New: 98,000+ skills indexed from GitHub repos with 100+ stars · every skill safety-checkedBrowse top skillsTop skills
Esc to closeBrowse all skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills

Official agent skill

Skill Authoring

by Azure in Azure/azure-sdk-tools

Write Agent Skills that comply with the agentskills.io specification.

OfficialMITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Skill Authoring

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Azure/azure-sdk-tools --skill skill-authoring -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Azure/azure-sdk-tools skill-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/Azure/azure-sdk-tools.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/azure-sdk-tools/skills/skill-authoring .claude/skills/skill-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
skill-authoring
GitHub stars
134
Token cost
~465 tokens
SKILL.md length
150 words
Files
10 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
35
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Write Agent Skills that comply with the agentskills.io specification.

  • Works in 3 steps: Create skill directory with SKILL.md → Add frontmatter: name, description,… → Run waza check {skill-name} to validate
  • : general documentation
  • SKILL.md covers Constraints, Structure, Progressive Disclosure and MCP Tools, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Skill Authoring is an agent skill from Azure/azure-sdk-tools, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Write Agent Skills that comply with the agentskills.io specification. WHEN: "create a skill", "new skill", "write a skill", "skill template", "skill structure", "review skill", "skill PR", "skill compliance", "SKILL.md format", "skill frontmatter", "skill best practices". DO NOT USE FOR: general documentation. INVOKES: waza CLI.

Its SKILL.md is about 470 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 13 other files, including reference files (for example `eval.yaml`, `evals/eval.yaml` and `evals/tasks/anti-trigger.yaml`). Compatibility notes: copilot-chat

It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Skill authoring. The repository describes itself as: Tools repository leveraged by the Azure SDK team. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • : general documentation
  • Tasks that involve Skill authoring

Example prompts

  • “create a skill”
  • “new skill”
  • “write a skill”
  • “/skill-authoring”

Requirements

  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): copilot-chat

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Create skill directory with SKILL.md
  2. Add frontmatter: name, description, license
  3. Run waza check {skill-name} to validate

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit cc5ca24. 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.

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    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.

  • Compatibility

    copilot-chat

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Skill Authoring loads about 465 tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.4k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 87 tokens; SKILL.md has 150 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~87
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~465
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~3.4k

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 Azure/azure-sdk-tools at commit cc5ca24, republished under its MIT licence (© Azure). 150 words, ~465 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/skill-authoring/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 9 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
skill-authoring
description
Write Agent Skills that comply with the agentskills.io specification. WHEN: "create a skill", "new skill", "write a skill", "skill template", "skill structure", "review skill", "skill PR", "skill compliance", "SKILL.md format", "skill frontmatter", "skill best practices". DO NOT USE FOR: general documentation. INVOKES: waza CLI.
compatibility
copilot-chat
license
MIT
metadata.author
Microsoft
metadata.version
1.0.0

Skill Authoring Guide

Constraints

  • name: 1-64 chars, lowercase + hyphens, match directory
  • description: inline double-quoted, ≤60 words, ≤1024 chars
  • Use WHEN: with quoted trigger phrases (preferred over USE FOR:)
  • SKILL.md: <500 tokens (soft), <5000 (hard)
  • references/*.md: <1000 tokens each

Structure

  • SKILL.md (required) — Frontmatter + instructions
  • references/ (optional) — Detailed docs, loaded on demand
  • scripts/ (optional) — Executable code

Progressive Disclosure

Metadata loads at startup. SKILL.md on activation. References load when linked via [text](references/file.md).

MCP Tools

ToolPurpose
NoneCLI-only; uses local file tools

CLI fallback: Primary mode is CLI-based. No MCP servers required.

Quick Start

  1. Create skill directory with SKILL.md
  2. Add frontmatter: name, description, license
  3. Run waza check {skill-name} to validate

Examples

  • "Create a new skill for code review"
  • "Review my skill for compliance"

Troubleshooting

If waza check reports broken links, verify reference file paths match exactly.

References

© Azure, 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 9 other files (references) in plugins/azure-sdk-tools/skills/skill-authoring of Azure/azure-sdk-tools.

  • SKILL.md
  • eval.yaml
  • evals/eval.yaml
  • evals/tasks/anti-trigger.yaml
  • evals/tasks/basic-trigger.yaml
  • evals/trigger_tests.yaml
  • references/guidelines.md
  • references/reference-guide.md
  • references/validation.md
  • tasks/authoring-basic-001.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit cc5ca24

Compare with similar skills

Skill 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.

Skill Authoring compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Skill Authoring this skillAzure/azure-sdk-tools134—~465Automated safety check: PassMIT
Skill CreatorAzure/azqr79589 repos~8.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Claude Code Skill Developer Guidediet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase10k11 repos~3.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Darwin Skill Optimizeralchaincyf/darwin-skill6.2k1 repos~4.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Claude Code Command Developmentanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k10 repos~4.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Claude Code Plugin Structureanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k10 repos~3.4kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

Similar skills

  • Skill Creator

    Azure/azqr

    Official

    Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills, and measure skill performance.

    795 GitHub starsUsed in 89 repos~8.2k tokens
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed

  • Claude Code Skill Developer Guide

    diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase

    A guide to creating and managing Claude Code skills with auto-activation: skill-rules.json triggers, hooks, enforcement levels, YAML frontmatter and progressive disclosure.

    10k GitHub starsUsed in 11 repos~3.5k tokens
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed

  • Darwin Skill Optimizer

    alchaincyf/darwin-skill

    Scores SKILL.md files on a nine-dimension rubric, then improves them in a keep-or-revert loop with independent judge agents, test prompts, git history and human checkpoints.

    6.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~4.7k tokens
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed

  • Claude Code Command Development

    anthropics/claude-plugins-official

    Official

    Explains how to write Claude Code slash commands: Markdown files with YAML frontmatter, arguments, file references, bash context and interactive prompts.

    38k GitHub starsUsed in 10 repos~4.8k tokens
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed

  • Claude Code Plugin Structure

    anthropics/claude-plugins-official

    Official

    Explains the directory layout, plugin.json manifest and component organization of a Claude Code plugin, including auto-discovery and portable paths.

    38k GitHub starsUsed in 10 repos~3.4k tokens
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed

  • Skill Release Gate

    rohitg00/ai-engineering-from-scratch

    Evaluates an Agent Skill bundle before release for structure, trigger quality, artifact improvement, script correctness, safety, installed-tree integrity and host portability.

    66k GitHub stars~1k tokensUpdated today
    Agent WorkflowsAuto-check passed

More from Azure/azure-sdk-tools

All 35 skills in this repo

  • Apiview Feedback Resolution

    Azure/azure-sdk-tools

    Official

    Analyze and resolve APIView review feedback on Azure SDK PRs.

    134 GitHub stars~547 tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Azsdk Common Live And Recorded Tests

    Azure/azure-sdk-tools

    Official

    Deploy test resources and run Azure SDK tests in live, record, or playback mode.

    134 GitHub stars~1.5k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check: notes

  • Azsdk Common Pipeline Analysis

    Azure/azure-sdk-tools

    Official

    Analyze Azure SDK CI/CD pipeline failures into a structured diagnosis, and define the required output format.

    134 GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Azsdk Common Prepare Release Plan

    Azure/azure-sdk-tools

    Official

    Create, get, update, abandon, and link SDK PRs to release plan work items for Azure SDK releases.

    134 GitHub stars~2.7k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Azure Typespec Assessment

    Azure/azure-sdk-tools

    Official

    Assess Azure TypeSpec Git diffs for semantic intent, REST and downstream SDK breaking changes, Azure Guidelines compliance, and documentation completeness.

    134 GitHub stars~1.9k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

Categories

Questions about Skill Authoring

What does Skill Authoring do?

Write Agent Skills that comply with the agentskills.io specification. Skill Authoring is an agent skill from Azure/azure-sdk-tools, published by the product's own GitHub organization.io specification.

When should I use Skill Authoring?

Skill Authoring fits situations like: : general documentation; tasks that involve Skill authoring.

How do I install Skill Authoring in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Skill Authoring in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Azure/azure-sdk-tools --skill skill-authoring -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/azure-sdk-tools/skills/skill-authoring in Azure/azure-sdk-tools) into .agents/skills/skill-authoring in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Skill 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 Azure/azure-sdk-tools --skill 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/skill-authoring, .gemini/skills/skill-authoring, .github/skills/skill-authoring and .opencode/skills/skill-authoring in your project.

What does Skill Authoring need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Skill Authoring is instructions for the agent only. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): copilot-chat.

Does Skill Authoring access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Skill 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 Skill Authoring use?

Skill Authoring is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Skill Authoring use?

About 465 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.9k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 3k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Skill Authoring?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Skill Authoring: Skill Creator (Azure/azqr, 795 stars), Claude Code Skill Developer Guide (diet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase, 10k stars), Darwin Skill Optimizer (alchaincyf/darwin-skill, 6.2k stars) and Claude Code Command Development (anthropics/claude-plugins-official, 38k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Skill Authoring?

Azure (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in Azure/azure-sdk-tools, which has 134 GitHub stars. The repository holds 35 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: Azure/azure-sdk-tools on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.