialist skills.

Key prompts

Adding a new skill

1. "Add [hr-new-skill] to the root SKILL.md router. The skill covers [description of scope]. Suggest the right section and generate the table row."
2. "I just created skills/hr-[name]/SKILL.md. Update the router to include it. Here is the skill's description field: [paste description]."
3. "Generate a router table row for a new skill called hr-[name] that handles [scope]. Include the markdown link in the correct format."

Removing or renaming a skill

1. "Remove hr-[old-name] from the root SKILL.md router. The skill directory has been deleted."
2. "Rename hr-[old-name] to hr-[new-name] in the router. Update the link and keep everything else the same."
3. "hr-[name] has been merged into hr-[other-name]. Remove the old entry and update the surviving skill's 'Use when' description to cover both scopes."

Moving a skill between sections

1. "Move hr-[name] from '### [current section]' to '### [target section]' in the router."
2. "hr-[name] fits better under [section] than its current section. Relocate it and keep the row content unchanged."

Auditing the router

1. "Audit the root SKILL.md against the actual skills/ directory and list any mismatches: skills in the directory not in the router, or router entries pointing to non-existent directories."
2. "Check every markdown link in the routing tables and confirm the target path exists under skills/."
3. "List all skills currently in the router by section."

Updating scope

1. "The router description field doesn't mention [new domain]. Update it to include [domain] without making the description longer than it currently is."
2. "Add a note to the ## Notes section explaining [new convention]."

Editing rules

Follow these rules exactly when editing the root SKILL.md.

Table row format — always use this exact format, no variation:

| [hr-skill-name](skills/hr-skill-name) | One-line description of when to use this skill |

• The link text is the skill slug only, no spaces, no decoration.
• The link target is skills/hr-skill-name — a relative path, no leading slash, no .md.
• The "Use when" column starts with a noun phrase or verb phrase describing the task, not "Use when the task involves" — that prefix lives in the column header only.

Section 12 row format (tech-specialist skills):

| [hr-skill-name](skills/hr-skill-name) | Short discipline label (e.g. "Backend engineering, APIs, databases") |

Version bump — every time the router changes, increment the patch version in frontmatter:

version: "1.0.0"  →  version: "1.0.1"

Placement within a section — insert new rows alphabetically by skill slug within the section, unless there is a logical grouping reason to place it elsewhere (e.g. keep closely related skills adjacent).

Never touch:

• The ## How to use this skill block
• The ## Notes block (unless explicitly asked)
• The H1 # HR Skills title
• The intro paragraph under H1
• Existing rows unless they are the target of the edit

Section assignment guide

Use this table to decide which section a new skill belongs in:

Tips

• Always read the existing router table before inserting a new row — confirm the skill does not already exist under a different name before adding a duplicate.
• When unsure which section fits, read the new skill's description field and match its primary verb (recruiting vs managing vs analyzing vs designing) to the section guide above.
• After any edit, do a quick count: the number of | [hr- links in the router should equal the number of directories under skills/ that contain a SKILL.md.
• The router description field is a single long string — when updating it, preserve the existing domains and append; never replace the whole string.
• Tech-specialist skills (section 12) are meant to be loaded alongside a functional skill (hr-recruiting, hr-job-description, hr-interviewing), not instead of one — if the new skill is a standalone functional skill mistakenly placed in section 12, move it to the correct section.
• Bump the patch version on every router edit so contributors can track the change history without diffing the full file.

Common mistakes

• Adding a new skill row but forgetting to bump version in frontmatter.
• Using an absolute path skills/hr-name/SKILL.md instead of the relative path skills/hr-name in the link target — the router links point to directories, not files.
• Inserting the row into the wrong table column order (link column must come first, "Use when" second).
• Duplicating an existing entry under a different section without removing the original.
• Adding a new H3 section when the skill clearly fits an existing section — check all 12 sections before creating a new one.
• Editing the ## How to use this skill block when only a routing table change was needed.
• Forgetting to update the description frontmatter field when an entirely new domain (not covered by any existing skill) is added.