Skill Creator

Skill Creator

This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills.

About 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.

What Skills Provide

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

Core Principles

Concise is Key

The context window is a public good. Skills share the context window with everything else: system prompt, conversation history, other skills' metadata, and the user request.

Default assumption: you are already very smart. Only add context you don't already have. Challenge each piece of information: "Does this paragraph justify its token cost?"

Prefer concise examples over verbose explanations.

Set Appropriate Degrees of Freedom

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.

Anatomy of a Skill

Every skill consists of a required SKILL.md file and optional bundled resources:

Copy code
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)

Every SKILL.md consists of:

• Frontmatter (YAML): Contains name and description fields. These are the only fields read to determine when the skill gets used, so be clear and comprehensive in describing what the skill does and when it should be used.
• Body (Markdown): Instructions and guidance for using the skill. Only loaded AFTER the skill triggers.

Bundled Resources (optional)

Scripts (scripts/)

Executable code 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
• Benefits: Token efficient, deterministic, may be executed without loading into context

References (references/)

Documentation and reference material intended to be loaded as needed into context.

• When to include: For documentation that you should reference while working
• Examples: Database schemas, API documentation, domain knowledge, company policies
• Best practice: If files are large (>10k words), include grep search patterns in SKILL.md

Assets (assets/)

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

• When to include: When the skill needs files that will be used in the final output
• Examples: Templates, images, icons, boilerplate code, fonts

What NOT to Include

A skill should only contain essential files. Do NOT create:

• README.md, INSTALLATION_GUIDE.md, CHANGELOG.md, etc.
• User-facing documentation
• Setup and testing procedures

Progressive Disclosure

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

1. Metadata (name + description) - Always in context (~100 words)
2. SKILL.md body - When skill triggers (<5k words)
3. Bundled resources - As needed (unlimited)

Keep SKILL.md body under 500 lines. Split content into separate files when approaching this limit.

Key principle: When a skill supports multiple variations, keep only the core workflow in SKILL.md. Move variant-specific details into separate reference files.

Skill Creation Process

1. Understand the skill with concrete examples
2. Plan reusable skill contents (scripts, references, assets)
3. Initialize the skill (run init_skill.py)
4. Edit the skill (implement resources and write SKILL.md)
5. Iterate based on real usage

Step 1: Understanding the Skill

To create an effective skill, understand concrete examples of how it will be used. Ask questions like:

• "What functionality should this skill support?"
• "Can you give examples of how this skill would be used?"
• "What would a user say that should trigger this skill?"

You may ask the user if you can't infer the required information yourself.

Step 2: Planning Reusable Contents

Analyze each example by:

1. Considering how to execute the example from scratch
2. Identifying what scripts, references, and assets would help when executing repeatedly

Step 3: Initializing the Skill

When creating a new skill, run the init_skill.py script:

bashCopy code
scripts/init_skill.py <skill-name>

The script creates the skill directory in ~/.pipali/skills/ with:

• SKILL.md template with proper frontmatter
• Example resource directories: scripts/, references/, and assets/

Step 4: Edit the Skill

When editing the skill, remember it's being created for another instance of you to use. Include information that would be beneficial and non-obvious.

Learn Proven Design Patterns

Consult these guides based on your skill's needs:

• Multi-step processes: See references/workflows.md
• Specific output formats: See references/output-patterns.md

Start with Reusable Contents

Begin with the reusable resources identified in Step 2. Test any added scripts by running them.

Update SKILL.md

Writing Guidelines: Always use imperative/infinitive form.

Frontmatter

Write the YAML frontmatter with name and description:

• name: The skill name (hyphen-case)
• description: The primary triggering mechanism. Include both what the skill does and specific triggers/contexts for when to use it.

Body

Write instructions for using the skill and its bundled resources.

Step 5: Iterate

After using the skill on real tasks:

1. Notice struggles or inefficiencies
2. Identify how SKILL.md or bundled resources should be updated
3. Implement changes and test again