Guide for creating effective skills. This skill should be used when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends your capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.
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This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills.
Skills are modular, self-contained packages that extend your capabilities by providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools. Think of them as "onboarding guides" for specific domains or tasks—they transform you from a general-purpose agent into a specialized agent equipped with procedural knowledge that no model can fully possess.
The context window is a public good. Skills share the context window with everything else you need: system prompt, conversation history, other Skills' metadata, and the actual user request.
Default assumption: You already have significant capabilities. Only add context you don't already have. Challenge each piece of information: "Do you really need this explanation?" and "Does this paragraph justify its token cost?"
Prefer concise examples over verbose explanations.
Match the level of specificity to the task's fragility and variability:
High freedom (text-based instructions): Use when multiple approaches are valid, decisions depend on context, or heuristics guide the approach.
Medium freedom (pseudocode or scripts with parameters): Use when a preferred pattern exists, some variation is acceptable, or configuration affects behavior.
Low freedom (specific scripts, few parameters): Use when operations are fragile and error-prone, consistency is critical, or a specific sequence must be followed.
Think of yourself as exploring a path: a narrow bridge with cliffs needs specific guardrails (low freedom), while an open field allows many routes (high freedom).
Every skill consists of a required SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources:
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md (required)
│ ├── YAML frontmatter metadata (required)
│ │ ├── name: (required)
│ │ └── description: (required)
│ └── Markdown instructions (required)
└── Bundled Resources (optional)
├── scripts/ - Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.)
├── references/ - Documentation intended to be loaded into context as needed
└── assets/ - Files used in output (templates, icons, fonts, etc.)
Every SKILL.md consists of:
name and description fields. These are the only fields you read to determine when the skill gets used, thus it is very important to be clear and comprehensive in describing what the skill is, and when it should be used.scripts/)Executable code for tasks that require deterministic reliability or are repeatedly rewritten.
scripts/rotate_pdf.sh for PDF rotation tasksreferences/)Documentation and reference material intended to be loaded as needed into context to inform your process and thinking.
references/finance.md for financial schemas, references/mnda.md for company NDA template, references/policies.md for company policies, references/api_docs.md for API specificationsassets/)Files not intended to be loaded into context, but rather used within the output you produce.
assets/logo.png for brand assets, assets/slides.pptx for PowerPoint templates, assets/frontend-template/ for HTML/React boilerplate, assets/font.ttf for typographyA skill should only contain essential files that directly support its functionality. Do NOT create extraneous documentation or auxiliary files, including:
The skill should only contain the information needed for an AI agent to do the job at hand. It should not contain auxilary context about the process that went into creating it, setup and testing procedures, user-facing documentation, etc. Creating additional documentation files just adds clutter and confusion.
Skills use a three-level loading system to manage context efficiently:
Keep SKILL.md body to the essentials and under 500 lines to minimize context bloat. Split content into separate files when approaching this limit. When splitting out content into other files, it is very important to reference them from SKILL.md and describe clearly when to read them, to ensure the reader of the skill knows they exist and when to use them.
Key principle: When a skill supports multiple variations, frameworks, or options, keep only the core workflow and selection guidance in SKILL.md. Move variant-specific details (patterns, examples, configuration) into separate reference files.
Pattern 1: High-level guide with references
# PDF Processing
## Quick start
Extract text with pdfplumber:
[code example]
## Advanced features
- **Form filling**: See [FORMS.md](FORMS.md) for complete guide
- **API reference**: See [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md) for all methods
- **Examples**: See [EXAMPLES.md](EXAMPLES.md) for common patterns
You load FORMS.md, REFERENCE.md, or EXAMPLES.md only when needed.
Pattern 2: Domain-specific organization
For Skills with multiple domains, organize content by domain to avoid loading irrelevant context:
bigquery-skill/
├── SKILL.md (overview and navigation)
└── reference/
├── finance.md (revenue, billing metrics)
├── sales.md (opportunities, pipeline)
├── product.md (API usage, features)
└── marketing.md (campaigns, attribution)
When a user asks about sales metrics, you only read sales.md.
Similarly, for skills supporting multiple frameworks or variants, organize by variant:
cloud-deploy/
├── SKILL.md (workflow + provider selection)
└── references/
├── aws.md (AWS deployment patterns)
├── gcp.md (GCP deployment patterns)
└── azure.md (Azure deployment patterns)
When the user chooses AWS, you only read aws.md.
Pattern 3: Conditional details
Show basic content, link to advanced content:
# DOCX Processing
## Creating documents
Use docx-js for new documents. See [DOCX-JS.md](DOCX-JS.md).
## Editing documents
For simple edits, modify the XML directly.
**For tracked changes**: See [REDLINING.md](REDLINING.md)
**For OOXML details**: See [OOXML.md](OOXML.md)
You read REDLINING.md or OOXML.md only when the user needs those features.
Important guidelines:
Skill creation involves these steps:
Follow these steps in order, skipping only if there is a clear reason why they are not applicable.
Skip this step only when the skill's usage patterns are already clearly understood. It remains valuable even when working with an existing skill.
To create an effective skill, clearly understand concrete examples of how the skill will be used. This understanding can come from either direct user examples or generated examples that are validated with user feedback.
For example, when building an edit-image skill, relevant questions include:
To avoid overwhelming users, avoid asking too many questions in a single message. Start with the most important questions and follow up as needed for better effectiveness.
Conclude this step when there is a clear sense of the functionality the skill should support.
To turn concrete examples into an effective skill, analyze each example by:
Example: When building an edit-pdf skill to handle queries like "Help me rotate this PDF," the analysis shows:
scripts/rotate_pdf.sh script would be helpful to store in the skillExample: When designing a build-frontend-webapp skill for queries like "Build me a todo app" or "Build me a dashboard to track my steps," the analysis shows:
assets/hello-world/ template containing the boilerplate HTML/React project files would be helpful to store in the skillExample: When building a query-bigquery skill to handle queries like "How many users have logged in today?" the analysis shows:
references/schema.md file documenting the table schemas would be helpful to store in the skillTo establish the skill's contents, analyze each concrete example to create a list of the reusable resources to include: scripts, references, and assets.
At this point, it is time to actually create the skill.
Skip this step only if the skill being developed already exists, and iteration or packaging is needed. In this case, continue to the next step.
Always use verb-based names for skills to clearly communicate what action the skill performs:
execute-plan, create-report, analyze-logs, deploy-appplan-executor, report-creator, log-analyzer, app-deployerVerb-first naming makes it immediately clear what the skill does and follows the imperative/infinitive form used throughout the skill instructions.
Default: Create project-local skills unless the user explicitly requests a global skill.
When creating a new skill from scratch, create it in the project-local skills directory:
{{local_skills_path}}/<skill-name>/ - Skills are project-specific and don't affect other projects. This is the safe default for most skills.{{global_skills_path}}/<skill-name>/ - Skills are available across all projects. Only use this location when the user explicitly asks for a global skill or when the skill is truly reusable across all projects.The structure should include:
SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description) and markdown bodyscripts/ directory for executable code (e.g., process.sh, validate.sh)references/ directory for documentation loaded as neededassets/ directory for files used in outputExample initialization (default project-local):
mkdir -p {{local_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/{scripts,references,assets}
cat > {{local_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/SKILL.md << 'EOF'
---
name: edit-pdf
description: TODO - Describe what this skill does and when to use it
---
# Edit PDF
TODO - Add skill instructions here
EOF
cat > {{local_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/scripts/rotate.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
# Rotate PDF using pdftk
pdftk "$1" cat 1-endright output "$2"
EOF
chmod +x {{local_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/scripts/rotate.sh
If the user explicitly requests a global skill, use this instead:
mkdir -p {{global_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/{scripts,references,assets}
cat > {{global_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/SKILL.md << 'EOF'
---
name: edit-pdf
description: TODO - Describe what this skill does and when to use it
---
# Edit PDF
TODO - Add skill instructions here
EOF
cat > {{global_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/scripts/rotate.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
# Rotate PDF using pdftk
pdftk "$1" cat 1-endright output "$2"
EOF
chmod +x {{global_skills_path}}/edit-pdf/scripts/rotate.sh
After initialization, customize the generated files as needed.
When editing the (newly-generated or existing) skill, remember that the skill is being created for another AI agent instance to use. Include information that would be beneficial and non-obvious. Consider what procedural knowledge, domain-specific details, or reusable assets would help another agent instance execute these tasks more effectively.
Consult these helpful guides based on your skill's needs:
These files contain established best practices for effective skill design.
To begin implementation, start with the reusable resources identified above: scripts/, references/, and assets/ files. Note that this step may require user input. For example, when implementing a brand-guidelines skill, the user may need to provide brand assets or templates to store in assets/, or documentation to store in references/.
Added scripts must be tested by actually running them to ensure there are no bugs and that the output matches what is expected. If there are many similar scripts, only a representative sample needs to be tested to ensure confidence that they all work while balancing time to completion.
Any example files and directories not needed for the skill should be deleted.
Writing Guidelines: Always use imperative/infinitive form.
Write the YAML frontmatter with name and description:
name: The skill namedescription: This is the primary triggering mechanism for your skill, and helps you understand when to use the skill.
docx skill: "Comprehensive document creation, editing, and analysis with support for tracked changes, comments, formatting preservation, and text extraction. Use when you need to work with professional documents (.docx files) for: (1) Creating new documents, (2) Modifying or editing content, (3) Working with tracked changes, (4) Adding comments, or any other document tasks"Do not include any other fields in YAML frontmatter.
Write instructions for using the skill and its bundled resources.
Once the skill is complete, suggest to the user that they start a new session to load the newly created skill. Skills are loaded at the beginning of each session, so the new skill will not be available in the current session. Starting a new session ensures the skill is properly registered and available for use.
After testing the skill, users may request improvements. Often this happens right after using the skill, with fresh context of how the skill performed.
Iteration workflow:
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).