Body discipline: collapsed 4-bullet script rules to single critical callout (no interactive prompts); full contract stays in references/scripts.md. stderr discipline: redirect all confirmation/progress output in new-skill.sh to stderr per scripts.md contract. Also expands references/scripts.md with input validation and --help guidance. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_016z2ZFYHQCex8yZAMVMTZzZ
skill-author
Author and refine skills conforming to the agentskills.io specification — create new skills from scratch or apply improvement signals to existing ones.
What it does
Routes to one of two flows based on context: if no skill directory exists at the target path, it scaffolds the directory from annotated templates, fills in SKILL.md and supporting files, and validates the result. If an existing skill directory and improvement signals are both present, it groups those signals by root cause and applies targeted edits, then re-validates.
Before you start
- Run
/grill-meto resolve design decisions before creating a new skill - Collect domain research, examples, and constraints
- Know the skill name (kebab-case) and destination path
Placement
| Type | Path |
|---|---|
| Direct (available immediately after install) | ~/.agents/skills/<name>/ |
| Plugin (installed via marketplace) | plugins/<plugin>/skills/<name>/ |
If the destination is inside a plugin directory, read references/deployment-modes.md — cache isolation rules apply.
Usage
/skill-author
Files
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
README.md |
Human-readable overview of the skill and its files |
SKILL.md |
Skill instructions for agents |
scripts/new-skill.sh |
Copies annotated templates to the destination to scaffold a new skill |
references/deployment-modes.md |
Plugin vs standalone differences and cache isolation rules (loaded on demand) |
references/scripts.md |
Package runners, inline dependency patterns, and full script contract (loaded on demand) |
assets/templates/SKILL.md |
Annotated SKILL.md template |
assets/templates/README.md |
Annotated README template for the new skill |
assets/templates/scripts/README.md |
Placeholder for bundled scripts |
assets/templates/references/README.md |
Placeholder for reference docs |
assets/templates/assets/README.md |
Placeholder for static assets |
assets/templates/tests/README.md |
Placeholder for test files |
tests/new-skill.bats |
Bats test suite for scripts/new-skill.sh |
tests/README.md |
Setup instructions for bats-support and bats-assert test dependencies |