Agent Skill Init Skill | Agent Skills

Agent Skill Init

Overview

Scaffold a single, spec-compliant Agent Skill into the current repository — fast. A skill is just a directory containing a SKILL.md (required) plus optional scripts/, references/, and assets/. This skill walks you from intent to a validated skill folder, following the open agentskills.io specification so the result works across any client that reads the spec, not just one vendor.

The whole point is low ceremony, high fidelity: get a correct name/description frontmatter, a lean body, the right placement, and a green skills-ref validate — without an evaluation harness or a multi-round authoring loop.

When to use this skill

Reach for it when the user wants to stand up a new skill in this repo and have it be spec-correct on the first try:

| Use when the user… | This skill gives them… | |---|---| | "Create / scaffold / init a skill for X" | a ready directory + valid SKILL.md | | Mentions a "repo-local skill" or ".agents/skills" | correct placement + precedence guidance | | Names the agentskills.io spec or asks for cross-client compatibility | frontmatter that satisfies the open spec | | Wants a copy-paste SKILL.md starter | the minimal template below + assets/SKILL.md.template | | Asks "is my frontmatter valid?" | the field table + skills-ref validate |

Not to be confused with

skill-creator — the heavyweight authoring loop: draft → write test prompts → run evals → benchmark with variance → optimize the description. Use that when the skill's quality must be measured and iterated. Use this skill to get a correct skeleton on the ground quickly; hand off to skill-creator only if you then need eval-driven tuning.
skill-reviewer — a quality audit of an existing skill (progressive disclosure, scope, mental-model language). Run that after a skill exists. This skill produces the skill; the reviewer grades it.
Marketplace plugin authoring — wiring a skill into this repo's .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, changelogs, and plugins/<name>/skills/<name>/ layout is a separate concern handled per CLAUDE.md. This skill targets a repo-local skill (.agents/skills/<name>/), not a published marketplace plugin.

The create workflow

Follow these steps in order. Each one is short; explain choices to the user as you go.

1. Capture intent

Pin down two things before touching the filesystem:

What should the skill let Claude do? (the capability)
When should it trigger? (the user phrases, file types, and contexts)

The conversation may already contain the answer ("turn this into a skill"). Extract the workflow, tools, and steps from history first, then confirm the gaps with the user.

2. Choose a name and location

The name must satisfy the spec rules (see the field table) and must match the parent directory name exactly. Pick kebab-case, descriptive, short.

Default placement is the cross-client interoperability location:

<project>/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md

For this marketplace's pragmatic Claude compatibility, <project>/.claude/skills/<name>/ also works. See references/placement.md for all locations, project-over-user precedence, and trust considerations before adopting a project-level skill.

3. Write the frontmatter

Open with YAML frontmatter holding at least name and description. The description is the only thing a client reads to decide whether to load the skill, so make it carry its weight: state what the skill does and the concrete triggers, keyword-rich. Skills tend to under-trigger, so lean slightly pushy — name the phrases and contexts that should activate it.

4. Write the body

The body loads only after the skill triggers, so write it for the task, not for discovery. Keep it lean — recommended under ~5000 tokens / 500 lines. Lead with the common path; push edge cases, exhaustive flags, and long examples into references/.

5. Add resources as needed (optional)

Add only what earns its place:

references/ — docs loaded on demand (deep field rules, worked examples).
scripts/ — executable helpers the skill invokes.
assets/ — templates, schemas, or files the skill copies out.

Reference files one level deep with relative paths from the skill root.

6. Validate

This skill vendors the official skills-ref validator at vendor/skills-ref/, so validation needs only uv — no install step. Run it from the new skill's parent directory:

uvx --from <skill-dir>/vendor/skills-ref skills-ref validate ./<name>

<skill-dir> is this skill's own directory (the one holding SKILL.md). uvx builds an ephemeral environment, so nothing is written back. The same entrypoint also offers read-properties (dump the parsed frontmatter) and to-prompt (render the skill as a prompt):

uvx --from <skill-dir>/vendor/skills-ref skills-ref read-properties ./<name>
uvx --from <skill-dir>/vendor/skills-ref skills-ref to-prompt ./<name>

Fix anything it flags, then re-run until clean. The vendored copy is an unmodified Apache-2.0 upstream snapshot (see vendor/VENDOR.md) — do not reformat it. If you don't want the vendored path, a globally installed skills-ref is a documented fallback; both are covered in references/placement.md.

Minimal SKILL.md template

Copy this, replace the placeholders, and you have a valid skill. A ready copy lives at assets/SKILL.md.template.

---
name: my-skill
description: <What it does in one clause.> Use when <explicit trigger phrases / contexts the user might say or do>. <Optionally: what it produces.>
---

# My Skill

## Overview
One or two sentences on what this skill does and why it exists.

## When to use
- Trigger 1
- Trigger 2

## Workflow
1. First step.
2. Second step.

## Notes
Gotchas, prerequisites, or links to references/ for detail.

Frontmatter field table

| Field | Required | Constraints | |---|---|---| | name | Yes | 1–64 chars; lowercase a–z, 0–9, and hyphens only; no leading/trailing hyphen; no consecutive hyphens; must match the parent directory name. | | description | Yes | 1–1024 chars, non-empty. Describe what it does and when to use it; keyword-rich; lean slightly pushy to combat under-triggering. | | license | No | SPDX identifier (e.g. MIT). | | compatibility | No | 1–500 chars; note client/runtime requirements. Rarely needed. | | metadata | No | Map of string → string (e.g. version, author). | | allowed-tools | No | Space-separated tool names. Experimental. |

Full constraints, edge cases, and the source rules are in references/spec-reference.md.

Progressive disclosure

The spec loads a skill in stages, so structure for it:

Metadata (name + description) — always loaded, ~50–100 tokens. Keep it sharp.
Body (SKILL.md) — loaded when the skill triggers. Keep it under ~5000 tokens / 500 lines.
Resources (references/, scripts/, assets/) — loaded only on demand.

Rule of thumb: if a paragraph isn't needed to handle the common case, move it to references/. See references/examples.md for good vs. poor descriptions and layout examples.

Common mistakes

Consecutive hyphens in name (my--skill) — invalid. Single hyphens only.
name ≠ directory name — the most common validation failure. They must be identical.
Vague description — "Helps with files" gives the client nothing to trigger on. State what it does and the exact phrases/contexts that should activate it.
Deeply nested references — references/sub/dir/x.md breaks the one-level-deep rule. Keep reference files directly under references/.
Bloated body — a >500-line SKILL.md defeats progressive disclosure. Move detail out.
Skipping validation — always finish with uvx --from <skill-dir>/vendor/skills-ref skills-ref validate ./<name>.

References

references/spec-reference.md — full field constraints and naming rules.
references/examples.md — good vs. poor descriptions; layout patterns; a worked example.
references/placement.md — repo-local locations, precedence, trust, and skills-ref install + usage.
assets/SKILL.md.template — copy-paste starter.

Agent Skills: Agent Skill Init

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files