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BC skill-creation-walkthrough

Step-by-step guide for creating your own Claude Skills, from deciding whether a skill is the right tool to writing the SKILL.md file, structuring reference material, and making it trigger reliably. Use when you want to package a workflow, framework, or repeated task into a reusable Skill, when an existing skill is not triggering or not loading the right context, when you are auditing a skill that is underperforming, or when you want to publish a skill for others. Also triggers when someone asks "how do I make a skill" or "what makes a good skill". Useful for individuals, teams, and anyone publishing skills publicly.

rampstackco/claude-skills Agent Skills author: rampstackco 4 files body ≈ 3 284 tokens Open the sourcegithub.com↗ analyzed 8 h ago

Step-by-step guide for creating your own Claude Skills, from deciding whether a skill is the right tool to writing the SKILL.md file, structuring reference…

As a process C 61/100 · Has gaps — References files that are not bundled: references/[noun]-template.md, references/[noun]-checklist.md, references/[noun]-playbook.md

ProcedureAI and agentstype and topics are labelled automatically from the skill text
Runs in: Claude / Claude Code ChatGPT / Codex Gemini CLI Cursor GitHub Copilot / VS Code Qwen Code Kimi Code CLI Z.ai (GLM) DeepSeek (Deep Code) Mistral Vibe LangChain (deepagents) OpenClaw Goose OpenCode
JSON
Technical rating
B
93/100
safety, quality, tests
Safety 60%
100
Quality 40%
82
Run on models
none yet
Process rating
C
61/100
Has gaps
References files that are not bundled: references/[noun]-template.md, references/[noun]-checklist.md, references/[noun]-playbook.md
Tools and files w 18
0
Progress reporting w 2
0
Running it twice w 4
30
the three weakest of ten parameters · all ten
This is a copy of a skill from another catalog; the rating counts the canonical one: skill-creation-walkthrough (rampstackco/claude-skills)

How to improve

  1. The text references files that are not there: add them or drop the references.
For the model run — optional
  • Your own cases (evals/evals.json, 4–6 real requests with expected answers): the full check would then run those instead of a model-drafted suite.
  • A spec.yaml with trigger phrases and assertions — a behaviour contract for CI; `skilltest init` writes a template.

Guard findings · 0

✓ No critical or high findings

Files scanned: 4. Evidence is masked. Grey chips explain why severity was lowered.

Against the Agent Skills spec

  • warning missing-ref reference to a missing file: references/[noun]-template.md
  • warning missing-ref reference to a missing file: references/[noun]-checklist.md
  • warning missing-ref reference to a missing file: references/[noun]-playbook.md
  • warning missing-ref reference to a missing file: references/example-[scenario].md
  • note frontmatter-key unknown frontmatter key "catalog_summary"
  • note frontmatter-key unknown frontmatter key "display_order"

Process rating: all ten parameters 61/100

Will not run. References files that are not bundled: references/[noun]-template.md, references/[noun]-checklist.md, references/[noun]-playbook.md
  • 0Tools and files. 4 referenced file(s) missing: references/[noun]-template.md, references/[noun]-checklist.md, references/[noun]-playbook.md
  • 0Progress reporting. Says nothing while it works
  • 30Running it twice. 3 mutating operations with no state check
  • 50Failures and branches. 0 branches, has a failure section
  • 60Result and completion. Output format stated, no completion criterion
  • 70Inputs and preconditions. Inputs and preconditions are listed
  • 85Steps. 69 steps, 1 vague phrases
  • 100When it triggers. States when to use and when not to
  • 100Consistency. Name and required fields are in place
  • 100Execution cost. Instruction body is 3284 tokens
  • low 10 top-level sections: this looks like several domains in one skill

Everything here is measured from the skill text rather than judged by a model, so the numbers are checkable. A parameter weighs more when it is a more common reason for the process to stall.

Quality signals

  • +4Description does not say when NOT to use the skill (false activations)
  • +1No license
  • +2Single-language instructions
  • +5Description quotes 2 example trigger phrases
  • +3Description length 623: enough signal without eating the budget
  • +4Structure: 20 headings
  • +3Step-by-step instructions: 69 items
  • +3Output format is stated explicitly
  • +4Has examples (1 code blocks)
  • +4Reference files are cited in the instructions (3 of 3)

Quality base 70; lint remarks subtract, signals add up to 100. Result: 82.