Skill Designer
Overview
Generate a comprehensive Claude CLI prompt from a structured skill idea specification. The prompt instructs Claude to create a complete skill directory following repository conventions: SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter, reference documents, helper scripts, and test scaffolding.
When to Use
- The skill auto-generation pipeline selects an idea from the backlog and needs
a design prompt for
claude -p - A developer wants to bootstrap a new skill from a JSON idea specification
- Quality review of generated skills requires awareness of the scoring rubric
Prerequisites
- Python 3.9+
- No external API keys required
- Reference files must exist under
skills/skill-designer/references/
Workflow
Step 1: Prepare Idea Specification
Accept a JSON file (--idea-json) containing:
title: Human-readable idea namedescription: What the skill doescategory: Skill category (e.g., trading-analysis, developer-tooling)
Accept a normalized skill name (--skill-name) that will be used as the
directory name and YAML frontmatter name: field.
Step 2: Build Design Prompt
Run the prompt builder:
python3 skills/skill-designer/scripts/build_design_prompt.py \
--idea-json /tmp/idea.json \
--skill-name "my-new-skill" \
--project-root .
The script:
- Loads the idea JSON
- Reads all three reference files (structure guide, quality checklist, template)
- Lists existing skills (up to 20) to prevent duplication
- Outputs a complete prompt to stdout
Step 3: Feed Prompt to Claude CLI
The calling pipeline pipes the prompt into claude -p:
python3 skills/skill-designer/scripts/build_design_prompt.py \
--idea-json /tmp/idea.json \
--skill-name "my-new-skill" \
--project-root . \
| claude -p --allowedTools Read,Edit,Write,Glob,Grep
Step 4: Validate Output
After Claude creates the skill, verify:
skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.mdexists with correct frontmatter- Directory structure follows conventions
- Score with dual-axis-skill-reviewer meets threshold
Output Format
The script outputs a plain-text prompt to stdout. Exit code 0 on success, 1 if required reference files are missing.
Resources
references/skill-structure-guide.md-- Directory structure, SKILL.md format, naming conventionsreferences/quality-checklist.md-- Dual-axis reviewer 5-category checklist (100 points)references/skill-template.md-- SKILL.md template with YAML frontmatter and standard sectionsscripts/build_design_prompt.py-- Prompt builder script (CLI interface)