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skill-writing-guide

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Updated 11-13 16:18

About this skill

Skill writing guide

What is a skill

A skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file that gives an AI agent specialized knowledge, workflows, or tools for a specific task. Skills are part of an open standard adopted by 30+ agent products including Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, VS Code Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Junie, Goose, Roo Code, and others.

The standard is maintained at agentskills.io with the source at github.com/agentskills/agentskills.

Skills solve the problem that agents lack procedural knowledge and domain-specific context. A skill packages that knowledge in a portable, version-controlled format that works across multiple agent products.

Repo philosophies for new skills

New skills authored in this repo should align with the four canonical philosophies anchored at docs/REPO_STYLE.md: "Long-term over short-term", "Fix the design, not the symptom", "Fresh subagent per task", and "Atomic task decomposition". Cite the anchor when relevant; do not restate the definitions in the new SKILL.md.

Directory structure

Minimum viable skill:

skill-name/
+-- SKILL.md          # Required: metadata + instructions

Full structure:

skill-name/
+-- SKILL.md          # Required: metadata + instructions
+-- scripts/          # Optional: executable code (Python, Bash, etc.)
+-- references/       # Optional: documentation loaded on demand
+-- assets/           # Optional: templates, images, data files
+-- agents/
|   +-- openai.yaml   # Optional: UI metadata for skill lists
  • scripts/ holds deterministic code the agent can execute without loading into context.
  • references/ holds documentation the agent reads when needed. Keep files focused and one level deep from SKILL.md.
  • assets/ holds static resources used in output (templates, images, fonts). Not loaded into context.
  • agents/openai.yaml provides UI-facing metadata for platforms that display skill lists.

SKILL.md format

Every SKILL.md has two parts: YAML frontmatter and a Markdown body.

Frontmatter

---
name: skill-name
description: What the skill does and when to use it.
---

Required fields:

Field Required Constraints
name Yes Max 64 chars. Lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens only. No leading/trailing/consecutive hyphens. Must match directory name.
description Yes Max 1024 chars. Non-empty. Describes what and when.

Optional fields:

Field Required Constraints
license No License name or reference to bundled license file.
compatibility No Max 500 chars. Environment requirements (product, packages, network).
metadata No Arbitrary key-value map for additional properties.
allowed-tools No Space-delimited list of pre-approved tools. Experimental.

Body

The Markdown body after frontmatter contains the instructions the agent follows after activation. There are no format restrictions. Write whatever helps agents perform the task.

Recommended sections:

  • Step-by-step workflow
  • Examples of inputs and outputs
  • Common edge cases and error handling
  • References to bundled files with clear guidance on when to read them

Writing a good description

The description is the trigger mechanism. Agents load only name and description at startup for all installed skills, then activate the full SKILL.md when a task matches. A poor description means the skill never triggers.

Rules:

  • Include both what the skill does and when to use it.
  • Include specific keywords that help agents match tasks.
  • Put all trigger information in the description, not in the body. The body only loads after activation.
  • Stay under 1024 characters.

This repository uses a stricter 250-character ceiling so its enabled skill set fits Codex's shared discovery context. Treat 250 as a hard maximum, not a target to fill. Shorter descriptions are preferable when they preserve capability, trigger terms, and an important boundary.

Good:

description: "Extract text and tables from PDF files, fill PDF forms, and merge multiple PDFs. Use when working with PDF documents or when the user mentions PDFs, forms, or document extraction."

Poor:

description: "Helps with PDFs."

Good (from this repo):

description: "Comprehensive Python code review focused on bugs, correctness, security, maintainability, and actionable fixes. Use when a user asks for a review of Python files, wants severity-rated findings, wants before/after fix suggestions, or wants verification that implementation matches an active plan document (if one exists)."

Progressive disclosure

Skills use three-level loading to manage context efficiently:

  1. Metadata (~100 tokens): The name and description fields load at startup for all skills.
  2. Instructions (< 5000 tokens recommended): The full SKILL.md body loads when the skill activates.
  3. Resources (as needed): Files in scripts/, references/, and assets/ load only when required.

Key guidelines:

  • Keep the complete SKILL.md at or below 300 lines and 24,000 characters when practical. This repository emits an advisory warning above either threshold.
  • Move detailed reference material to separate files in references/.
  • Reference those files from SKILL.md with clear guidance on when to read them.
  • For large reference files (100+ lines), include a table of contents at the top.
  • For very large files (10k+ words), include grep search patterns in SKILL.md.
  • Keep file references one level deep. Avoid deeply nested reference chains.

Bundled resources

When to use scripts/

Use when the same code would be rewritten repeatedly or deterministic reliability is needed. Scripts are token-efficient because agents can execute them without loading into context.

When to use references/

Use for documentation the agent should consult while working: schemas, API docs, domain knowledge, policies, workflow guides. Keeps SKILL.md lean while making information discoverable. Information should live in either SKILL.md or references, not both.

When to use assets/

Use for files that appear in the output: templates, images, icons, fonts, boilerplate code. These are not loaded into context but copied or modified during execution.

agents/openai.yaml

Provides UI metadata for platforms that show skill lists. Minimal example:

interface:
  display_name: "Skill Writing Guide"
  short_description: "Author and improve Agent Skills"
  default_prompt: "Help me create or improve an Agent Skill following the open standard."

Fields:

  • display_name: Human-readable name shown in UI.
  • short_description: One-line summary for skill lists.
  • default_prompt: Suggested prompt when the user selects the skill.

Only include optional fields (icons, brand_color) if explicitly provided.

Repo-specific conventions

Skills in this repository follow additional patterns observed across existing skills:

  • Workflow section: Most skills define a numbered workflow the agent follows step by step.
  • Output contract: Skills like old-python-code-review define a structured output format (severity levels, required sections).
  • Quality bar section: Planning skills define explicit quality standards and anti-patterns.
  • Reference files: Complex skills use references/ for definitions, capacity/sizing, naming guardrails, and quality standards.
  • Conditional paths: Skills check for optional repo infrastructure (e.g., docs/active_plans/) and skip steps when absent.
  • Follow docs/MARKDOWN_STYLE.md: sentence-case headings, ASCII only, - for bullets.
  • Follow docs/REPO_STYLE.md: lowercase filenames with underscores in references, SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE for Markdown docs.

Skill naming

See docs/SKILL_NAMING.md for repo-specific skill folder naming conventions.

Rules from the spec:

  • Lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only.
  • Max 64 characters.
  • No leading, trailing, or consecutive hyphens.
  • Must match the parent directory name exactly.
  • Prefer short, verb-led phrases (e.g., old-python-code-review, arch-docs).
  • Namespace by tool when it improves clarity (e.g., gh-address-comments).

What not to include

A skill folder should contain only files that directly support the agent's task. Do not create:

  • README.md
  • CHANGELOG.md
  • INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md
  • QUICK_REFERENCE.md
  • User-facing documentation
  • Setup or testing procedures

The skill is for agents, not humans. Auxiliary context about the creation process does not belong in the skill folder.

Exception: references/ files that the agent reads on demand are appropriate.

Checklist

Before shipping a skill, verify:

  • SKILL.md exists with valid YAML frontmatter.
  • name field matches directory name exactly.
  • name is lowercase, hyphens only, max 64 chars, no leading/trailing/consecutive hyphens.
  • description is non-empty, under 1024 characters, includes what and when.
  • Complete SKILL.md is at or below 300 lines and 24,000 characters, or an advisory warning has a documented justification.
  • All referenced files exist and paths are relative from SKILL.md.
  • File references are one level deep (no nested chains).
  • Large reference files have a table of contents.
  • No duplicate information between SKILL.md and reference files.
  • No auxiliary docs (README, CHANGELOG) in the skill folder.
  • agents/openai.yaml is present with display_name, short_description, default_prompt.
  • ASCII-only content (no UTF-8 symbols outside escape sequences).

Further reading

Delegated execution

Under delegate-manager-to-subagents, this skill is assigned to a fresh subagent with one bounded task, the relevant repo rules, and one verification step. Do not continue the same subagent across unrelated follow-up work; dispatch a new subagent for each atomic task. See docs/REPO_STYLE.md.