writing-skills

To author Claude Skills using test-driven development, draft a new Skill with minimal frontmatter, create a test plan, and perform RED-GREEN-REFACTOR validation before deployment. This ensures reusable skills follow consistent TDD patterns and frontmatter constraints.

Skill authoring requires frontmatter constraints for the name and description metadata. Structuring these fields properly ensures optimized discovery and consistent quality across your skill library before publishing.

Validate Claude Skills before deployment by applying a RED-GREEN-REFACTOR testing workflow. This process verifies that skills meet frontmatter constraints, follow progressive disclosure, and pass test plans for cross-project reuse.

Progressive disclosure is a content-organization pattern for structuring SKILL.md files. It guides how to layer information so users get essential details first, preventing common skill-authoring pitfalls and anti-patterns.

You can edit existing Claude Skills using this workflow. The framework supports developing new skills, editing current ones, and verifying them before deployment to maintain consistency and quality across your skill library.

Claude Skill validation fails when the content does not meet frontmatter constraints, lacks optimized discovery metadata, or violates anti-patterns. Following the RED-GREEN-REFACTOR workflow and progressive disclosure rules prevents these common pitfalls.