Create Skill

Create Skill

Create a new skill in .agents/skills/<skill-name>/ following the workflow defined in .agents/skills/README.md.

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Intent

Before creating anything, ask the user:

• Skill name: What should the skill be called? (lowercase, digits, hyphens only, e.g., gh-create-pr, prepare-release)
• Description: What should this skill do? Include specific trigger contexts (e.g., "Use when user asks to create PRs")
• Is this a public skill?: Should it be synced to .claude/skills/ for shared use? (default: no, private only)
• Test cases (optional): Does the user want to set up evals for this skill?

If the user provides partial info (e.g., just a name), proceed with reasonable defaults and ask to confirm.

Step 2: Read Guidelines

Always read .agents/skills/README.md before creating a new skill to ensure compliance with the current workflow.

Step 3: Create Skill Structure

Create the following directory structure:

.agents/skills/<skill-name>/
└── SKILL.md

SKILL.md template:

---
name: <skill-name>
description: <description>
---

# <Skill Name>

[Instructions for the skill]

Frontmatter fields:

• name: Skill identifier (lowercase, digits, hyphens)
• description: When to trigger (what the skill does + specific contexts)

Step 4: Sync (if public)

If the user wants a public skill, before validation:

• Add the skill name to .agents/skills/public-skills.txt (one per line, no inline comments)
• Run sync:

   pnpm skills:sync

This creates a symlink at .claude/skills/<skill-name>/ pointing to .agents/skills/<skill-name>/.

Note: pnpm skills:check primarily validates public skills (those in public-skills.txt) and also verifies related governance files, so you must sync first before validating.

Step 5: Validate

Run the validation command:

pnpm skills:check

If there are issues, fix them and re-run.

Step 6: Summary

Present the user with:

• Created files
• Validation result
• Next steps (how to use the skill)

Naming Rules

• Use lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only
• Prefer short, action-oriented names (e.g., gh-create-pr)

Public vs Private Skills

| Type | Location | Sync | Requires |

|------|----------|------|----------|

| Private | .agents/skills/ | No | Just create the folder |

| Public | Both | Yes | Add to public-skills.txt + run pnpm skills:sync |

Commands Reference

# Validate skill structure
pnpm skills:check

# Sync public skills to Claude
pnpm skills:sync

Constraints

• Never create skills outside .agents/skills/<skill-name>/
• Always run pnpm skills:check before completing
• Public skills require both adding to public-skills.txt AND running pnpm skills:sync
• If the skill-creator skill is available, you may use it for advanced skill development (evals, iterations), but this skill handles the basic creation workflow.