skill-creator

Skill Creator

A meta-skill for creating well-structured Claude Code skills.

When to Use

• User asks to "create a skill" or "make a skill"
• Setting up reusable automation patterns
• Creating project-specific Claude instructions

Creating a New Skill

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Ask the user:

1. What should the skill do? (specific capability)
2. When should it trigger? (keywords users would say)
3. What tools does it need? (Read, Write, Bash, etc.)

Step 2: Create Directory Structure

mkdir -p .claude/skills/skill-name

Step 3: Write SKILL.md

---
name: skill-name
description: What it does. When to use it. Include trigger keywords.
allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob
---

# Skill Title

## Instructions

Clear step-by-step guidance.

## Examples

Show concrete usage.

Best Practices

Descriptions (Critical!)

Bad: "Helps with files" Good: "Extract and analyze log files. Use when debugging errors, searching logs, or when user mentions 'logs', 'errors', or 'stack trace'."

Keep It Focused

• One skill = one specific capability
• Under 500 lines in SKILL.md
• Put detailed docs in separate files (reference.md, examples.md)

Tool Restrictions

Use allowed-tools to limit permissions:

• Read-only: allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob
• Full access: omit the field

Template

When creating a skill, use this template:

---
name: [lowercase-with-hyphens]
description: [What it does]. [When to use it]. Use when [trigger keywords].
allowed-tools: [comma-separated tools, or omit for full access]
---

# [Skill Title]

## Purpose

[One sentence explaining what this skill accomplishes]

## Instructions

1. [Step one]
2. [Step two]
3. [Step three]

## Examples

### Example 1: [Scenario]

[Show concrete usage]

## Notes

- [Important consideration]
- [Common pitfall to avoid]

Skill Locations

After Creating

1. Restart Claude Code to load the skill
2. Test by asking a question with keywords from description
3. Iterate on description if skill doesn't trigger