/common-skill-creator

name: common-skill-creator
description: "Standardizes the creation and evaluation of high-density Agent Skills (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf). Ensures skills achieve high Activation (specificity/completeness) and Implementation (conciseness/actionability) scores. Use when: writing or auditing SKILL.md, improving trigger accuracy, or refactoring skills to reduce redundancy and maximize token ROI."
metadata:
  triggers:
    files:
      - "SKILL.md"
      - "evals/evals.json"
    keywords:
      - create skill
      - audit skill
      - trigger rate
      - optimize description

Agent Skill Creator Standard

**Priority: P0 (CRITICAL)**

Applies to **every skill in this registry**. Maximize **Token ROI**. Every line in SKILL.md must provide specific procedural value. **Activation** (how it triggers) and **Implementation** (how it helps) primary quality metrics.

Three-Level Loading System

• **Level 1** Frontmatter: `name` + `description` (Activation Anchor), ≤100 words.
• **Level 2** SKILL.md body: Core Rules + Workflows (Implementation Core), ≤100 lines.
• **Level 3** references/: Detailed examples, schemas, and "TESTS.md" (On-demand).

Workflow (New or Existing Skill)

**New skill:** 1. **Research** — web-search domain best practices, checklists, and standards; extract key terms → triggers, workflows → guidelines, mistakes → anti-patterns. See [Web Search Research](references/web-search-research.md). 2. **Capture intent** — what it , when it trigger, expected output format? 3. **Draft the SKILL.md** — draft using [TEMPLATE.md](references/TEMPLATE.md) 4. **Test** — spawn parallel subagents: one with-skill, one without-skill (baseline) 5. **Evaluate** — grade assertions, review benchmark (pass rate, tokens, time) 6. **Iterate** — rewrite based on feedback, rerun into next iteration dir, repeat 7. **Optimize description** — run trigger eval queries, target ≥90% accuracy (matching release readiness) 8. **Pressure-test** — for discipline skills, capture agent excuses, red flags, and stop conditions **Existing skill:** 9. **Audit** — run Quality Checklist below; identify violations 10. **Snapshot** — `cp -r <skill-dir> <workspace>/skill-snapshot/` before any edits 11. **Improve SKILL.md** — fix violations, compress, move oversized content to `references/` 12. **Test** — spawn parallel subagents: one with-new-skill, one with-snapshot (baseline) 13. **Evaluate & iterate** — same as steps 4–5 above 14. **Optimize description** — re-run trigger eval if description changed 15. **Harden** — add rationalization counters where agents still fail under pressure See [Eval Workflow](references/eval-workflow.md) for full testing + iteration details.

Description Quality (Activation)

• **Third-Person Voice**: Use `Standardizes...`, `Audits...`, `Encrypts...`. Avoid "I will" or "This skill helps to".
• **What + When Structure**:
• **What**: Define 5–8 specific capabilities (e.g., "Generates JWT tokens, rotates keys").
• **When**: Explicitly define triggers (e.g., "Use when user says 'rotate keys'").
• **Specificity**: Avoid vague verbs like "manage" or "handle". Use "Validate", "Inject", "Refactor", "Sanitize".
• **Trigger Hint**: Include `(triggers: *.ext, keyword)` suffix for technical skills.

Content Quality (Implementation)

• **No Redundant Knowledge**: Do NOT explain concepts AI already knows (e.g., standard HTTP codes, common language syntax, basic SOLID definitions). Focus strictly on project-specific rules and constraints.
• **Readable Compact Style**: Size is an editorial budget, not a behavioral quality claim. Prefer readable, compact, imperative language over filler words, conversational phrasing, or speculative prose.
• **Actionability**: Examples must be copy-paste ready and executable.
• **Workflow Clarity**: Use sequential ordered lists for multi-step processes.
• **Progressive Disclosure**: Move code blocks >10 lines to `references/`.
• **Pressure Hardening**: Discipline skills must name red flags, common excuses, and exact stop/restart conditions.

Evidence Tiers & Guardrails

• **Three Evidence Tiers**: Distinguish (1) structural checks, (2) textual transcript evidence, and (3) executable outcomes.
• **Oracle & Pressure Hardening**: Pressure `behavior_assertions` are positive contains/token checks, not semantic safety guarantees. Regular typed assertions + finite decision-shape controls must reject keyword-stuffed refusal-plus-violation answers; do not claim keyword presence alone establishes compliance. Oracles must test valid paraphrases, quoted unsafe text in refusals, keyword stuffing, partial compliance, and routing negatives; never encode a decision as a bare substring ban on wording a compliant refusal may quote.
• **Digest Binding & Thresholds**: Bind scorer, evals, and generated metadata digests to candidate checkout; no engine-mismatch waiver. Target ≥90% trigger rate (recall & specificity per `readiness.ts`). Retain host guardrails until verified deterministic runtime enforcement replaces them.
• **Discovery & Publication Preflight**: Distinguish search failure/checkout absence from absent capability (search authorized refs/worktrees first). When publishing registry or native export packages, verify final canonical→host ID-set and resource parity and real consumer discovery; review private paths/links and one-way manifests; separate warnings/skips/NOT RUN. Keep publication separate from activation.

Anti-Patterns

• **No "AI-splaining"**: Do not explain why a pattern is good unless it is a unique project constraint.
• **No Answer-Anchor Padding**: Do not insert arbitrary keywords solely to satisfy string-match tests or fake compliance.
• **No Search-Absence Conflation**: Do not assume missing local search = absent capability; search authorized refs/worktrees.
• **No Vague Triggers**: Never use `src/**` or `**/*`. Keep triggers surgical.
• **No Description Bloat**: If description exceeds 100 words, move capabilities to body.
• **No Long Code Blo