Create Skill by athola

Creates new skills through a structured workflow: iron-law → brainstorm → scaffold → validate. Uses Socratic questioning to refine rough ideas into well-designed skills before generating any files.

Usage

# Start with brainstorming (recommended)
/create-skill "a skill for analyzing test coverage gaps"

# Skip brainstorming if you already have a clear design
/create-skill analyzing-coverage --skip-brainstorm

# Create in specific plugin
/create-skill "debugging async race conditions" --plugin parseltongue

Workflow

Phase -1: Iron Law Interlock (Blocking)

This phase is required and cannot be skipped.

Quick Reference

1. Create test file FIRST: tests/test_${skill_name}_skill.py
2. Write structural tests: File exists, frontmatter valid, registered in plugin.json
3. Run tests - capture RED state:

   pytest tests/test_${skill_name}_skill.py -v
   # Expected: FAILED (skill does not exist)

1. Capture evidence:

   [E1] Command: pytest tests/test_${skill_name}_skill.py -v
   Output: FAILED - FileNotFoundError
   Status: RED - Interlock satisfied

Only after completing Phase -1 may you proceed.

Phase 0: Methodology Curation (Optional but Recommended)

Before brainstorming, consider surfacing expert frameworks for your domain.

Invoke the methodology-curator skill:

Use abstract:methodology-curator to surface proven methodologies before brainstorming.

This is especially valuable when:

• Creating skills that teach techniques (debugging, testing, reviewing)
• Building knowledge management features
• Designing decision frameworks
• The domain has recognized experts (most do!)

Phase 0.5: Brainstorming (Default)

After methodology curation (or if skipping it), refine the skill idea through collaborative dialogue.

Invoke the brainstorming skill:

Use superpowers:brainstorming to refine this skill idea before scaffolding.

The brainstorming phase will:

1. Understand the idea - One question at a time:

• What problem does this skill solve?
• Who is the target user? (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
• What triggers this skill's use? ("Use when..." clause)
• What should this skill NOT be used for?

1. Explore approaches - Present 2-3 alternatives:

• Single detailed skill vs. modular with hub
• Technique-focused vs. pattern-focused vs. reference-focused
• Standalone vs. integrated with existing skills

1. Validate the design - Present in sections:

• Core principles (what makes this skill effective?)
• Quick start example (the 80% use case)
• Edge cases and anti-patterns
• Module breakdown (if modular)

1. Document the design:

• Write to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD- -design.md
• Commit the design document

Skip brainstorming with --skip-brainstorm only when:

• You have a written design document already
• The skill is a simple extraction from existing content
• You're creating a module for an existing skill

Phase 1: Gather Requirements

After brainstorming (or with --skip-brainstorm), the command prompts for:

1. Skill name (if not provided)

• Must be kebab-case
• Maximum 64 characters
• Gerund form preferred (e.g., processing-pdfs, analyzing-logs)
• No SKILL suffix in name

1. Skill type:

• technique (default): Concrete methods and procedures
• pattern: Mental models and frameworks
• reference: API documentation and lookup tables

1. Brief description:

• Third-person perspective
• Must include "Use when" clause
• 1-2 sentences maximum

1. Target audience (optional):

• Beginner, intermediate, advanced
• Specific roles (backend dev, data scientist, etc.)

1. Category tags (optional):

• testing, performance, security, architecture, etc.

Phase 2: Create Directory Structure

# Standard skill structure
skills/${skill_name}/
├── SKILL.md              # Main skill file (hub)
├── modules/              # Optional modules directory
├── scripts/              # Optional automation scripts
└── baseline-scenarios.md # TDD test scenarios

For modular skills, creates additional structure:

skills/${skill_name}/
├── SKILL.md
├── modules/
│   └── README.md         # Module organization guide
├── scripts/
│   └── README.md         # Script usage guide
└── baseline-scenarios.md

Phase 3: Generate SKILL.md Template

Creates SKILL.md with: