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

Creating Skills

by microsoft in microsoft/vstest

Create custom agent capabilities when discovering novel tools, receiving task-agnostic tips from reviewers, or after researching specialized workflows not covered in existing instructions.

OfficialMITAuto-check passedWriting & Content

Install Creating Skills

skills CLI
$ npx skills add microsoft/vstest --skill creating-skills -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install microsoft/vstest creating-skills --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/microsoft/vstest.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.github/skills/creating-skills .claude/skills/creating-skills && 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
creating-skills
GitHub stars
969
Token cost
~1.5k tokens
SKILL.md length
665 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
5
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Create custom agent capabilities when discovering novel tools, receiving task-agnostic tips from reviewers, or after researching specialized workflows not covered in existing instructions.

  • Works in 3 steps: Does it exist already? → Should an existing skill be expanded? → Should existing skill content change?
  • Tasks that involve Creative writing and fiction
  • SKILL.md covers Pre-Check: Avoid Duplication, Skill Structure, YAML Frontmatter Best Practices and Skill Content Best Practices, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Creating Skills is an agent skill from microsoft/vstest, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Create custom agent capabilities when discovering novel tools, receiving task-agnostic tips from reviewers, or after researching specialized workflows not covered in existing instructions. Teaches structure, YAML optimization for LLM discoverability, and token efficiency.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.5k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Writing & Content, covering Creative writing and fiction. It works with GitHub. The repository describes itself as: Visual Studio Test Platform is the runner and engine that powers test explorer and vstest.console. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Creative writing and fiction

Example prompts

  • “/creating-skills”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Does it exist already?
  2. Should an existing skill be expanded?
  3. Should existing skill content change?

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 05cd781. 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 bash).

    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
    • docs.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

Creating Skills loads about 1.5k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 72 tokens; SKILL.md has 665 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~72
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.5k

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 microsoft/vstest at commit 05cd781, republished under its MIT licence (© microsoft). 665 words, ~1,473 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/creating-skills/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
creating-skills
description
Create custom agent capabilities when discovering novel tools, receiving task-agnostic tips from reviewers, or after researching specialized workflows not covered in existing instructions. Teaches structure, YAML optimization for LLM discoverability, and token efficiency.

Creating GitHub Copilot Agent Skills

This skill teaches you how to create effective GitHub Copilot Agent Skills for this repository.

Pre-Check: Avoid Duplication

STOP and check before creating a new skill:

  1. Does it exist already?

    • List all skills: ls -la .github/skills/
    • Read existing skill frontmatter and content
    • If semantically similar skill exists, STOP

  2. Should an existing skill be expanded?

    • If frontmatter semantically matches your use case → Update existing skill's description
    • Add keywords to improve discoverability rather than creating duplicate

  3. Should existing skill content change?

    • If frontmatter matches but content incomplete → Add section to existing skill
    • Enhance with additional examples, procedures, or troubleshooting
    • Update frontmatter only if significantly broadening scope

Only create new skill if:

  • No semantic overlap with existing skills
  • Addresses distinct problem domain
  • Has unique triggering conditions

Skill Structure

Directory Placement

Skills should be placed in .github/skills/ directory:

  • Project skills (repository-specific): .github/skills/skill-name/

Each skill must have its own subdirectory with a lowercase, hyphenated name that matches the name field in the frontmatter.

File Requirements

Every skill directory must contain a SKILL.md file (case-sensitive) with:

  1. YAML Frontmatter (required):

  2. Markdown Body with clear instructions, examples, procedures, guidelines, and references

Additional Resources

Skills can include:

  • Scripts (e.g., .sh, .fsx, .ps1)
  • Example files
  • Templates
  • Reference documentation

YAML Frontmatter Best Practices

The frontmatter is critical for skill discoverability and token efficiency:

Required Fields

  • name (string): Unique identifier, lowercase with hyphens

    • Must match the directory name
    • Should be descriptive but concise
    • Example: hypothesis-driven-debugging, github-actions-failure-debugging

  • description (string): When and why to use this skill

    • Should be 1-2 sentences
    • Include trigger keywords that help the AI recognize when to load the skill
    • Example: "Guide for debugging failing GitHub Actions workflows. Use this when asked to debug failing GitHub Actions workflows."
    • SEO-like optimization for LLMs: Include key terms that would appear in user requests
Optional Fields
  • license (string): License for the skill (e.g., MIT, Apache-2.0)
Description Guidelines

The description is crucial for skill discoverability. Think of it like SEO for LLMs:

✅ Good descriptions (specific, actionable, keyword-rich):

  • "Guide for debugging failing GitHub Actions workflows. Use this when asked to debug failing GitHub Actions workflows."
  • "Systematic approach to investigating F# compiler performance issues using traces, dumps, and benchmarks."
  • "Step-by-step process for analyzing test failures using hypothesis-driven debugging."

❌ Poor descriptions (vague, generic):

  • "Helps with debugging"
  • "Tool for testing"
  • "Useful utility"
Show full SKILL.md (292 more words)Show less
Token Efficiency

Skills should be concise to avoid wasting context tokens:

  • Keep instructions focused and relevant
  • Use bullet points and numbered lists
  • Avoid redundant information
  • Reference external resources rather than duplicating content
  • The agent will only load skills when relevant, so clear descriptions help prevent unnecessary loading

Skill Content Best Practices

Structure
  1. Title and Overview: Brief introduction
  2. When to Use: Clear triggering conditions
  3. Prerequisites: Required tools, setup, or knowledge
  4. Step-by-Step Instructions: Numbered procedures
  5. Examples: Concrete use cases
  6. Troubleshooting: Common issues
  7. References: Links to related documentation
Writing Style
  • Use imperative mood ("Run the test", not "You should run the test")
  • Be specific and actionable
  • Include command examples with expected output
  • Use code blocks with language identifiers
  • Highlight warnings and critical information
  • Reference tools and APIs that the agent has access to
Examples

Always include concrete examples:

  • Command invocations with flags and arguments
  • Expected output and how to interpret it
  • Common variations and edge cases
  • Links to real-world usage in the repository

Testing Your Skill

After creating a skill:

  1. Verify the file structure:

    bash
    ls -la .github/skills/your-skill-name/
# Should show SKILL.md and any additional resources

  2. Validate YAML frontmatter:

    • Ensure proper YAML syntax
    • Required fields are present
    • Name matches directory name

  3. Test skill invocation:

    • Ask Copilot a question that should trigger the skill
    • Verify the skill is loaded (check response for skill-specific guidance)
    • Ensure instructions are clear and actionable

  4. Iterate based on usage:

    • Monitor how often the skill is used
    • Refine description for better discoverability
    • Update instructions based on feedback

Examples from This Repository

See existing skills in .github/skills/ for reference:

  • hypothesis-driven-debugging: Systematic failure investigation
  • Additional skills may be added over time

References

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

Files

Just SKILL.md in .github/skills/creating-skills of microsoft/vstest.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 05cd781

Compare with similar skills

Creating Skills 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.

Creating Skills compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Creating Skills this skillmicrosoft/vstest969—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Editorial Reviewdanjdewhurst/story-skills2791 repos~3.6kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Codd Fable Consultyohey-w/codd-dev115—~3.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Story Multi-Perspective Reviewzenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode7.4k3 repos~3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Story Toolbox Routerzenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode7.4k1 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Short Web Fiction Trend Scanzenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode7.4k3 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

Similar skills

  • Editorial Review

    danjdewhurst/story-skills

    This skill should be used when the user asks for a "sensitivity reader", "authenticity reader", "cultural review", "is this portrayal okay", "real people in my novel", "defamation", "can I use song…

    279 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3.6k tokens
    Writing & ContentAuto-check: notes

  • Codd Fable Consult

    yohey-w/codd-dev

    Consult Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic's most capable model for deep, long-horizon reasoning — or whichever model currently holds that role) for a genuinely hard, novel CoDD architectural design…

    115 GitHub stars~3.8k tokensUpdated 23 days ago
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Story Multi-Perspective Review

    zenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode

    Reviews Chinese web-novel text with several reviewer agents in parallel, falling back to a single-agent pass, and reports structure, character, prose and setting problems with fixes.

    7.4k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~3k tokens
    Writing & ContentAuto-check passed

  • Story Toolbox Router

    zenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode

    Routes a Chinese web-novel writing request to the matching tool in a 13-skill toolbox, covers author habit memory, and can launch a local dashboard for browsing a project.

    7.4k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.7k tokens
    Writing & ContentAuto-check passed

  • Short Web Fiction Trend Scan

    zenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode

    Scans popular short web-fiction rankings on Chinese platforms such as Dianzhong and Heiyan to surface trending emotional hooks, themes and topic candidates with an expiry warning.

    7.4k GitHub starsUsed in 3 repos~1.2k tokens
    Writing & ContentAuto-check passed

  • InkOS Creative Harness

    Narcooo/inkos

    Drives long-form fiction, scripts, storyboards, interactive films and long-document translation through InkOS, with every change made by a typed action.

    10k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.1k tokens
    Writing & ContentAuto-check passed

More from microsoft/vstest

  • Trx Analysis

    microsoft/vstest

    Official

    Parse and analyze Visual Studio TRX test result files. An agent skill from microsoft/vstest.

    969 GitHub stars~1.8k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check passed

  • Validate Skills

    microsoft/vstest

    Official

    Validate that commands documented in skill files actually work.

    969 GitHub stars~759 tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check passed

  • Vstest Build Test

    microsoft/vstest

    Official

    Build, test, and validate changes in the vstest repository. An agent skill from microsoft/vstest.

    969 GitHub stars~1.9k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check passed

  • Expert Reviewing

    microsoft/vstest

    Official

    Route code and dependency changes to relevant review dimensions based on affected files and folders.

    969 GitHub stars~2k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check passed

Works with

Categories

Questions about Creating Skills

What does Creating Skills do?

Create custom agent capabilities when discovering novel tools, receiving task-agnostic tips from reviewers, or after researching specialized workflows not covered in existing instructions. Creating Skills is an agent skill from microsoft/vstest, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Create custom agent capabilities when discovering novel tools, receiving task-agnostic tips from reviewers, or after researching specialized workflows not covered in existing instructions.

When should I use Creating Skills?

Creating Skills fits situations like: tasks that involve Creative writing and fiction.

How do I install Creating Skills in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Creating Skills in Codex?

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

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

What does Creating Skills need to run?

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

Does Creating Skills access the network?

SKILL.md names 2 domains. As links in the text: github.com and docs.github.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Creating Skills 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 Creating Skills use?

Creating Skills 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 Creating Skills use?

About 1.5k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.9k 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 Creating Skills?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Creating Skills: Editorial Review (danjdewhurst/story-skills, 279 stars), Codd Fable Consult (yohey-w/codd-dev, 115 stars), Story Multi-Perspective Review (zenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode, 7.4k stars) and Story Toolbox Router (zenstory-ai/oh-story-claudecode, 7.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Creating Skills?

microsoft (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in microsoft/vstest, which has 969 GitHub stars. The repository holds 5 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

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