Skill Creator

Create effective Agent Skills using progressive disclosure.

When to Create a Skill

Create a skill when you notice:

• Repeating context across conversations
• Domain expertise needed repeatedly
• Project-specific knowledge the agent should know automatically

Progressive Disclosure

Skills load in 3 levels:

1. Metadata (~27 tokens) - YAML frontmatter for triggering
2. Instructions (<680 tokens) - SKILL.md body with core patterns
3. Resources (unlimited) - references/ scripts/ assets/ loaded on demand

Key: Keep Levels 1 & 2 lean. Move details to Level 3.

Quick Workflow

1. Create skill directory: .aider-desk/skills/my-skill/
2. Write SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description) and body instructions
3. Add detailed docs to references/ as needed
4. Verify: mention a trigger keyword — skill should appear in active skills sidebar

If skill doesn't load: check YAML syntax is valid, name is lowercase-hyphenated, and description contains the trigger terms users would say

SKILL.md Example

---
name: deploy-helper
description: Deploy AiderDesk builds to staging and production environments. Use when deploying, releasing, or publishing builds.
---

# Deploy Helper

Build and deploy AiderDesk to target environments.

## Steps

1. Run `npm run build` to generate production artifacts
2. Verify build output exists in `dist/`
3. Deploy to staging: `./scripts/deploy.sh staging`
4. Verify deployment: check health endpoint returns 200

## Troubleshooting

- Build fails: check `tsconfig.json` paths and run `npm run typecheck`

## References

- [environments.md](references/environments.md) - Environment configs

Structure

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md       # Core instructions + metadata
├── references/    # Detailed docs (loaded as needed)
├── scripts/       # Executable operations
└── assets/        # Templates, images, files

References

• quick-start.md - Creating your first skill
• writing-guide.md - Writing effective skills
• development-process.md - Step-by-step workflow
• skill-examples.md - Patterns and examples
• cli-reference.md - CLI tool usage
• agent-skills-resources.md - Architecture and best practices