Creating Operational Skills
References
| Reference | Content |
|---|---|
| SKILL_STRUCTURE.md | File structure, YAML frontmatter, naming, examples |
| BEST_PRACTICES.md | Authoring guidelines, degrees of freedom, patterns |
| OPERATIONAL_TOOLS.md | Feature engineering: transforming knowledge into usable formats |
Process
- Identify the workflow - What task? What inputs/outputs? What references needed?
- Create folder -
mkdir -p .claude/skills/<skill-name>/references - Write SKILL.md - Keep under 500 lines, point to references
- Create reference files - Split long content, add Contents sections
- Apply feature engineering - Transform principles into usable formats (OPERATIONAL_TOOLS.md)
- Add scripts - Place in
scripts/folder if needed - Update CLAUDE.md - Add to Skills table
- Iterate with feedback - Test, get user feedback, improve
Iteration
Skills improve through use. After creating:
- Test with real tasks - Does Claude use the skill? Does output meet expectations?
- Get user feedback - Where did it fall short? What was confusing?
- Identify failure modes - Generic output? Wrong decisions? Missed steps?
- Apply fixes
- Repeat - Skills evolve; first version is rarely final