Skill Creator Skill for Claude

Skill Creator

Helps you create well-structured, modularized Claude Code skills with best practices.

When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:

• Wants to create a new skill
• Asks about skill structure or organization
• Wants to improve or refactor existing skills
• Needs help with skill modularization
• Asks about skill best practices

Skill Creation Process

1. Understand Requirements

Ask the user:

• Purpose: What should this skill do?
• Activation: When should it activate?
• Tools: What tools will it need? (Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, Bash, WebFetch, etc.)
• Scope: Is it project-specific or general-purpose?
• Complexity: Will it need reference files or can it be self-contained?

2. Plan the Skill Structure

Based on complexity:

Simple Skills (Self-contained):

.claude/skills/skill-name/
└── SKILL.md

Complex Skills (Modularized):

.claude/skills/skill-name/
├── SKILL.md                  # Main skill definition
├── reference-1.md           # Supporting reference
├── reference-2.md           # Additional reference
└── examples.md              # Code examples/templates

3. Create the Main SKILL.md

The main SKILL.md should include:

Front Matter (Required)

---
name: skill-name
description: Brief description of what the skill does and when to use it
allowed-tools: [Read, Write, Edit]
last_verified: 2026-07-16
review_by: 2027-06-22
---

Front Matter Fields:

• name: kebab-case skill name (e.g., code-reviewer, ui-audit)
• description: 1-2 sentences describing the skill and when to use it
• allowed-tools: Array of tools the skill can use
• last_verified: date (YYYY-MM-DD) the content was last checked against

reality — set to today when creating; bump on every material edit

• review_by: date (YYYY-MM-DD) of the scheduled re-verification — default

to ~2 weeks after the next WWDC (the natural decay event). CI requires both

dates; a weekly workflow opens rollup issues when skills pass review_by

• os_version (optional): the OS generation the content was verified against

(e.g. iOS 27 / macOS 27) — add only if the skill cites OS/Swift versions

Common Tool Combinations:

• Read-only analysis: [Read, Glob, Grep]
• Code modification: [Read, Write, Edit]
• Full access: [Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, Bash]
• Web research: [Read, Glob, Grep, WebFetch]

Main Content Structure

# Skill Name

Brief description of what this skill does.

## When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:
- [Specific trigger 1]
- [Specific trigger 2]
- [Specific trigger 3]

## Process/Workflow

### 1. Step One
- Instructions for first step
- What to check or do
- Expected outputs

### 2. Step Two
- Instructions for second step
- References to supporting files if needed

### 3. Output Format

How to present results to the user.

## References

Links to relevant documentation, files, or resources.

4. Create Supporting Reference Files

For complex skills, create modular reference files:

When to Modularize:

• Main SKILL.md exceeds 300-400 lines
• Contains extensive checklists or examples
• Has multiple distinct topics/categories
• Would benefit from focused reference materials

Common Reference File Types:

• Checklists: checklist.md, review-checklist.md
• Patterns: patterns.md, anti-patterns.md
• Examples: examples.md, templates.md
• Quick References: quick-ref.md, commands.md
• Guidelines: guidelines.md, standards.md

Reference File Structure:

# Reference Topic

Brief description of this reference.

## Section 1

### Subsection
- Checklist items
- Code examples
- Explanations

## Section 2

[Content organized logically]

## References
[External links if needed]

5. Link References in Main SKILL.md

In the main SKILL.md, reference supporting files:

### 2. Load Reference Materials

Before starting, familiarize yourself with these references:

- **patterns.md** - Common patterns and anti-patterns
- **examples.md** - Code examples and templates
- **checklist.md** - Comprehensive review checklist

Skill Writing Best Practices

Clear Activation Triggers

## When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:
- Asks for code review or quality check
- Mentions "best practices" or "refactoring"
- Wants to improve code quality
- Requests architecture review

Actionable Instructions

// ❌ Vague
- Check the code

// ✅ Specific
- Check for force unwrapping (!)
- Verify all optionals use safe unwrapping patterns
- Flag any instances for review with line numbers

Examples and Templates

Always provide:

• ✅ Good examples (what to do)
• ❌ Bad examples (what to avoid)
• Explanations (why it matters)

### Pattern Example

#### ❌ Anti-pattern
// Bad code example
let value = optional!

#### ✅ Good pattern
// Good code example
guard let value = optional else { return }

#### Why?
Force unwrapping crashes if nil. Guard provides safe unwrapping.

Structured Output Formats

Provide clear output templates:

## Output Format

Present findings in this structure:

### ✅ Strengths
- [List strengths]

### ⚠️ Issues Found
**[Category]**
**[Priority]: [File:Line]** - [Description]
// Current code
// Suggested fix
// Reason

### 📋 Recommendations
1. High priority items
2. Medium priority items
3. Low priority items

Tool Selection

Choose appropriate tools:

| Task | Tools |

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

| Reading code | Read, Glob, Grep |

| Modifying code | Read, Write, Edit |

| Running tests | Read, Bash |

| Web research | WebFetch |

| File operations | Read, Write, Glob |

Checklists

Use checklists for systematic reviews:

### Review Checklist

#### Category 1
- [ ] Check item 1
- [ ] Check item 2
- [ ] Check item 3

#### Category 2
- [ ] Check item 4
- [ ] Check item 5

Example Skills

Simple Skill Example

---
name: greeting-responder
description: Responds to user greetings with helpful information about the project
allowed-tools: [Read]
---

# Greeting Responder

Provides helpful project context when users greet Claude.

## When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:
- Says "hello", "hi", or similar greetings
- Asks "what can you help with?"

## Process

1. Greet the user warmly
2. Provide brief overview of the project
3. List 3-5 common tasks you can help with
4. Invite them to ask questions

## Example Output

"Hello! I can help you with this Swift/iOS project. Here are some things I can do:

- Review code for best practices
- Help implement new features
- Debug issues
- Refactor code
- Write tests

What would you like to work on?"

Complex Skill Example

See the existing coding-best-practices or ui-review skills as examples of well-modularized complex skills.

Skill Maintenance

When to Refactor

Refactor a skill when:

• Main SKILL.md exceeds 400-500 lines
• Adding new content becomes difficult
• Multiple distinct topics exist
• Reference material is repeated
• Finding information takes too long

How to Refactor

• Identify logical sections in the main SKILL.md
• Extract sections into focused reference files
• Update main SKILL.md to reference new files
• Test the skill to ensure references work
• Update descriptions if scope changed

File Organization

.claude/skills/skill-name/
├── SKILL.md                      # Main entry point
├── process.md                    # Detailed workflow
├── patterns/
│   ├── good-patterns.md
│   └── anti-patterns.md
├── references/
│   ├── checklist.md
│   └── examples.md
└── templates/
    └── output-template.md

Testing Your Skill

After creating a skill:

• Verify metadata: Check front matter is valid YAML
• Test activation: Ensure description triggers appropriately
• Check references: Verify all referenced files exist
• Run through workflow: Follow the process end-to-end
• Validate output: Ensure output format is clear and useful

Common Pitfalls

❌ Avoid

• Vague activation criteria
• Missing tool permissions
• Overly complex single-file skills
• No examples or templates
• Unclear output formats
• Broken reference links

✅ Do

• Clear, specific activation triggers
• Appropriate tool selection
• Modularize complex skills
• Provide examples for everything
• Define structured output formats
• Keep references organized

Skill Naming Conventions

Name Format: kebab-case

Good Names:

• code-reviewer
• ui-audit
• test-generator
• api-analyzer

Bad Names:

• CodeReviewer (PascalCase)
• code_reviewer (snake_case)
• reviewer (too vague)
• cr (too abbreviated)

Templates

See the following reference files for templates:

• skill-template.md - Basic skill template
• complex-skill-template.md - Modularized skill template

References

• Claude Code Skills Documentation
• Existing skills in .claude/skills/ for examples
• This project's coding-best-practices and ui-review skills

Notes

• Keep skills focused on a single purpose
• Use modularization for maintainability
• Provide clear examples and templates
• Test skills after creation
• Update skills as needs evolve