Skill Generator
Generate concise, focused Claude Code skills through guided questions.
Process
Follow these steps:
1. Understand the Purpose
Ask:
- "What should this skill help you accomplish?"
- "Give me 2-3 concrete examples of when you'd use it"
- "What would you say to Claude to trigger this?"
2. Recommend Structure
Based on use cases:
- Workflow-based: Sequential steps (pipeline, workflow)
- Task-based: Distinct operations (toolkit with separate commands)
- Reference/Guidelines: Standards or specs to follow
- Capabilities-based: Integrated system with related features
3. Recommend Resources (if needed)
- Scripts (
scripts/) - for automation or repetitive code - References (
references/) - for API docs, schemas, specs - Assets (
assets/) - for templates or boilerplate
Most simple skills don't need resources.
4. Generate SKILL.md
Create directory and SKILL.md:
# Personal: ~/.claude/skills/[skill-name]/
# Project: .claude/skills/[skill-name]/SKILL.md template (keep it concise - aim for <200 lines):
---
name: [hyphen-case-name]
description: [What it does + when to use + trigger keywords]
---
# [Skill Title]
[1-2 sentence overview]
## [Main Section]
[Core instructions - keep focused]
### [Subsection if needed]
[Concrete examples, not lengthy explanations]Key requirements:
- Description includes what, when, and triggers
- Use hyphen-case for name
- Keep concise - split long content to references/
- Provide examples over explanations
- Validate YAML frontmatter
5. Show Result & Usage
Present the generated skill concisely and explain how to use it:
Created: ~/.claude/skills/[name]/SKILL.md
To use:
1. Restart Claude Code
2. Test with: "[example trigger phrase]"
To share: Move to .claude/skills/ and commitQuick Templates
Workflow-based:
## Workflow
### Step 1: [Action]
### Step 2: [Process]
### Step 3: [Output]Task-based:
## Tasks
### 1. [Task]
[Brief description + example]
### 2. [Task]
[Brief description + example]Reference/Guidelines:
## Guidelines
### [Category]
[Standard/spec + example]Best Practices
Effective descriptions:
- State what it does + when to use + trigger words
- ✅ "Extract PDF text, fill forms, merge docs. Use when working with PDFs."
- ❌ "Helps with data" (too vague)
Keep it concise:
- Aim for <200 lines in SKILL.md
- Move details to references/ files
- Prefer examples over lengthy explanations
Resource organization:
skill-name/
├── SKILL.md # Main (required)
├── references/ # Docs (optional)
├── scripts/ # Utils (optional)
└── assets/ # Templates (optional)Common Issues
- Skill not triggering: Add more trigger keywords to description
- YAML invalid: Check
---markers are on their own lines - Scripts fail:
chmod +x scripts/*.py