Individual skill

author-skill

Use when authoring a NEW rsc skill or editing an existing one — scoping it to one job, writing the description that decides whether it ever loads, splitting the body into references/, writing its evals, auditing it against the rubric. NOT building a product feature (that is `specify`) and NOT designing an agent loop (that is `building-agents`).

skills/author-skill/SKILL.md

Read pinned source

Source commit d9d6bb338f66cc1e23998585e580a0ea45bbcb82

What was checked

Matches the observed repository HEAD: Yes
Scanner rules are current: No
Repository scan complete: No
Skill scan complete: No
Observed behavior: Not checked yet
Last checked: Nov 6, 2026

These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.

Install this skill

Choose an agent in your Stack or copy a command below. Commands fetch the pinned commit and copy only this skill directory. Existing destinations are refused. Copying a command does not install anything.

An install command is unavailable: current rules, complete repository and skill scans, an eligible behavior level and a permitted license are required.

Repository context

Repository stars (not skill ratings): 561
Repository last updated: Nov 4, 2026
License: MIT

Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.

agent-skills Repository topic
agentic-ai Repository topic
ai-agents Repository topic
ai-coding Repository topic
claude-code Repository topic
cli Repository topic
cline Repository topic
codex Repository topic
coding-assistant Repository topic
cursor Repository topic
skill Declared skill tag
authoring Declared skill tag
meta Declared skill tag
writing Derived category

Files and excerpt

File metadata and permitted, redacted excerpts come from the recorded scan. Source links are pinned to that commit.

Browse files

SKILL.mdcore · 17,269 bytes
SKILL.mdcore · 17,269 bytes
SKILL.mdcore · 17,269 bytes
evals/README.mddoc · 4,236 bytes
evals/cases.yamlasset · 7,138 bytes
references/description-recipe.mddoc · 5,791 bytes
references/eval-authoring.mddoc · 8,302 bytes
references/rsc-conventions.mddoc · 5,666 bytes

Read excerpt


# author-skill — write skills that trigger and teach

This is the **meta skill**: it authors and edits the other skills in the rsc catalog. A skill is two things bolted together — a **description that fires at the right moment**, and a **body that makes the agent better once it fires**. Most skills fail on the first. Treat them as two separate engineering problems with two separate quality bars.

Where the SDD chain (`specify` → `plan` → … → `ship`) builds *product*, `author-skill` builds *the tools that build product*. Use it whenever a skill is born or edited.

**Not this skill — delegate:** a product feature specced or planned → `../specify/SKILL.md`, `../plan/SKILL.md`. An autonomous agent or tool-calling loop → `../building-agents/SKILL.md`. Generic project docs or a wiki article → the `../harness/SKILL.md` 02-DOCS engine. Bootstrapping a workspace or profiling the user → `../init/SKILL.md`.

Read `02-DOCS/wiki/harness/user-profile.md` and speak in the register its `technical_level` records (technical terms, or plain words with analogies); `../init/SKILL.md` sets it, and `orient` owns the voice. With no profile, use analogies and ask once "technical or with analogies?" — skill authoring is itself a technical act, so a non-technical author needs each convention explained, not just named.

## What a skill is (the anatomy)

```text
skills/<id>/