Skill Creator
Azure/azqr
Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills, and measure skill performance.
A skill your agent uses when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment.
Install Writing Skills
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup writing-skills --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills .claude/skills/writing-skills && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "writing-skills" agent skill from https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills into .claude/skills/writing-skills/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-skills", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skillsType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup writing-skills --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills .agents/skills/writing-skills && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-skills" agent skill from https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills into .agents/skills/writing-skills/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-skills", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup writing-skills --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills .cursor/skills/writing-skills && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "writing-skills" agent skill from https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills into .cursor/skills/writing-skills/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-skills", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git --path plugins/start/skills/writing-skills--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup writing-skills --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills .gemini/skills/writing-skills && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-skills" agent skill from https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills into .gemini/skills/writing-skills/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-skills", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup writing-skillsInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills .github/skills/writing-skills && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-skills" agent skill from https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills into .github/skills/writing-skills/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-skills", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install rsmdt/the-startup writing-skills --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills .opencode/skills/writing-skills && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "writing-skills" agent skill from https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup/tree/main/plugins/start/skills/writing-skills into .opencode/skills/writing-skills/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "writing-skills", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
writing-skills- GitHub stars
- 560
- Token cost
- ~1.1k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 489 words
- Files
- 8
- Skills in repo
- 27
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
A skill your agent uses when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment.
- Works in 7 steps: Select Mode → Check Duplicates (Create mode only) → Create Skill → …
- Creating new skills
- SKILL.md covers Persona, Interface, Constraints and Red Flags — STOP, plus 2 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Writing Skills is an agent skill from rsmdt/the-startup. Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment. Triggers include skill authoring requests, skill review needs, or "the skill doesn't work" complaints.
Its SKILL.md is about 1.1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 9 other files (for example `examples/canonical-skill.md`, `examples/output-example.md` and `reference/common-failures.md`).
It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Skill authoring. The repository describes itself as: The Agentic Startup - A collection of Claude Code commands, skills, and agents. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Creating new skills
- Editing existing skills
- Auditing skill quality
- Converting skills to markdown conventions
Example prompts
- “the skill doesn”
- “/writing-skills”
Workflow steps
7 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 88d447c. 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
Writing Skills loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 70 tokens; SKILL.md has 489 words of instructions outside code blocks.
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 rsmdt/the-startup at commit 88d447c, republished under its MIT licence (© rsmdt). 489 words, ~1,096 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/writing-skills/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 7 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.- name
- writing-skills
- description
- Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment. Triggers include skill authoring requests, skill review needs, or "the skill doesn't work" complaints.
Persona
Act as a skill authoring specialist that creates, audits, converts, and maintains Claude Code skills following the conventions in reference/conventions.md.
Request: $ARGUMENTS
Interface
SkillAuditResult { check: string status: PASS | WARN | FAIL recommendation?: string }
State { request = $ARGUMENTS mode: Create | Audit | Convert skillPath: string type: Technique | Pattern | Reference | Coordination }
Constraints
Always:
- Verify every skill change — don't ship based on conceptual analysis alone.
- Search for duplicates before creating any new skill.
- Follow the gold-standard conventions in reference/conventions.md.
- Test discipline-enforcing skills with pressure scenarios (see reference/testing-with-subagents.md).
Never:
- Ship a skill without verification (frontmatter, structure, entry point).
- Write a description that summarizes the workflow (agents skip the body).
- Accept "I can see the fix is correct" — test it anyway.
Red Flags — STOP
If you catch yourself thinking any of these, STOP and follow the full workflow:
| Rationalization | Reality |
|---|---|
| "I'll just create a quick skill" | Search for duplicates first |
| "Mine is different enough" | If >50% overlap, update existing skill |
| "It's just a small change" | Small changes break skills too |
| "I can see the fix is correct" | Test it anyway |
| "The pattern analysis shows..." | Analysis != verification |
| "No time to test" | Untested skills waste more time when they fail |
Reference Materials
- reference/conventions.md — skill structure, PICS layout, transformation checklist
- reference/common-failures.md — failure patterns, anti-patterns, fixes
- reference/output-format.md — audit checklist, issue categories
- reference/testing-with-subagents.md — pressure scenarios for discipline-enforcing skills
- reference/persuasion-principles.md — language patterns for rule-enforcement skills
- examples/output-example.md — concrete output example
- examples/canonical-skill.md — annotated skill demonstrating all conventions
Workflow
1. Select Mode
match ($ARGUMENTS) { create | write | new skill => Create mode audit | review | fix | "doesn't work" => Audit mode convert | transform | refactor to markdown => Convert mode }
2. Check Duplicates (Create mode only)
Search existing skills:
- Glob:
plugins/*/skills/*/SKILL.md - Grep description fields for keyword overlap.
- If >50% functionality overlap: propose updating existing skill instead.
- If <50%: proceed with new skill, explain justification.
Show full SKILL.md (193 more words)Show less
3. Create Skill
- Run step 2 (Check Duplicates).
- Determine skill type (Technique, Pattern, Reference, Coordination).
- Read reference/conventions.md for current conventions.
- Write SKILL.md following PICS + Workflow structure.
- Run step 6 (Verify Skill).
4. Audit Skill
- Read the skill file and all reference/ files.
- Read reference/output-format.md for audit checklist.
- Identify issue category and root cause, not just symptoms.
- Propose specific fix.
- Test fix via subagent before proposing — don't just analyze.
- Run step 6 (Verify Skill).
5. Convert Skill
- Read existing skill completely.
- Read reference/conventions.md for the transformation checklist.
- Apply each checklist item.
- Verify no content/logic was lost in transformation.
- Run step 6 (Verify Skill).
6. Verify Skill
Verify frontmatter: Read first 10 lines — valid YAML? name + description present?
Verify structure: Grep for ## headings — PICS sections present?
Verify size: Line count < 500? If not, identify content to externalize.
Verify conventions: Read reference/conventions.md and check compliance.
For discipline-enforcing skills: Launch Task subagent with pressure scenario per reference/testing-with-subagents.md.
7. Present Result
Format report per reference/output-format.md.
Entry Point
match (mode) { Create => steps 2, 3, 7 Audit => steps 4, 7 Convert => steps 5, 7 }
© rsmdt, 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 7 other files in plugins/start/skills/writing-skills of rsmdt/the-startup.
- SKILL.md
- examples/canonical-skill.md
- examples/output-example.md
- reference/common-failures.md
- reference/conventions.md
- reference/output-format.md
- reference/persuasion-principles.md
- reference/testing-with-subagents.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 88d447c
Compare with similar skills
Writing 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.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing Skills this skillrsmdt/the-startup | 560 | — | ~1.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Skill CreatorAzure/azqr | 796 | 89 repos | ~8.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Claude Code Skill Developer Guidediet103/claude-code-infrastructure-showcase | 10k | 11 repos | ~3.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Darwin Skill Optimizeralchaincyf/darwin-skill | 6.2k | 1 repos | ~4.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Claude Code Command Developmentanthropics/claude-plugins-official | 38k | 10 repos | ~4.8k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Claude Code Plugin Structureanthropics/claude-plugins-official | 38k | 10 repos | ~3.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 |
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Questions about Writing Skills
What does Writing Skills do?
A skill your agent uses when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment. Writing Skills is an agent skill from rsmdt/the-startup. Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment.
When should I use Writing Skills?
Writing Skills fits situations like: creating new skills; editing existing skills; auditing skill quality; converting skills to markdown conventions.
How do I install Writing Skills in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/start/skills/writing-skills in rsmdt/the-startup) into .claude/skills/writing-skills in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Writing Skills in Codex?
Run `npx skills add rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-skills -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/start/skills/writing-skills in rsmdt/the-startup) into .agents/skills/writing-skills in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Writing 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 rsmdt/the-startup --skill writing-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/writing-skills, .gemini/skills/writing-skills, .github/skills/writing-skills and .opencode/skills/writing-skills in your project.
What does Writing Skills need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Writing Skills is instructions for the agent only.
Does Writing Skills 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 Writing 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 Writing Skills use?
Writing 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 Writing Skills use?
About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.4k 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 Writing Skills?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Writing Skills: Skill Creator (Azure/azqr, 796 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 Writing Skills?
rsmdt (a GitHub user) maintains it in rsmdt/the-startup, which has 560 GitHub stars. The repository holds 27 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 3, 2026.
Source: rsmdt/the-startup on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.