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Agent skill

Authoring

by automagik-dev in automagik-dev/genie

Write or revise a Genie skill so it survives the shipped contract — frontmatter, house size, starter card, and runtime-neutral voice.

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Authoring

skills CLI
$ npx skills add automagik-dev/genie --skill authoring -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install automagik-dev/genie authoring --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/automagik-dev/genie.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/authoring .claude/skills/authoring && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
authoring
GitHub stars
346
Token cost
~1k tokens
SKILL.md length
512 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
19
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Write or revise a Genie skill so it survives the shipped contract — frontmatter, house size, starter card, and runtime-neutral voice.

  • Agent Workflows work in your project
  • SKILL.md covers The contract, House size, Voice and The starter card, plus 1 more section
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Authoring is an agent skill from automagik-dev/genie. Write or revise a Genie skill so it survives the shipped contract — frontmatter, house size, starter card, and runtime-neutral voice.

Its SKILL.md is about 1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `agents/openai.yaml`).

It sits in Agent Workflows. The repository describes itself as: Wishes in, PRs out. CLI agent that interviews you, plans the work, dispatches parallel agents in isolated worktrees, and reviews code before you see it. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Agent Workflows work in your project

Example prompts

  • “/authoring”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit f07c26f. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are yaml).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • github.com

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Authoring loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 36 tokens; SKILL.md has 512 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~36
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from automagik-dev/genie at commit f07c26f, republished under its MIT licence (© automagik-dev). 512 words, ~1,012 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/authoring/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
authoring
description
Write or revise a Genie skill so it survives the shipped contract — frontmatter, house size, starter card, and runtime-neutral voice.
category
authoring
mutates
none

Authoring

A skill is a document an agent executes, not prose a human skims. Reference only; the edit belongs to whoever called you. Before writing a new one, run the skill-audit search pass: consolidation is the house default and a near-duplicate is a revision, not a new directory.

The contract

A shipped skill is one top-level directory holding SKILL.md at its root, agents/openai.yaml, and optional references/*.md. Nesting hides it from the installer; an empty directory fails the gate.

Frontmatter carries exactly four keys, in order, and nothing else:

yaml
---
name: <directory name, lowercase kebab>
description: "<one quoted sentence naming the workflow and its deliverable>"
category: <the enum this skill belongs to>
mutates: <none | documents | repo | external>
---

name must equal the directory name character for character. description is the pointer the runtime reads to decide whether to load you, so it front-loads the verb and names the outcome; it is the only always-loaded line you own, and every word costs on every turn.

mutates is a promise the body has to keep. none means read-only. documents means it writes under the repository's own notes and wish tree. repo means source edits. external means it reaches a network or another host.

House size

Forty to ninety lines. Under forty and the skill is a paragraph wearing a directory; over ninety and attention thins across the excess. When a skill outgrows the ceiling, push the on-demand half into references/ under the skill's own directory and point at it by a skill-relative path. Inline what every branch needs; disclose what only some branches reach.

Voice

  • Write runtime-neutral. Name the runtime's native delegation surface, never one vendor's tool name or one host's directory layout.
  • Reference other skills by name in prose, as "the review skill", never as a path into another skill's directory. Cross-directory paths break the moment the installer lands the tree somewhere else.
  • Resolve every shipped file relative to the loaded SKILL.md. A repository root or a host environment variable is not available to an installed skill.
  • Prompt the positive. A prohibition drags the forbidden behaviour into context; state the target behaviour instead, and keep a ban only where no positive phrasing exists.
  • Every step ends on a checkable completion criterion. "Understanding reached" invites an early exit; "the gate exits zero" does not.
  • Keep each meaning in one place. The environment is a source of truth too, so a line that restates a command's help output is a cache that will go stale.
Show full SKILL.md (138 more words)Show less

The starter card

agents/openai.yaml is the interface metadata the Codex UI renders:

yaml
interface:
  display_name: "Two or three words"
  short_description: "Twenty-five to sixty-four characters"
  default_prompt: "One imperative sentence, with no selector token in it."

The starter card ships in several physical tiers, so a selector inside it could redirect execution to a different copy of the same skill. Keep the prompt plain imperative English.

Before you finish

Run the repository's skill lint and read every finding against your file. It enforces the frontmatter contract, the directory shape, skill-relative resources, real command names inside fenced examples, and a vocabulary ban on retired role and host-root tokens. That ban has no allowlist and cannot be suppressed, and each failure names the replacement you must adopt, so treat its output as the edit list. Then confirm the line count sits inside the house range and that the description still reads true after the body changed.

<!-- adapted from https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/writing-for-agents (MIT, commit cddededbbb2ed38f0e0b26b46be8455c59d78ab1 via gongyijie85/mattpocock-skills-dsh) -->

© automagik-dev, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in skills/authoring of automagik-dev/genie.

  • SKILL.md
  • agents/openai.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit f07c26f

Compare with similar skills

Authoring next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Authoring compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Authoring this skillautomagik-dev/genie346—~1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
MCP Server Builderanthropics/skills180k64 repos~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Hook Development for Claude Code Pluginsanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k11 repos~4.1kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Using Superpowersfarm-fe/farm5.6k35 repos~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Executing Plans Inlineobra/superpowers296k2 repos~5.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Claude Code Agent Developmentanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k8 repos~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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  • MCP Server Builder

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    Guides the design and implementation of Model Context Protocol servers in TypeScript or Python, from tool naming and error messages to evaluation.

    180k GitHub starsUsed in 64 repos~2.3k tokens
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  • Hook Development for Claude Code Plugins

    anthropics/claude-plugins-official

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    Explains how to write Claude Code plugin hooks, both prompt-based checks and bash commands, for events such as PreToolUse, Stop and SessionStart.

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All 19 skills in this repo

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  • Wish

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  • Work

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  • Council

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Categories

Questions about Authoring

What does Authoring do?

Write or revise a Genie skill so it survives the shipped contract — frontmatter, house size, starter card, and runtime-neutral voice. Authoring is an agent skill from automagik-dev/genie. Write or revise a Genie skill so it survives the shipped contract — frontmatter, house size, starter card, and runtime-neutral voice.

When should I use Authoring?

Authoring fits situations like: agent Workflows work in your project.

How do I install Authoring in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add automagik-dev/genie --skill authoring -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/authoring in automagik-dev/genie) into .claude/skills/authoring in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Authoring in Codex?

Run `npx skills add automagik-dev/genie --skill authoring -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/authoring in automagik-dev/genie) into .agents/skills/authoring in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Authoring in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add automagik-dev/genie --skill authoring -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/authoring, .gemini/skills/authoring, .github/skills/authoring and .opencode/skills/authoring in your project.

What does Authoring need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Authoring is instructions for the agent only.

Does Authoring access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. As links in the text: github.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Authoring safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Authoring use?

Authoring is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Authoring use?

About 1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Authoring?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Authoring: MCP Server Builder (anthropics/skills, 180k stars), Hook Development for Claude Code Plugins (anthropics/claude-plugins-official, 38k stars), Using Superpowers (farm-fe/farm, 5.6k stars) and Executing Plans Inline (obra/superpowers, 296k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Authoring?

automagik-dev (a GitHub organization) maintains it in automagik-dev/genie, which has 346 GitHub stars. The repository holds 19 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: automagik-dev/genie on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.