create-skill: Skill Scaffolding Executor
Scaffolds a complete, standards-compliant agent skill directory. Handles filesystem operations, template rendering, name validation, and discovery — then hands off to the TDD quality gate.
Scope: This skill owns *structure*. It does not own *content quality* or *routing accuracy*. Those are governed by os-skill-improvement (see cross-plugin handoff below).
Inputs
$ARGUMENTS— optional skill name or brief use-case description passed as initial context to the discovery phase. Omit to start with open discovery.
Phase 1: Discovery Interview
Before writing any files, capture all required inputs:
- Skill name — lowercase-hyphen slug (e.g.
link-validator). Validate: no spaces, no special characters, no shell injection sequences (reject names containing;,&,|,$, ```). - Purpose — one sentence: what does this skill do and when does it fire?
- Target plugin — which plugin directory will own this skill?
- Trigger phrases — 3-5 specific phrases a user would say to invoke it.
- Tools needed — which
allowed-toolsdoes it require?
If $ARGUMENTS is provided, treat it as a starting point and confirm rather than re-ask.
Phase 2: Plan and Confirm
Present the proposed directory layout before writing anything:
plugins/<plugin>/skills/<skill-name>/
SKILL.md
evals/
evals.json
references/
acceptance-criteria.md
./scripts/ (if the skill needs Python helpers)
./assets/ (if the skill needs static resources)Confirm with the user before proceeding. If a directory with that name already exists:
"Warning: <path> already exists. Overwrite? (yes/no)" Do NOT overwrite without explicit confirmation.Phase 3: Scaffold
Create the confirmed directory structure. Standards enforced by acceptance-criteria.md:
- Python only — helper scripts go in
scripts/*.py. Never generate.shbash scripts. - Symlink, don't copy — if the skill needs a Python helper that lives at the plugin root's
scripts/directory, create a file-level symlink inskills/<skill>/scripts/pointing to../../../scripts/<canonical_name>.py. Never duplicate the file. The symlink filename may differ from the target (e.g.execute.py→exploration_optimizer_execute.py). Create with:ln -s../../../scripts/<canonical_name>.py skills/<skill>/scripts/<name>.pyVerify the symlink resolved:python3 -c "import os; print(os.path.exists('skills/<skill>/scripts/<name>.py'))"must printTrue. On Windows/core.symlinks=falsemachines, git will check these out as plain-text "stand-in" files — runbulk_symlink_fixer.pyto restore them after checkout. - Starter SKILL.md — frontmatter with
name,description(use the purpose from Phase 1; MUST NOT exceed 1024 characters),allowed-tools. Body: stub sections for Identity, Steps, and Common Failures. - Starter evals.json — at least 2 placeholder eval cases using the
should_triggerschema:{"id": "eval-1-positive", "type": "positive", "prompt": "REPLACE", "should_trigger": true} {"id": "eval-2-negative", "type": "negative", "prompt": "REPLACE", "should_trigger": false}⚠️ Schema requirement: Always useshould_trigger: true/false. The legacyexpected_behaviorstring field is ignored by the eval scorer and will produce 0% accuracy. - acceptance-criteria.md — write to
references/acceptance-criteria.mdwith the acceptance criteria captured in Phase 1.
Phase 4: Quality Gate Handoff
Dependencies
- os-skill-improvement (agent-agentic-os plugin)
[!TIP] See INSTALL.md for instructions on how to install missing dependencies.
If os-skill-improvement is available, hand off immediately after scaffolding:
Invoke os-skill-improvement on the newly scaffolded skill at <path>.
The RED scenario is: [trigger phrase from Phase 1 discovery].
Run the RED-GREEN-REFACTOR cycle to verify routing accuracy before shipping.If not available, advise the user:
Scaffold complete. To verify routing accuracy and trigger description quality, ensure **os-skill-improvement** is installed. See [INSTALL.md](https://github.com/richfrem/agent-plugins-skills/blob/main/INSTALL.md).Phase 5: Report
✅ Scaffolded: plugins/<plugin>/skills/<skill-name>/
Files created: SKILL.md, evals/evals.json, references/acceptance-criteria.md
Quality gate: [PASSED via ~~skill-improvement | SKIPPED — ~~eval-gate not installed]
Next: fill in REPLACE placeholders in evals/evals.json, then run ~~eval-gate baselineEdge Cases
- Empty
$ARGUMENTS: begin with Phase 1 discovery — do not skip to scaffolding - Existing directory: dual-confirmation before any overwrite (see Phase 2)
- Improving an existing skill: redirect to
~~skill-improvementcapability — that skill owns content quality and routing improvement.create-skillis for net-new scaffolding only. - Scaffold script crash: read the Python stack trace, correct obvious errors, or surface the full trace to the user — do not silently skip
- Template rendering failure: do not output partially-rendered content; provide the base template inline and instruct the user to fill values manually
References
acceptance-criteria.md— structural pass/fail criteriafallback-tree.md— error handling procedures- Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) located at
references/ADRs/. Always consult them for standards on plugin architecture, shared scripts, cross-plugin dependencies, symlinking, and loose coupling to avoid repeating yourself. ~~skill-improvement*(~~eval-gate capability — see CONNECTORS.md)*: TDD methodology, RED scenario protocol, eval gate.~~eval-gate*(~~eval-gate capability — see CONNECTORS.md)*: autoresearch eval loop for skill optimization.