skills/smithery.ai/create-agent-skills

create-agent-skills

SKILL.md

<essential_principles>

How Skills Work

Skills are modular, filesystem-based capabilities that provide domain expertise on demand. This skill teaches how to create effective skills.

1. Skills Are Prompts

All prompting best practices apply. Be clear, be direct, use XML structure. Assume Claude is smart - only add context Claude doesn't have.

2. SKILL.md Is Always Loaded

When a skill is invoked, Claude reads SKILL.md. Use this guarantee:

  • Essential principles go in SKILL.md (can't be skipped)
  • Workflow-specific content goes in workflows/
  • Reusable knowledge goes in references/

3. Router Pattern for Complex Skills

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First Seen
Mar 19, 2026