Skill Development
Guidance for creating effective skills in Claude Code plugins with progressive disclosure and best practices.
- Create skills in the plugin's
skills/directory with SKILL.md (required) and optional bundled resources:scripts/for executable code,references/for detailed documentation,examples/for working code samples, andassets/for templates and output files - Write SKILL.md in imperative/infinitive form (verb-first instructions, not second person) with a lean body of 1,500–2,000 words; move detailed content to
references/files to keep context efficient - Use third-person trigger phrases in the frontmatter description ("This skill should be used when the user asks to...") with specific, concrete examples of what users would say to invoke the skill
- Follow a six-step creation process: understand concrete use cases, plan reusable contents, create directory structure, write SKILL.md and resources, validate against the checklist, and iterate based on real usage
- Apply progressive disclosure: metadata and description always load, SKILL.md loads when skill triggers, and bundled resources load only as needed by Claude
Skill Development for Claude Code Plugins
This skill provides guidance for creating effective skills for Claude Code plugins.
About Skills
Skills are modular, self-contained packages that extend Claude's capabilities by providing specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools. Think of them as "onboarding guides" for specific domains or tasks—they transform Claude from a general-purpose agent into a specialized agent equipped with procedural knowledge that no model can fully possess.
What Skills Provide
- Specialized workflows - Multi-step procedures for specific domains
- Tool integrations - Instructions for working with specific file formats or APIs
- Domain expertise - Company-specific knowledge, schemas, business logic
- Bundled resources - Scripts, references, and assets for complex and repetitive tasks
Anatomy of a Skill
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