Prompt Authoring

Use this skill when the work is prompt authoring or prompt repair, not generic writing.

Install

npx skills add https://github.com/aelaguiz/authoring-skills.git -g -a codex -a openclaw --skill prompt-authoring -y

When to use

• The user wants a new system prompt, skill prompt, agent prompt, reviewer prompt, or reusable prompt contract.
• The user wants to strengthen an existing prompt without rewriting its entire personality.
• The user wants a prompt refactored so brittle heuristics become examples, rationale, or litmus tests.
• The user wants a findings-first audit of a prompt for myopia, wrong-layer content, weak commander’s intent, or hidden heuristics.

When not to use

• The task is ordinary copy editing, summarization, or product-spec writing rather than prompt design.
• The user only needs a sentence polished, not a prompt contract repaired.
• The prompt text or binding brief is unavailable and cannot be inspected.

Non-negotiables

• Push back against heuristic and myopic prompt design aggressively.
• Keep commander’s intent mission-level; push concrete behaviors lower into success/failure, recognition tests, process, and examples.
• Teach principles and recognition tests, not keyword lists, lookup tables, or canned action menus.
• Fix the right section instead of smearing new guidance across the whole prompt.
• Preserve useful prompt magic during refactors by extracting the durable principle and demoting brittle heuristics into examples, rationale, or litmus tests.
• Work only from the prompt and the references listed here; do not assume hidden supporting material.
• If the prompt or needed context is missing, stop and say so instead of inventing context.

First move

1. Classify the job as author, edit, refactor, or audit.
2. Read references/prompt-pattern-contract.md.
3. Read the smallest additional reference that matches the job:
   • references/workflow-and-modes.md for mode routing and output expectations
   • references/high-leverage-sections.md for system context, quality bar, output contracts, and rationale patterns
   • references/edit-refactor-audit.md for repair loops, litmus tests, and section-targeting
   • references/examples-and-anti-examples.md when you need grounded examples or want to sanity-check framing

Workflow

1. Lock the single job and the desired outcome before touching wording.
2. Keep commander’s intent and success/failure higher than process mechanics.
3. Make the rich sections carry real weight: system context, quality bar, output contract, and error handling should teach stakes and judgment, not just fill space.
4. Place or repair sections in preferred-pattern order rather than patching opportunistically.
5. Use examples and rationale to illustrate the principle, never to replace the principle.
6. Run the anti-heuristic and hidden-context checks before returning.

Output expectations

• author: return the finished prompt, plus only the shortest note needed to explain any important assumption.
• edit: return the patched prompt and a short explanation of which section changed and why.
• refactor: return the rewritten prompt and a short note on what useful behavior was preserved versus relocated.
• audit: return findings first. Name the issue, why it is risky, and exactly which section should change.

Reference map

• references/workflow-and-modes.md — choose the right mode and keep the output shape honest.
• references/prompt-pattern-contract.md — the contract for section order, ownership, and anti-pattern bans.
• references/high-leverage-sections.md — how to make system context, quality bar, schema, and rationale sections actually teach.
• references/edit-refactor-audit.md — how to repair prompts without flattening them.
• references/examples-and-anti-examples.md — real repo-derived examples and anti-examples; use them to teach, not to cargo-cult.