➕ Add Skill from Conversation

Distill a reusable pattern or solution from the current conversation into a new skill and submit it to the shared repository.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• You've solved a problem an agent will likely encounter again.
• The user says "save this as a skill", "add this to our skills", or similar.
• A new workflow, pattern, or integration approach has been developed.

Workflow

Step 1: Identify the Skill

Ask the user (if not already clear):

• Name: What should this skill be called? (use kebab-case, e.g. postgres-migrations)
• Description: One sentence — what does the skill do and when should an agent use it?
• Category for docs/SKILLS.md: Orchestration / Development / VCS / Utilities?

Step 2: Extract Key Learnings from the Conversation

Review the conversation and extract:

• The problem that was solved.
• The approach or solution (tools, patterns, steps).
• Any caveats, edge cases, or prerequisites.

Present a brief summary to the user before writing the file.

Step 3: Create the Skill using skill-creator

Use the skill-creator skill to scaffold and write the SKILL.md content for skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md.

The skill-creator will guide the structure. Make sure the generated SKILL.md includes:

• name and description frontmatter fields (required by the CLI).
• Self-contained instructions that an agent can follow without prior context.
• Relative links to other skills if applicable (e.g. [vcs-commit](../vcs-commit/SKILL.md)).

Quality check before proceeding:

Skill Content Review:
- [ ] Frontmatter has `name` and `description`
- [ ] Instructions are self-contained and clear
- [ ] No hardcoded values that should be user-configurable
- [ ] Links to other skills use relative paths
- [ ] An agent could follow this with no prior context

If any check fails → improve the content → re-check.

Step 4: Create the Branch

Use vcs-branch:

feat/add-skill-<skill-name>

Step 5: Commit and Push

Commit using vcs-commit:

git add skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
git commit -m "feat(skills): add <skill-name> skill"
git push -u origin feat/add-skill-<skill-name>

Step 6: Update the Skill Catalog

Add the new entry to docs/SKILLS.md under the appropriate category:

| **[<skill-name>](../skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md)** | <description> |

Commit this as part of the same or a follow-up commit.

Step 7: Create the Pull Request

Use vcs-change-request to open a PR via the GitHub MCP against the skills repository:

• Owner: diegocanepa
• Repo: agent-skills
• URL: https://github.com/diegocanepa/agent-skills
• Head branch: feat/add-skill-<skill-name>
• Base branch: main

PR description template:

## Summary

Adds a new skill: **<skill-name>**

<Description of what the skill does and when to use it.>

## Checklist
- [ ] Frontmatter with `name` and `description`
- [ ] Added to `docs/SKILLS.md`
- [ ] Instructions are self-contained

Step 8: MITM — Confirm with User

"The skill <skill-name> is ready and the PR has been submitted. Does the content look correct?"

Feedback Loop: If the USER wants to refine → update the file → amend/push → re-present.

Notes

• Never push directly to main.
• The skill file must be self-contained — the entire diegocanepa/agent-skills repo can be installed by anyone, so no project-specific assumptions.
• The description frontmatter is the most important field — it's what the agent scans to decide whether to use the skill.