Rule: Knowledge borrowed from docs, papers, other repos, or chat research must be saved as links in the skill tree—not only in conversation.
When to use
- Creating or editing any
skills/{name}/SKILL.md - Researching harness/MCP/marketplace patterns before writing a skill
- Reviewing a PR that adds procedural claims without sources
Per-skill file (required in skill_steward)
Maintain skills/{name}/references/sources.md:
# Sources
| Topic | URL | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Agent Skills spec | https://agentskills.io/ | Frontmatter rules |
| … | … | … |
Changelog
- 2026-05-29: initial citations
Template: [citation-template.md](references/citation-template.md).
## Workflow (create or update skill)
1. **Before writing** — list URLs you will rely on in `references/sources.md` (can start sparse).
2. **In SKILL.md** — link to spec/docs inline where non-obvious; prefer `references/` for long material.
3. **After research** — append new rows + changelog entry; never leave “we read X” only in chat.
4. **In PR** — one line in description: “Sources updated in `references/sources.md`.”
5. **Validate** — `pnpm run validate` warns if `sources.md` is missing.
## What to cite
| Cite | Example |
|------|---------|
| Official specs | agentskills.io, Cursor/Claude/Codex docs |
| Papers / research | SkillOpt, SkillsBench arXiv |
| Reference implementations | product MCPs, Codex plugin-eval |
| Blog/guides | Only if procedure is non-obvious; prefer primary docs |
Do **not** cite ephemeral chat URLs or private tokens.
## Cross-skill index
Guild-wide references: [docs/STANDARDS.mdx](../../docs/STANDARDS.mdx), [DESIGN_FAQ.mdx](../../docs/DESIGN_FAQ.mdx).
## Related skills
| Task | Skill |
|------|-------|
| Scaffold skill | `skill-authoring-lifecycle` |
| Evaluate / improve | `skill-eval-improve` |
| Spec audit | `skill-authoring-lifecycle` |
## Sources discipline (this skill)
See [references/sources.md](references/sources.md).
## Install
```bash
npx skills add arenukvern/skill_steward --skill skill-source-citations