Evolve an Existing Skill

Improve, extend, or create an advanced variant of a skill that was originally authored with create-skill. This procedure covers the maintenance side of the skill lifecycle: assessing gaps, applying targeted improvements, bumping versions, and keeping the registry and cross-references in sync.

When to Use

• A skill's procedure steps are outdated or incomplete after tooling changes
• User feedback reveals missing pitfalls, unclear steps, or weak validation
• A skill needs to grow from basic to intermediate (or intermediate to advanced)
• An advanced variant is needed alongside the original (e.g., create-r-package and create-r-package-advanced)
• Related skills were added or removed and cross-references are stale

Inputs

• Required: Path to the existing SKILL.md to evolve
• Required: Evolution trigger (feedback, tooling change, complexity upgrade, new related skills, discovered pitfalls)
• Optional: Target complexity level if changing (basic, intermediate, advanced)
• Optional: Whether to create an advanced variant instead of refining in-place (default: refine in-place)