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Agent skill

Skills Create

by coleam00 in coleam00/skills

Author a new Claude Code skill the house way, or refactor a fat skill into a lean SKILL.md + references/.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Skills Create

skills CLI
$ npx skills add coleam00/skills --skill skills-create -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install coleam00/skills skills-create --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/coleam00/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/skills-create .claude/skills/skills-create && 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
skills-create
GitHub stars
676
Token cost
~1.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
764 words
Files
6 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
34
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Author a new Claude Code skill the house way, or refactor a fat skill into a lean SKILL.md + references/.

  • Works in 5 steps: Gather context — the literal phrases… → Plan the resources — what repeats →… → Scaffold — copy… → …
  • You want to create a skill
  • SKILL.md covers Prescribe the craft, not the…, Classify the skill first, Step 0 — pick the mode (from… and Create — quick spine (full…, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Skills Create is an agent skill from coleam00/skills. Author a new Claude Code skill the house way, or refactor a fat skill into a lean SKILL.md + references/. Use when you want to "create a skill", "write a new skill", "turn a prompt or command into a skill", "split a skill into references", "trim a SKILL.md", or invoke /skills-create. The meta-skill — a skill that builds skills.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 7 other files, including reference files (for example `references/creating-skills.md`, `references/refactoring-skills.md` and `references/skill-standards.md`).

It sits in Development, covering Skill authoring and Refactoring. The repository describes itself as: The agent skills I actually use to build software with coding agents. The PIV loop, planning, worktrees, and the meta-skills for building your own AI Layer. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • You want to create a skill
  • Write a new skill
  • Command into a skill
  • Split a skill into references

Example prompts

  • “create a skill”
  • “write a new skill”
  • “turn a prompt or command into a skill”
  • “/skills-create”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Gather context — the literal phrases that should trigger it, the task start-to-finish, the gotchas, the
  2. Plan the resources — what repeats → scripts/; what informs the work → references/; what shapes the
  3. Scaffold — copy templates/SKILL.template.md to .claude/skills//SKILL.md; add references/ /
  4. Write the spine first — third-person trigger-rich description; imperative, lean body; push detail to
  5. Validate & iterate — references/validation.md (checklist → trigger test → run it for real).

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 847be08. 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.

Context cost

Skills Create loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.9k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 86 tokens; SKILL.md has 764 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~86
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.6k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~5.9k

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 coleam00/skills at commit 847be08, republished under its MIT licence (© coleam00). 764 words, ~1,577 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/skills-create/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 5 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
skills-create
description
Author a new Claude Code skill the house way, or refactor a fat skill into a lean SKILL.md + references/. Use when you want to "create a skill", "write a new skill", "turn a prompt or command into a skill", "split a skill into references", "trim a SKILL.md", or invoke /skills-create. The meta-skill — a skill that builds skills.
argument-hint
[create <name> | refactor <path/to/SKILL.md>] (blank = ask which)

Skills Create — the meta-skill

A skill that authors and refactors skills. Two jobs:

  • Create a new skill from scratch (or from an existing prompt/command).
  • Refactor a fat skill — split detail into references/, move output shapes into templates/, trim SKILL.md down to a lean spine of pointers.

It's built the way it teaches: a lean body that defers detail to references/. That's progressive disclosure, and this skill is its own worked example. It's all composable markdown: a skill is a SKILL.md plus optional files the agent loads only when it reaches for them.

Prescribe the craft, not the content

Be strict on how a skill is built and agnostic on what any given skill — or its output — should contain.

  • Prescribe (firm, universal): progressive disclosure · a third-person, trigger-rich description · an imperative, lean body · no duplication · every bundled file wired · deliberate invocation control · validation that fits the skill type. (See references/skill-standards.md.)
  • Do NOT prescribe (the author's call): the sections a plan/PRD/report should have, the domain vocabulary, the output shape, which phases exist. There is no canonical output — guide the author to a good decision, never hand them a fixed one.

Strict on the craft so the author stays free on the content. (Guide, don't prescribe — and take-vs-build: you build a skill when you own the process and want it to follow YOUR way.)

Classify the skill first

Pin the type before applying the craft — the guidance is proportional, not one-size-fits-all:

TypeWhat it isApply
Workflowa multi-step procedure (plan, review, ship)the full lens incl. verifiable validation gates
Artifact-generatorproduces a document/outputContext-is-King + a suggested (never mandated) output shape
Knowledge / referencefacts the agent consultsContext-is-King + information-dense; no phases, no validation loop
Tool-wrapperdrives a script / CLI / APIa deterministic script + sharp triggers; validation = the tool's own exit code

A skill can blend types — apply the union of what fits. Never force a workflow's machinery (phases, loops, output skeletons) onto a knowledge skill. Full detail: references/skill-standards.md → Skill types.

Step 0 — pick the mode (from $ARGUMENTS)

Parse $ARGUMENTS to pick the mode and the target:

  • Starts with create [<name>] (or is clearly a new-skill ask) → create mode; use <name> as the skill name if one was given → follow references/creating-skills.md.
  • Starts with refactor <path/to/SKILL.md> (or points at an existing skill) → refactor mode on that path → follow references/refactoring-skills.md.
  • Blank or unclear → ask which mode and what the skill/target is. Don't guess.

Both modes obey the same craft rules → read references/skill-standards.md first.

Show full SKILL.md (358 more words)Show less

Create — quick spine (full detail: references/creating-skills.md)

  1. Gather context — the literal phrases that should trigger it, the task start-to-finish, the gotchas, the patterns to mirror. Ask the user; don't write yet.
  2. Plan the resources — what repeats → scripts/; what informs the work → references/; what shapes the output → templates/; what you don't own / changes upstream → cite a path/URL; what only exists at runtime → gather it (ask the user, read git/codebase).
  3. Scaffold — copy templates/SKILL.template.md to .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md; add references/ / templates/ only as the plan needs.
  4. Write the spine first — third-person trigger-rich description; imperative, lean body; push detail to references. Get it triggering before you write the references.
  5. Validate & iterate — references/validation.md (checklist → trigger test → run it for real).

Refactor — quick spine (full detail: references/refactoring-skills.md)

  1. Inventory the SKILL.md — mark each block spine (keep) vs extractable (output templates, schemas, long examples, exhaustive pattern/edge-case lists).
  2. Extract verbatim into the target skill's references/ (or templates/ for output shapes) — don't reword anything that affects behavior.
  3. Replace with a pointer — for always-needed content, a mandatory-read line ("Before producing output, read templates/<x>.md"); for sometimes-needed content, a lazy pointer.
  4. Behavior-preservation check — same process, same output as before. Nothing lost, nothing duplicated.
  5. Validate — references/validation.md.

The #1 refactor risk: moving an always-needed output format into a lazily-loaded reference, so the agent forgets to read it and the output silently changes. Always pair such an extraction with a mandatory-read line.

When to build a skill at all

Build one when you own a process and want the agent to follow your way of it, repeatedly — the take-vs-build rule. A rough threshold: you've prompted the same thing ~3 times (the Rule of Three) → bank it as a skill. Don't build a skill for a one-off, or for a tool whose owner already ships a good one.

Resources

  • references/skill-standards.md — the craft rules: skill types, anatomy, context sources, frontmatter spec, progressive disclosure, writing voice, no-duplication, "structure implies a maintainer", wiring, portability.
  • references/creating-skills.md — the full create runbook (incl. porting an existing prompt/command).
  • references/refactoring-skills.md — the full split-and-trim runbook, with a before/after.
  • references/validation.md — the validation gates (structure · description · body · disclosure · behavior · trigger test).
  • templates/SKILL.template.md — the lean SKILL.md skeleton to scaffold from.

© coleam00, 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 5 other files (references) in .claude/skills/skills-create of coleam00/skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/creating-skills.md
  • references/refactoring-skills.md
  • references/skill-standards.md
  • references/validation.md
  • templates/SKILL.template.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 847be08

Compare with similar skills

Skills Create 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.

Skills Create compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Skills Create this skillcoleam00/skills676—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Skill Writingmillionco/expect3.6k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Prp Meta SkillWirasm/prp2.3k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Prp Meta SkillWirasm/prp2.3k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Learning OpportunitiesDrCatHicks/learning-opportunities2.5k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-4.0
Build Cs Skillcodestable/CodeStable1.1k—~3kAutomated safety check: PassNone

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  • Skill Writing

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Categories

Questions about Skills Create

What does Skills Create do?

Author a new Claude Code skill the house way, or refactor a fat skill into a lean SKILL.md + references/. Skills Create is an agent skill from coleam00/skills.md + references/.

When should I use Skills Create?

Skills Create fits situations like: you want to create a skill; write a new skill; command into a skill; split a skill into references.

How do I install Skills Create in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add coleam00/skills --skill skills-create -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/skills-create in coleam00/skills) into .claude/skills/skills-create in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Skills Create in Codex?

Run `npx skills add coleam00/skills --skill skills-create -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/skills-create in coleam00/skills) into .agents/skills/skills-create in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Skills Create 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 coleam00/skills --skill skills-create -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/skills-create, .gemini/skills/skills-create, .github/skills/skills-create and .opencode/skills/skills-create in your project.

What does Skills Create need to run?

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

Does Skills Create 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 Skills Create 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 Skills Create use?

Skills Create 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 Skills Create use?

About 1.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.3k 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 4.3k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Skills Create?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Skills Create: Skill Writing (millionco/expect, 3.6k stars), Prp Meta Skill (Wirasm/prp, 2.3k stars), Prp Meta Skill (Wirasm/prp, 2.3k stars) and Learning Opportunities (DrCatHicks/learning-opportunities, 2.5k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Skills Create?

coleam00 (a GitHub user) maintains it in coleam00/skills, which has 676 GitHub stars. The repository holds 34 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: coleam00/skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.