Skill Builder

A skill that builds skills.

A skill is a repeatable task you do again and again, written down so an AI coding agent like Claude Code does it the same way every time. This folder is a skill that takes a task you describe and turns it into a skill folder, following one consistent structure.

The idea in one minute

There are two kinds of skills.

Simple skills have one reliable way to do the task. They are a repeatable procedure. Five parts make one reliable: pick one job, list the steps, define what it can use, specify the output, test and refine. A monthly performance report is a simple skill.

Complex skills have many valid ways to do the task, and picking the right one takes judgment. Six steps make one work: pick one job, list the processes, create a strategy doc that teaches the model when to pick each one, define what it can use, specify the output, test and refine. Writing an ad script is a complex skill.

Simple follows the recipe. Complex chooses the recipe.

Under the hood, a simple skill is one file, SKILL.md. A complex skill adds strategy.md, which decides, and a processes/ folder with one file per way of doing the job, which execute.

Install

Fastest way, to use it in every project on your machine:

git clone https://github.com/jimmyslagle/skill-builder.git ~/.claude/skills/skill-builder

Or copy this folder into one of these places:

• .claude/skills/skill-builder/ inside a project, to use it in that project.
• ~/.claude/skills/skill-builder/ to use it in every project on your machine.
• ~/.codex/skills/skill-builder/ if you use Codex.

That is the whole install. Nothing else to configure. To get updates later, run git pull inside the folder.

Use

Describe the task you do over and over:

/skill-builder make a skill for our weekly customer support summary

It will draft the skill from what you said, list the assumptions it made so you can correct them, write the files, run the new skill on a real case, and tell you what to watch.

To fix a skill that is not working:

/skill-builder the weekly-report skill keeps firing when I just ask for one number

What is in this folder

• SKILL.md: the skill itself. Start here if you want to read how it works.
• strategy.md: how it decides whether your task is simple or complex.
• processes/: the step-by-step playbooks for building a simple skill, building a complex skill, and fixing an existing one.
• references/: the folder layout and section shapes, how to write the description line that makes a skill trigger at the right moment, the writing rules, and how to run a finished skill on a schedule.
• examples/: two complete skills to match shape against. monthly-report is simple. make-dinner is complex.
• evals/: test cases for checking this skill after edits.
• agents/: a small interface file for Codex.

Two rules worth knowing before you start

One job per skill. If you find yourself saying "and then it should also," that is a second skill.

When in doubt, build simple. A simple skill that later needs a strategy doc is a quick upgrade. A complex skill built for a task with one path is a maze nobody needed.