create-agent-skills

Creating a Claude Code skill requires organizing your work with SKILL.md frontmatter, XML-structured body content, and supporting directories for workflows, references, templates, and scripts. The create-agent-skills guidance walks you through router-based organization, progressive disclosure patterns, and validation to build scalable, discoverable skills.

Router-pattern organization structures skills into SKILL.md (core metadata and logic), workflows/ (decision trees), references/ (detailed documentation), templates/ (reusable XML blocks), and scripts/ (automation). This layout enforces consistent naming, supports progressive disclosure, and makes skills easier to audit and extend.

Skill validation checks XML structure integrity, YAML frontmatter compliance, naming conventions, and reference linking. The create-agent-skills skill provides audit workflows that identify structural gaps, enforce best practices, and guide you toward consistent skill design across teams.

Yes. The skill includes workflows for migrating existing skills to router-based organization by refactoring SKILL.md content, separating logic into workflows and references, and establishing templates and scripts directories. This process improves maintainability and discovery without rewriting core functionality.

XML structure forms the foundation of skill body content, providing semantic markup for skill logic and ensuring consistent parsing and execution. The create-agent-skills guidance emphasizes pure XML with minimal wrapper overhead, paired with progressive disclosure through references to keep SKILL.md concise.

Progressive disclosure patterns guide this trade-off: keep SKILL.md focused on immediate task logic and entry points, then link to references for detailed workflows, configuration options, and edge cases. This approach reduces cognitive load, improves discoverability, and scales as skills grow.