Authoring Skills

Use this skill when creating or modifying agent skills in .agents/skills/ .

When to Create a Skill

Create a skill when content is:

• Too detailed for AGENTS.md (code templates, multi-step workflows, diagnostic procedures)

• Only relevant for specific tasks (not needed every session)

• Self-contained enough to load independently

Keep in AGENTS.md instead when:

• It's a one-liner rule or guardrail every session needs

• It's a general-purpose gotcha any agent could hit

File Structure

.agents/skills/ └── my-skill/ ├── SKILL.md # Required: frontmatter + content ├── workflow.md # Optional: supplementary detail └── examples.md # Optional: referenced from SKILL.md

Supported Frontmatter Fields

name: my-skill # Required. Used for $name references and /name commands. description: > # Required. How Claude decides to auto-load the skill. What this covers and when to use it. Include file names and keywords. argument-hint: '<pr-number>' # Optional. Hint for expected arguments. user-invocable: false # Optional. Set false to hide from / menu. disable-model-invocation: true # Optional. Set true to prevent auto-triggering. allowed-tools: [Bash, Read] # Optional. Tools allowed without permission. model: opus # Optional. Model override. context: fork # Optional. Isolated subagent execution. agent: Explore # Optional. Subagent type (with context: fork).

Only use fields from this list. Unknown fields are silently ignored.

Writing Descriptions

The description is the primary matching surface for auto-activation. Include:

• What the skill covers (topic)

• When to use it (trigger scenario)

• Key file names the skill references (e.g. config-shared.ts )

• Keywords a user or agent might mention (e.g. "feature flag", "DCE")

Too vague - won't auto-trigger reliably

description: Helps with flags.

Good - specific files and concepts for matching

description: > How to add or modify Next.js experimental feature flags end-to-end. Use when editing config-shared.ts, config-schema.ts, define-env-plugin.ts.

Content Conventions

Structure for Action

Skills should tell the agent what to do, not just what to know:

• Lead with "Use this skill when..."

• Include step-by-step procedures

• Add code templates ready to adapt

• End with verification commands

• Cross-reference related skills in a "Related Skills" section

Relationship to AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md (always loaded) Skills (on demand)

One-liner guardrails Step-by-step workflows

"Keep require() behind if/else for DCE" Full DCE pattern with code examples, verification commands, edge cases

Points to skills via $name

Expands on AGENTS.md rules

When adding a skill, also add a one-liner summary to the relevant AGENTS.md section with a $skill-name reference.

Naming

• Short, descriptive, topic-scoped: flags , dce-edge , react-vendoring

• No repo prefix (already scoped by .agents/skills/ )

• Hyphens for multi-word names

Supplementary Files

For complex skills, use a hub + detail pattern:

pr-status-triage/ ├── SKILL.md # Overview, quick commands, links to details ├── workflow.md # Prioritization and patterns └── local-repro.md # CI env matching