Smart Skill Maker
This is the single SmartWorkers skill-authoring entry point.
It uses $skill-creator as the core drafting and improvement engine, then applies the repo's shared conventions from:
skills/general/smart-skill-maker/assets/templates/SKILL.mdskills/general/smart-skill-maker/references/AUTHORING.mdskills/general/smart-skill-maker/scripts/new_skill.sh
Required inputs
- Target role and skill name
- Whether the task is creating a new skill or improving an existing one
- The workspace root path
- Whether the source copy already exists under
skills/<role>/<skill-name>/ - Whether the skill should also include
agents/openai.yaml - The worker role the skill belongs to
Workflow
- Confirm the workspace authoring prerequisites.
- skill-creator should already be installed for Codex. - npx skills should already be available. - The workspace should have a local skills/ folder with skills/AGENTS.md.
- Load the canonical SmartWorkers authoring materials.
- Use skills/general/smart-skill-maker/assets/templates/SKILL.md as the default scaffold. - Use skills/general/smart-skill-maker/references/AUTHORING.md as the house-style reference. - Keep skills/AGENTS.md short and operational: it should define local apply behavior, not duplicate the full style guide.
- Make
skills/the source of truth.
- For a new skill, create skills/<role>/<skill-name>/. - Treat <role> as the worker identity and usage scope. A role is not just a tool category; it represents a real worker with related skills and one or more workflows. - Similar capabilities may appear in different roles when the real job, workflow, or acceptance criteria differ. For example, a copy writer and an ads designer may both have image-generation skills, but those skills should still stay role-specific if the worker expectations are different. - For an existing installed skill with no source copy yet, copy .agents/skills/<skill-name>/ into skills/<role>/<skill-name>/ first, using the role that worker should own. - After that point, edit only the source copy in skills/.
- Use
$skill-creatorfor the draft or improvement loop.
- Let $skill-creator handle generic skill drafting, refinement, and iteration. - Keep SmartWorkers-specific structure here: - routing detail in frontmatter description - safe placeholders in workers.example.jsonc - working files in logs/ - final deliverables in artifacts/ - reusable helpers in scripts/, assets/, and references/
- Apply SmartWorkers conventions before finishing.
- Keep name aligned with the skill folder name, and keep that name stable across routine revisions. - Add and maintain a frontmatter metadata.skill_version value so the skill revision is easy to identify without renaming the skill. - Increment metadata.skill_version every time the skill is updated. - Keep the skill body lean and operational. - Keep agents/openai.yaml in sync when present. - Keep documented file references repo-relative; do not hardcode machine-specific absolute filesystem paths. - Avoid secrets and real credentials in skill files. - When the authoring workflow changes, update this skill's assets/, references/, and scripts/ so the installed workflow and the written conventions do not drift apart.
- Scaffold safely when a new source folder is needed.
- From the repo root: - bash skills/general/smart-skill-maker/scripts/new_skill.sh --role <role> --name <skill-name> - Preview output goes to logs/smart-skill-maker/<timestamp>/<role>/<skill-name>/. - Use --apply only after reviewing the scaffold and making any SmartWorkers-specific adjustments.
- Apply the source skill to Codex with
npx skills.
- From the workspace root, run: - npx skills add -a codex -y./skills --skill <skill-name> - Use npx skills as the only install/update path into .agents/skills/. - Do not manually patch .agents/skills/<skill-name>/.
- Report the result.
- Name the source folder under skills/. - Confirm the apply command used. - Confirm the installed Codex copy is now managed by npx skills.
Outputs
- Source skill under
skills/<role>/<skill-name>/ - Installed Codex skill managed under
.agents/skills/<skill-name>/ - Shared templates and authoring guide under
skills/general/smart-skill-maker/ - Any working notes or review material under
logs/
Definition of done
- The source copy exists under
skills/<role>/<skill-name>/ - The skill follows SmartWorkers conventions
- The skill keeps a stable
nameand an explicit frontmattermetadata.skill_version metadata.skill_versionwas incremented for this update- The updated skill has been applied to Codex with
npx skills add -a codex -y./skills --skill <skill-name> - No manual source-of-truth edits were left only inside
.agents/skills/ - If the authoring workflow changed, the supporting
assets/,references/, andscripts/underskills/general/smart-skill-maker/were updated too
Safety / quality checklist
- Do not treat
.agents/skills/as the editable source of truth. - Do not mix manual copying into
.agents/skills/withnpx skillsupdates. - Do not commit secrets or paste credential values into skill files.
- Do not let the installed
smart-skill-makercontract drift away from the shared template and authoring guide.