Library Documentation Skill Creator

This skill automates the creation of library documentation skills by researching official GitHub repositories and generating structured skill files following established patterns.

Overview

This skill helps create library documentation skills. It automates:

1. Research: Discovering official repositories, documentation, and examples
2. Organization: Structuring findings into a standardized skill format
3. Generation: Creating a complete skill file ready for use

Quick Start

When the user asks to create a skill for a library:

1. Identify the library: Get the library name or GitHub URL
2. Research sources: Use Task tool (Explore agent) to discover repositories, documentation structure, and examples
3. Review findings: Present discovered resources to the user for confirmation
4. Generate skill: Use the template from references/skill_template.md
5. Customize: Add library-specific sections based on documentation structure

Research Process

Use the Task tool with subagent_type=Explore to adaptively explore the library's GitHub repositories. This handles any repository structure, including:

• Non-standard directory layouts
• Multi-language documentation
• Complex monorepo structures
• Documentation on external sites
• Nested or unconventional organizations

For detailed guidance on what to look for during research, see references/research_guide.md.

Skill Structure

Generated skills follow this standard structure:

1. Frontmatter

---
name: library-name
description: Provides comprehensive context for developing with [Library] by having access to the codebase, official documentation, and examples
---

2. Source Repositories

List of GitHub repositories with .repos/ directory instructions.

Create a .repos/.gitignore file with self-contained ignore rules:

*
!.gitignore

This pattern keeps the .repos/ directory self-contained - it manages its own ignoring, the skill root stays clean, and the directory is tracked via the .gitignore file itself.

3. Important Guidelines (Standard)

Three key guidelines for all library skills:

• Prefer checking virtual environment first for code sources
• Keep repositories up-to-date
• Explore all relevant sources (code, docs, examples)

4. Overview Section

Links to key starting files (README, llms.txt, index.md, etc.)

5. Library-Specific Sections

Organized by the library's main use cases and documentation structure

Examples:

• Tutorial sections for learning paths
• Advanced topics for complex features
• Examples directory references
• Template repositories for production patterns

6. Documentation Structure

Summary of how documentation is organized

Template Usage

Use references/skill_template.md as the base template. It contains:

• Standard frontmatter with placeholders
• Common sections with placeholders
• Library-specific section examples
• Guidance comments (remove before finalizing)

Best Practices

Research Thoroughness

Explore multiple sources when researching:

• Main repository: Core library code and often documentation
• Separate docs repo: Some projects maintain dedicated documentation repos
• Examples/samples repos: Official example code and patterns
• Template repos: Full-stack or starter templates

Documentation Discovery

Look for these common patterns:

• docs/ or documentation/ directories
• examples/, samples/, or docs_src/ for code examples
• tutorial/ or getting-started/ for learning paths
• llms.txt files optimized for LLM consumption
• README.md as the primary overview

Documentation URL Format

When linking to external documentation sites, always prefer direct markdown URLs (.md suffix) over human-readable HTML URLs. Many documentation sites (e.g., docs.langchain.com, mkdocs-based sites) serve raw markdown when you request the .md file directly. This is much more efficient for agents -- raw markdown instead of parsing HTML.

Example:

• Prefer: https://docs.langchain.com/oss/javascript/deepagents/overview.md
• Avoid: https://docs.langchain.com/oss/javascript/deepagents/overview

Check the site's llms.txt if available -- it typically lists URLs in the .md format already.

Skill Customization

Tailor the skill to the library's domain:

• Web frameworks (FastAPI, Flask): Focus on routing, middleware, testing
• Agent frameworks (ADK, LangChain): Focus on agents, streaming, tools
• Data libraries (Pandas, Polars): Focus on operations, transformations
• ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow): Focus on models, training, deployment

Progressive Disclosure

Keep SKILL.md concise by:

• Linking to comprehensive guides in references/
• Using directory references instead of listing all files
• Providing navigation hints rather than full content
• Organizing by use case for targeted loading

Output Location

Create new skills at:

.claude/skills/<library-name>/
├── SKILL.md
└── .repos/
    └── .gitignore    # Contains: *\n!.gitignore

Always create the .repos/.gitignore file immediately when generating the skill, before any repositories are cloned.

Example Workflow

User asks: "Create a skill for Pydantic"

1. Research: Use Task tool (Explore agent) to explore pydantic/pydantic repository

   • Find main repo and any related repos (docs, examples)
   • Discover documentation structure (docs/, tests/ with examples)
   • Identify key files (README, llms.txt if present)
   • Locate example code and tutorials

2. Review findings: Present discovered structure to user

3. Generate skill:

   • Copy references/skill_template.md to .claude/skills/pydantic/SKILL.md
   • Fill in placeholders with Pydantic-specific information
   • Add sections for validation, models, settings based on discovered structure

4. Customize:

   • Add overview links to key docs
   • Organize tutorial topics
   • Reference example locations

5. Deliver: Present the completed skill to the user

Validation

Before considering a skill complete, verify:

• Frontmatter has comprehensive description with triggers
• Source repositories are listed with GitHub URLs
• Standard "Important" guidelines are included
• Overview section links to key starting files
• Library-specific sections match documentation structure
• All file paths are relative and correct
• Markdown links are properly formatted

Related Skills

• skill-creator: General guide for creating any type of skill