writing-skills

To write reusable Claude agent skills, create a SKILL.md file with required YAML frontmatter (name, description) and a Markdown body documenting workflow and examples, then validate it using a strict red-green-refactor testing cycle to ensure reliable deployment.

The red-green-refactor workflow for validating skill documentation ensures your SKILL.md fails gracefully against baseline scenarios before implementation, then passes tests after refinement, guaranteeing safe and self-contained metadata for production tasks.

You do not need any external dependencies to create SKILL.md-based skills. The process requires only a YAML frontmatter with name and description, a Markdown body, and optional tooling to run tests for risk-free deployment.

To structure SKILL.md frontmatter constraints for skill libraries, establish consistent metadata with required name and description fields, use optional references and assets for progressive disclosure, and ensure safe self-contained metadata for cross-skill referencing.

You can use optional scripts, references, and assets to keep context lean in agent skills by supporting progressive disclosure, loading these resources only when needed during workflow execution and cross-skill referencing.

You should anticipate limitations when using the test-driven approach for skill creation if your baseline scenarios are poorly defined, as the red-green-refactor cycle relies on strict baseline testing to ensure skills fail gracefully before production deployment.