Claude Code Skill Development

Skill Development

Create effective Claude Code skills that are concise, discoverable, and well-structured.

Quick Reference

You MUST read these references for detailed guidance:

• [Best Practices](./references/best-practices.md) - Official Anthropic guidance
• [Skill Examples](./references/examples.md) - Patterns from real skills
• [Skill Categories & Patterns](./references/patterns.md) - Three categories and five reusable patterns
• [Testing Guide](./references/testing.md) - Triggering, functional, and performance testing
• [Troubleshooting](./references/troubleshooting.md) - Common problems and fixes
• [The Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude](./references/complete-guide-to-building-skills.md) - Comprehensive Anthropic guide (source PDF)

Before You Start

Define 2-3 concrete use cases before writing anything:

Use Case: [Name]
Trigger: User says "[phrase]" or "[phrase]"
Steps:
1. [First action]
2. [Second action]
Result: [What gets produced]

Then identify which category your skill falls into — this determines which techniques to use. See [Skill Categories & Patterns](./references/patterns.md).

Core Principles

1. Concise is key - Only add context Claude doesn't already have
2. Progressive disclosure - SKILL.md is the overview; details go in references/
3. Write in third person - "This skill processes..." not "I can help you..."

Skill Structure

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md              # Main instructions ( **No restart needed.** Skill changes take effect immediately - skills are hot-reloaded.

## Checklist

Before finalizing a skill:

- [ ] 2-3 use cases defined with triggers, steps, and results
- [ ] Category identified (document creation, workflow automation, MCP enhancement)
- [ ] Description includes triggers ("when user asks to...")
- [ ] SKILL.md under 500 lines
- [ ] Complex content moved to `references/`
- [ ] Third person throughout
- [ ] No time-sensitive information
- [ ] Consistent terminology
- [ ] Triggering tests pass (obvious + paraphrased requests)
- [ ] Doesn't trigger on unrelated topics

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [dwmkerr](https://github.com/dwmkerr)
- **Source:** [dwmkerr/claude-toolkit](https://github.com/dwmkerr/claude-toolkit)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://www.skills.sh/dwmkerr/claude-toolkit

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.