Skill Builder

Build or revise Claude skills from evidence, not instinct.

Core rule

Inspect the current workspace first.

For new skills, major redesigns, or multi-source merges, research similar remote skills before drafting. Show skills.markdown and a comparison table before you synthesize the final result.

Default workflow

1. Classify the job before drafting.

   • Decide whether this is new-skill creation, substantial redesign, or a small local cleanup.
   • Use the lightest workflow that still preserves evidence quality.

2. Inspect the local workspace first.

   • Run tree on the current working directory, or produce an equivalent tree-style listing if tree is unavailable.
   • Read the files that define the current workflow, constraints, references, and examples.
   • Treat this as the local evidence set.

3. Escalate to remote research when the task is non-trivial.

   • Remote research is mandatory for new skills, meaningful redesigns, or any task that combines patterns from multiple sources.
   • Remote research is optional only for small, local-only fixes where outside comparison would not change the outcome.
   • Read references/research-workflow.md before running this phase.

4. Produce a research artifact before synthesis.

   • Search remote skill ecosystems.
   • Select high-signal candidates instead of collecting near-duplicates.
   • Inspect the downloaded corpus as first-class evidence.
   • Emit skills.markdown so the research phase is visible and reusable.

5. Compare before combining.

   • Build a markdown table before proposing the design.
   • Include source, focus, strengths, gaps, relevant paths or sections, and inherit-or-avoid decisions.
   • Read references/comparison-workflow.md for the comparison sequence and required columns.

6. Synthesize an original result.

   • Separate evidence, comparison, selection, and generation.
   • Distill patterns. Do not clone an existing SKILL.md and rename it.
   • If the target repo has local conventions, fit the output to those conventions exactly.

7. Keep the result lean.

   • Put trigger language, workflow, decision rules, and reference routing in SKILL.md.
   • Push bulky detail into references/.
   • Add scripts, assets, or extra docs only when they are clearly required by the target repo or workflow.
   • If contributing to a curated pack, remove unnecessary clutter before finishing.

8. Finish with a repo-fit check.

   • Confirm canonical naming across directory, frontmatter, README labels, and cross-skill references.
   • Confirm every file in references/ is explicitly routed from SKILL.md.
   • Confirm the final skill matches the target repo’s style and does not ship dead weight.

Output contract

Unless the user explicitly wants a different format, show work in this order:

1. workspace scan summary
2. research summary with skills.markdown
3. markdown comparison table
4. synthesis strategy
5. generated or revised skill artifacts
6. final fit and cleanup checks

Reference files

Load only the files needed for the task.

Guardrails

• Do not draft the final skill before reading the current workspace.
• Do not claim research happened unless skills.markdown exists.
• Do not compare sources mentally and hide the table.
• Do not copy a source skill wholesale.
• Do not add unreferenced files to references/.
• Do not keep packaging helpers, assets, or README clutter unless the target repo genuinely needs them.