Skill Author

Create a new skill or refine an existing one. Skills are task starters, not role primers.

Inputs

• Are you creating a new skill or updating an existing skill? Please specify which skill and what changes are needed.
• Command name (hyphenated, e.g. skill-author)
• 1-2 sentence goal (what the user wants done)
• What triggers this skill (when should it be chosen over others?)

Workflow

1. Define scope — What this skill does and what it explicitly does not do. Link to AGENTS.md for project facts; do not duplicate them.

2. Choose metadata — name: hyphenated. description: short plain text, no extra : characters.

3. Write SKILL.md to .aide/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md using this sequence:

   1. Add YAML frontmatter with name and description only.
   2. Define the task clearly and avoid role framing or primer-style sections.
   3. Add an Inputs section describing the required inputs.
   4. Add a Workflow section with numbered, deterministic steps.
   5. Add a Reference section only when linking to a real file that must exist.
   6. Keep the file within 30-50 lines total.

4. Add bundled resources only if they pay for themselves — scripts/ for deterministic execution, no extra READMEs inside the skill folder.

5. Install — Run .aide/skills/install-claude.ps1. Reload tool UI and confirm /skill-name appears.

Authoring checklist

• Frontmatter is valid YAML
• description has no extra : characters
• Steps are actionable (no hand-wavy language)
• No references to deleted primer files
• File is 30-50 lines