writing-skills

You validate reusable skills by applying a test-driven development approach with red-green-refactor checks, ensuring frontmatter compliance and verifying readiness before deployment across documentation-rich workflows.

Test-driven development for skill creation is a structured workflow using red-green-refactor cycles to design, edit, and verify skills, enforcing frontmatter compliance and clear usage guidelines to reduce documentation drift.

You structure a SKILL.md file by defining frontmatter with name and description for identity, then adding body sections for when to use, core pattern, quick reference, and common mistakes to ensure proper discovery.

Yes, you can use the test-driven development workflow to edit existing skills by running validation checks, comparing agent behavior before and after changes, and enforcing frontmatter compliance throughout the editing process.

The best way to reduce documentation drift when writing skills is to enforce repeatable documentation practices with frontmatter-driven discovery and structured body sections, ensuring clear usage guidelines and consistent validation.

Skill validation fails frontmatter compliance checks when the SKILL.md file is missing required name and description fields, which define the skill's identity and are necessary for proper discovery and deployment readiness.