Skill Creator

What This Skill Does

This skill provides guidance and structure for creating effective skills for Claude. It outlines the necessary components of a skill, including the SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources. It's designed for developers and users who want to extend Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge and workflows.

When to Use

Learn the anatomy of a skill package. Understand the required SKILL.md file structure. Create skills with specialized workflows. Integrate tools and domain expertise into Claude. Bundle scripts, references, and assets for complex tasks.

Key Features

• Provides a template for SKILL.md files.
• Explains the importance of YAML frontmatter.
• Details how to bundle scripts and references.
• Offers guidance on writing effective skill descriptions.
• Explains how to create specialized workflows.

Manual Installation

Manual installation

What Skills Provide

Specialized workflows - Multi-step procedures for specific domains Tool integrations - Instructions for working with specific file formats or APIs Domain expertise - Company-specific knowledge, schemas, business logic Bundled resources - Scripts, references, and assets for complex and repetitive tasks

Anatomy of a Skill

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.)

SKILL.md (required)

• Metadata Quality: The name and description in YAML frontmatter determine when Claude will use the skill.
• Be specific about what the skill does and when to use it.
• Use the third-person (e.g.

Bundled Resources (optional)

Scripts (scripts/)

Executable code (Python/Bash/etc.) for tasks that require deterministic reliability or are repeatedly rewritten.

When to include: When the same code is being rewritten repeatedly or deterministic reliability is needed Example: scripts/rotate_pdf.py for PDF rotation tasks Benefits: Token efficient, deterministic, may be executed without loading into context Note: Scripts may still need to be read by Claude for patching or environment-specific adjustments

References (references/)

Documentation and reference material intended to be loaded as needed into context to inform Claude's process and thinking.

When to include: For documentation that Claude should reference while working Examples: 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 specifications Use cases: Database schemas, API documentation, domain knowledge, company policies, detailed workflow guides Benefits: Keeps SKILL.md lean, loaded only when Claude determines it's needed Best practice: If files are large (>10k words), include grep search patterns in SKILL.md Avoid duplication: Information should live in either SKILL.md or references files, not both. Prefer references files for detailed information unless it's truly core to the skill—this keeps SKILL.md lean while making information discoverable without hogging the context window. Keep only essential procedural instructions and workflow guidance in SKILL.md; move detailed reference material, schemas, and examples to references files.

Assets (assets/)

Files not intended to be loaded into context, but rather used within the output Claude produces.

When to include: When the skill needs files that will be used in the final output Examples: assets/logo.png for brand assets, assets/slides.pptx for Power Point templates, assets/frontend-template/ for HTML/React boilerplate, assets/font.ttf for typography Use cases: Templates, images, icons, boilerplate code, fonts, sample documents that get copied or modified Benefits: Separates output resources from documentation, enables Claude to use files without loading them into context

Progressive Disclosure Design Principle

Skills use a three-level loading system to manage context efficiently:

Metadata (name + description) - Always in context (~100 words) SKILL.md body - When skill triggers (<5k words) Bundled resources - As needed by Claude (Unlimited*)

*Unlimited because scripts can be executed without reading into context window.

Skill Creation Process

To create a skill, follow the "Skill Creation Process" in order, skipping steps only if there is a clear reason why they are not applicable.

Step 1: Understanding the Skill with Concrete Examples

• 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 image-editor skill, relevant questions include:

"What functionality should the image-editor skill support? Editing, rotating, anything else?" "Can you give some examples of how this skill would be used?" "I can imagine users asking for things like 'Remove the red-eye from this image' or 'Rotate this image'. Are there other ways you imagine this skill being used?" "What would a user say that should trigger this skill?"

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.

Step 2: Planning the Reusable Skill Contents

To turn concrete examples into an effective skill, analyze each example by:

Considering how to execute on the example from scratch Identifying what scripts, references, and assets would be helpful when executing these workflows repeatedly

Example: When building a pdf-editor skill to handle queries like "Help me rotate this PDF," the analysis shows:

Rotating a PDF requires re-writing the same code each time A scripts/rotate_pdf.py script would be helpful to store in the skill

Example: When designing a frontend-webapp-builder skill for queries like "Build me a todo app" or "Build me a dashboard to track my steps," the analysis shows:

Writing a frontend webapp requires the same boilerplate HTML/React each time An assets/hello-world/ template containing the boilerplate HTML/React project files would be helpful to store in the skill

Example: When building a big-query skill to handle queries like "How many users have logged in today?" the analysis shows:

Querying Big Query requires re-discovering the table schemas and relationships each time A references/schema.md file documenting the table schemas would be helpful to store in the skill

To establish the skill's contents, analyze each concrete example to create a list of the reusable resources to include: scripts, references, and assets.

Step 3: Initializing the Skill

At this point, it is time to actually create the skill.

Skip this step only if the skill bei