Skillify

Skillify

Convert a Claude Code conversation — where the user iterated on automating a task — into a deterministic Python-scripted skill. The goal is to capture all repeatable work in Python scripts and use AI only for error recovery and semantic summarization on future runs.

Self-Contained Guidance

CRITICAL: Do NOT read, inspect, or browse other installed skills for "patterns", "examples", or "structure". Do NOT explore ~/.claude/skills/, list skill directories, or read any SKILL.md files other than this one. All skill structure, formatting, and generation guidance is fully defined in this procedure and in ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/prompts/generate_skill.md. There is nothing to learn from other skills that is not already specified here.

Rules

• You MUST use the AskUserQuestion tool for all user input — confirmations, choices, and decisions. Do NOT ask questions as plain text in your response. The built-in "Other" option handles free-text fallback. If AskUserQuestion is unavailable, fall back to asking as plain text as a last resort.
• Generated SKILL.md files must stay under 500 lines. Put large references in separate files.
• Generated skill descriptions must state both what the skill does AND when to use it.
• Generated skills must list all tools they call in allowed-tools.
• Generated skills preserve the same MCP tools and CLIs from the source conversation.
• Keep Bash commands simple to avoid Claude Code security prompts. Specifically: no multi-line commands, no heredocs, no inline python3 -c, no $(cmd) in file paths or arguments (capture to a variable first), and no # characters in quoted strings. If complex logic is needed, write it to a temporary Python script and execute that.
• Generated skills must never write files under ~/.claude/ or ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/. For transient intermediate files, create an isolated workspace with mktemp -d -t {skill-name}-XXXXXXXX at the start of the procedure and clean it up with rm -rf in a final Cleanup step. Write final output to the current working directory ($PWD).
• Follow the Procedure steps exactly in order. Do NOT skip steps. The save location MUST come from the Step 3 interview — never invent or guess a path.

Procedure

Step 1: Identify the Conversation

Resolve the source conversation JSONL file:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/find_session.py --mode resolve --arguments "$ARGUMENTS"

Parse the JSON output and handle based on the key present:

• "path" key — session resolved. Use the path value as the JSONL file. Continue to Step 2.
• "error" key — show the error message to the user. The message includes guidance on how to list available sessions and re-run with a UUID.

Success criteria: A valid JSONL file path is identified.

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Step 2: Parse Conversation

Create an isolated workspace directory for this run's intermediate files:

mktemp -d -t skillify-XXXXXXXX

Capture the output path — this is the {WORKSPACE_DIR} for all intermediate files in this run.

Run the conversation parser to extract the workflow manifest:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/parse_conversation.py "{JSONL_PATH}" > {WORKSPACE_DIR}/manifest.json

If the parser fails, show the error and stop.

Read {WORKSPACE_DIR}/manifest.json to get the full manifest.

Success criteria: Manifest JSON is valid and contains at least 1 tool call.

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Step 3: Present Summary and Interview

Present the manifest summary to the user:

• Total messages, tool calls, files written
• Tools used (grouped by category)
• API patterns detected (Jira JQL, GitHub CLI, etc.)
• Environment variables needed
• Corrections detected (user redirections, with scores)
• Whether the conversation already produced scripts or a skill

Then conduct a MANDATORY interview via AskUserQuestion. Do NOT skip this step. Do NOT proceed to Step 4 without completing Round 1. Every question below MUST be asked and answered before continuing.

Round 1 (REQUIRED): Ask all of these in a single AskUserQuestion with multiple questions:

• Suggest a skill name based on the workflow. Let the user confirm or rename.
• Suggest a one-line description (must include what it does AND when to use it). Let the user confirm or edit.
• Ask where to save the skill. Do NOT save directly into ~/.claude/ — writes there trigger sensitive-file permission prompts.
• Current directory (Recommended) — save to the current working directory ($PWD/{name}/). A symlink to ~/.claude/skills/{name} will be created in the final step for discovery.
• Custom path — let the user specify any directory via "Other" (e.g., a shared skills repo). A symlink will be created for discovery.

Round 2 (skip for simple workflows with ≤3 tool call phases):

• Present the identified workflow steps as a numbered list (derived from the tool call phases in the manifest).
• Ask via AskUserQuestion if anything is missing, should be changed, or needs special handling.
• Ask about preconditions: "Does this workflow require anything to be true before it runs?" (e.g., clean git repo, env vars set, specific files present)
• Ask about idempotency: "Is it safe to run this multiple times?"
• Ask about escalation: "When should the skill stop and ask for help vs. retry automatically?"

Success criteria: Skill name, description, save location, and workflow steps are confirmed.

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Step 4: Check for Existing Scripts

Check the manifest's written_files for any Python scripts or SKILL.md files that were already created during the source conversation.

If existing scripts are found:

1. Read each script file (verify it still exists on disk).
2. Ask the user via AskUserQuestion:

• Use existing scripts as-is (Recommended) — adapt and wrap them in the new skill
• Regenerate from workflow — have the Agent generate new scripts from the manifest

If using existing scripts, read their full content for passing to the generation agent.

Success criteria: Decision made on whether to reuse or regenerate scripts.

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Step 5: Generate the Skill

Read the agent prompt template:

${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/prompts/generate_skill.md

Substitute the placeholders:

• {WORKFLOW_MANIFEST} — the full manifest JSON from Step 2
• {SKILL_NAME} — the confirmed skill name from Step 3
• {SAVE_LOCATION} — the confirmed save path from Step 3
• {CORRECTIONS} — the corrections array from the manifest (or "None detected" if empty)
• {EXISTING_SCRIPTS} — content of existing scripts from Step 4 (or "None — generate from scratch" if regenerating)
• {TOOL_DEPENDENCIES} — list of MCP servers and CLI tools the workflow requires
• {PRECONDITIONS} — from Round 2 interview (or "None specified")
• {IDEMPOTENCY} — from Round 2 interview (or "Not specified")
• {ESCALATION_RULES} — from Round 2 interview (or "Default: stop and ask on any error")

Launch an Agent with the substituted prompt. The Agent will output file contents in clearly marked ## FILE: sections.

Save the Agent's output to {WORKSPACE_DIR}/agent-output.txt, then parse it deterministically:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/parse_agent_output.py {WORKSPACE_DIR}/agent-output.txt > {WORKSPACE_DIR}/files.json

Read {WORKSPACE_DIR}/files.json to get the list of files.

Success criteria: Parser extracts at least SKILL.md and one Python script.

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Step 5b: Preview Generated Files

Present a summary of what will be written. For each file from the parsed output, show:

• Full target path: {SAVE_LOCATION}/{relative_path}
• File size in bytes
• First 20 lines of content

Then use AskUserQuestion:

• Write all files (Recommended) — proceed to Step 6
• Write with changes — let the user specify modifications before writing
• Abort — stop without writing anything

If the user chooses "Abort", stop and report that no files were written. If the user chooses "Write with changes", ask what to change, apply modifications, then proceed to Step 6.

Success criteria: User has confirmed the files to write.

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Step 6: Write and Validate

Create the skill directory structure and write each file from the confirmed file list to its correct location. Ensure {SAVE_LOCATION}/scripts/ exists.

Validate the generated skill:

python3 ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/validate_skill.py "{SAVE_LOCATION}"

Parse the JSON output. If valid is false, fix the errors listed in the errors array and re-validate.

If either validation fails, fix the syntax error and re-validate.

Success criteria: All files written, Python parses cleanly, frontmatter is valid.

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Step 7: Report

Tell the user:

1. Files created — list all files with their full paths
2. Tool dependencies — list MCP servers or CLI tools required
3. Environment variables needed — list each with a brief description
4. Install the skill — create a symlink for discovery:

`` ln -sf {SAVE_LOCATION} ~/.claude/skills/{SKILL_NAME} ` If {SAVE_LOCATION} is already inside .claude/skills/`, skip the symlink — it is discovered automatically.

1. How to invoke — /{SKILL_NAME} or /{SKILL_NAME} [arguments]
2. Suggest a test run — recommend invoking the skill once to verify it works end-to-end

Success criteria: User has all information needed to use the new skill.

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Cleanup

Remove the workspace directory used for intermediate files:

rm -rf {WORKSPACE_DIR}

Source & license

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

• Author: nickommen
• Source: nickommen/skillify
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://nickommen.github.io/skillify/

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