/skill-creator

name: skill-creator
description: Guides you through creating well-structured Claude Code skills with proper modularization, templates, and best practices. Use when creating new skills or improving existing ones.
allowed-tools: [Read, Write, Glob, Grep, Bash]
last_verified: 2026-07-16
review_by: 2027-06-22

Skill Creator

Helps you create well-structured, modularized Claude Code skills with best practices.

When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:

• Wants to create a new skill
• Asks about skill structure or organization
• Wants to improve or refactor existing skills
• Needs help with skill modularization
• Asks about skill best practices

Skill Creation Process

1. Understand Requirements

Ask the user:

• **Purpose**: What should this skill do?
• **Activation**: When should it activate?
• **Tools**: What tools will it need? (Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, Bash, WebFetch, etc.)
• **Scope**: Is it project-specific or general-purpose?
• **Complexity**: Will it need reference files or can it be self-contained?

2. Plan the Skill Structure

Based on complexity:

**Simple Skills** (Self-contained):

.claude/skills/skill-name/
└── SKILL.md

**Complex Skills** (Modularized):

.claude/skills/skill-name/
├── SKILL.md                  # Main skill definition
├── reference-1.md           # Supporting reference
├── reference-2.md           # Additional reference
└── examples.md              # Code examples/templates

3. Create the Main SKILL.md

The main SKILL.md should include:

Front Matter (Required)

---
name: skill-name
description: Brief description of what the skill does and when to use it
allowed-tools: [Read, Write, Edit]
last_verified: 2026-07-16
review_by: 2027-06-22
---

**Front Matter Fields:**

• `name`: kebab-case skill name (e.g., `code-reviewer`, `ui-audit`)
• `description`: 1-2 sentences describing the skill and when to use it
• `allowed-tools`: Array of tools the skill can use
• `last_verified`: date (YYYY-MM-DD) the content was last checked against

reality — set to today when creating; bump on every material edit

• `review_by`: date (YYYY-MM-DD) of the scheduled re-verification — default

to ~2 weeks after the next WWDC (the natural decay event). CI requires both dates; a weekly workflow opens rollup issues when skills pass `review_by`

• `os_version` (optional): the OS generation the content was verified against

(e.g. `iOS 27 / macOS 27`) — add only if the skill cites OS/Swift versions

**Common Tool Combinations:**

• **Read-only analysis**: `[Read, Glob, Grep]`
• **Code modification**: `[Read, Write, Edit]`
• **Full access**: `[Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, Bash]`
• **Web research**: `[Read, Glob, Grep, WebFetch]`

Main Content Structure

# Skill Name

Brief description of what this skill does.

## When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:
- [Specific trigger 1]
- [Specific trigger 2]
- [Specific trigger 3]

## Process/Workflow

### 1. Step One
- Instructions for first step
- What to check or do
- Expected outputs

### 2. Step Two
- Instructions for second step
- References to supporting files if needed

### 3. Output Format

How to present results to the user.

## References

Links to relevant documentation, files, or resources.

4. Create Supporting Reference Files

For complex skills, create modular reference files:

**When to Modularize:**

• Main SKILL.md exceeds 300-400 lines
• Contains extensive checklists or examples
• Has multiple distinct topics/categories
• Would benefit from focused reference materials

**Common Reference File Types:**

• **Checklists**: `checklist.md`, `review-checklist.md`
• **Patterns**: `patterns.md`, `anti-patterns.md`
• **Examples**: `examples.md`, `templates.md`
• **Quick References**: `quick-ref.md`, `commands.md`
• **Guidelines**: `guidelines.md`, `standards.md`

**Reference File Structure:**

# Reference Topic

Brief description of this reference.

## Section 1

### Subsection
- Checklist items
- Code examples
- Explanations

## Section 2

[Content organized logically]

## References
[External links if needed]

5. Link References in Main SKILL.md

In the main SKILL.md, reference supporting files:

### 2. Load Reference Materials

Before starting, familiarize yourself with these references:

- **patterns.md** - Common patterns and anti-patterns
- **examples.md** - Code examples and templates
- **checklist.md** - Comprehensive review checklist

Skill Writing Best Practices

Clear Activation Triggers

## When This Skill Activates

Use this skill when the user:
- Asks for code review or quality check
- Mentions "best practices" or "refactoring"
- Wants to improve code quality
- Requests architecture review

Actionable Instructions

// ❌ Vague
- Check the code

// ✅ Specific
- Check for force unwrapping (!)
- Verify all optionals use safe unwrapping patterns
- Flag any instances for review with line numbers

Examples and Templates

Always provide:

• ✅ Good examples (what to do)
• ❌ Bad examples (what to avoid)
• Explanations (why it matters)

### Pattern Example

#### ❌ Anti-pattern
// Bad code example
let value = optional!

#### ✅ Good pattern
// Good code example
guard let value = optional else { return }

#### Why?
Force unwrapping crashes if nil. Guard provides safe unwrapping.

Structured Output Formats

Provide clear output templates:

## Output Format

Present findings in this structure:

### ✅ Strengths
- [List strengths]

### ⚠️ Issues Found
**[Category]**
**[Priority]: [File:Line]** - [Description]
// Current code
// Suggested fix
// Reason

### 📋 Recommendations
1. High priority items
2. Medium priority items
3. Low priority items

Tool Selection

Choose appropriate tools:

| Task | Tools | |------|-------| | Reading code | `Read, Glob, Grep` | | Modifying code | `Read, Write, Edit` | | Running tes