How do I install the Writing Skills skill?

Run npx skillmds add yanacuti1121/writing-skills in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Writing Skills safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Writing Skills?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Writing Skills free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Writing Skills?

yanacuti1121 (@yanacuti1121) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Writing Skills by yanacuti1121 — Agent Skill

Name: Writing Skills
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: yanacuti1121

Writing Skills

Use when creating a new YAMTAM skill. Triggers on: 'add a skill', 'create a skill', 'write a skill', 'new skill for X', 'make a skill that'. Enforces frontmatter shape, trigger-phrase quality, and lockfile registration.

yanacuti1121 6351de3 2.4 KB Updated Sep 9, 2026 2 repo stars

File contents

Writing Skills Skill

A YAMTAM skill is a reusable behaviour rule. Writing a bad skill wastes everyone's time. This skill enforces the standard that makes skills discoverable and triggerable.

Anatomy of a skill file

Every skill lives at: core/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Required frontmatter

---
name: skill-name          # kebab-case, matches directory name
description: "..."        # trigger phrase description — see quality rules below
---

Required sections in body

# [Title] Skill

[One sentence: what problem this skill solves and why it exists]

## When to use this skill
[Bullet list of triggers — be specific]

## [Main workflow / steps / rules]
[The actual content]

## What NOT to do
[Anti-patterns and common failure modes]

Trigger phrase quality rules

The description: field is the most important part. Claude uses it to decide WHEN to load this skill.

Good description:

"Use when user asks to review a diff or PR. Triggers on: 'review this',
'check my changes', 'code review'. Focuses on bugs and security."

Bad description:

"A skill for reviewing code."

Rules:

Start with "Use when..." — specify the situation
Include at least 3 trigger phrases in "Triggers on: ..."
Name what the skill does, not what it is
Under 2 sentences

After writing the skill

Register it in core/config/skills-lock.json — add an entry manually
Run bash core/scripts/update-skills-lock.sh to compute and write the hash
Update MANIFEST.json skills count and actual_present list
Add trigger phrase tests to core/tests/skills/test-skill-triggering.sh
Run bash core/tests/skills/test-skill-triggering.sh — all tests must pass

Checklist before done

File at core/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
name: matches directory name (kebab-case)
description: has "Use when" + 3+ trigger phrases
Body has "When to use" and "What NOT to do" sections
skills-lock.json entry added
update-skills-lock.sh run and hash updated
MANIFEST.json count updated
Trigger test added and passing

---name: writing-skillsdescription: Use when creating a new YAMTAM skill. Triggers on: 'add a skill', 'create a skill', 'write a skill', 'new skill for X', 'make a skill that'. Enforces frontmatter shape, trigger-phrase quality, and lockfile registration.--- # Writing Skills Skill A YAMTAM skill is a reusable behaviour rule. Writing a bad skill wastes everyone's time. This skill enforces the standard that makes skills discoverable and triggerable. ## Anatomy of a skill file Every skill lives at: `core/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md` ### Required frontmatter ```yaml --- name: skill-name # kebab-case, matches directory name description: "..." # trigger phrase description — see quality rules below --- ``` ### Required sections in body ```markdown # [Title] Skill [One sentence: what problem this skill solves and why it exists] ## When to use this skill [Bullet list of triggers — be specific] ## [Main workflow / steps / rules] [The actual content] ## What NOT to do [Anti-patterns and common failure modes] ``` ## Trigger phrase quality rules The `description:` field is the most important part. Claude uses it to decide WHEN to load this skill. Good description: ``` "Use when user asks to review a diff or PR. Triggers on: 'review this', 'check my changes', 'code review'. Focuses on bugs and security." ``` Bad description: ``` "A skill for reviewing code." ``` Rules: 1. Start with "Use when..." — specify the situation 2. Include at least 3 trigger phrases in "Triggers on: ..." 3. Name what the skill does, not what it is 4. Under 2 sentences ## After writing the skill 1. Register it in `core/config/skills-lock.json` — add an entry manually 2. Run `bash core/scripts/update-skills-lock.sh` to compute and write the hash 3. Update `MANIFEST.json` skills count and `actual_present` list 4. Add trigger phrase tests to `core/tests/skills/test-skill-triggering.sh` 5. Run `bash core/tests/skills/test-skill-triggering.sh` — all tests must pass ## Checklist before done - [ ] File at `core/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` - [ ] `name:` matches directory name (kebab-case) - [ ] `description:` has "Use when" + 3+ trigger phrases - [ ] Body has "When to use" and "What NOT to do" sections - [ ] skills-lock.json entry added - [ ] `update-skills-lock.sh` run and hash updated - [ ] MANIFEST.json count updated - [ ] Trigger test added and passing

Frequently asked questions