writing-skills

Included with Lifetime

$97 forever

Use when creating or editing a skill and you need it to be discoverable, concise, and native to the target harness

Writing & Docs

What this skill does

# Writing Skills

## Overview

A skill should capture reusable judgment, not a story about one session.

**Core principle:** Write the minimum instructions that reliably change future agent behavior on the right class of tasks.

## Directory Choice

Choose the source of truth before editing:

- Shared skill source: edit the repo-managed Claude skill, not the generated runtime copy
- Codex-only adaptation: edit the repo-managed Codex override, not the generated runtime copy

In this dotfiles setup, those live under:
- `claude-code/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/`
- `claude-code/codex-overrides/skills/<skill-name>/`

Use a Codex override when the upstream shared skill exists but its workflow or wording does not cleanly fit Codex.

## When to Create a Skill

Create or update a skill when:
- The technique is reusable across tasks
- The agent repeatedly misses the same judgment call
- A short document can prevent recurring mistakes

Do not create a skill for:
- One-off project context
- Purely mechanical rules that should be enforced by code or linting
- Content that belongs in repo instructions instead

## Structure

Each skill directory should stay small:

```text
skill-name/
SKILL.md
supporting-file.md # only when needed
```

Prefer one concise `SKILL.md`. Add supporting files only for heavy reference material.

## Metadata Rules

Frontmatter supports only:
- `name`
- `description`

Description rules:
- Start with `Use when...`
- Describe triggering conditions, not the workflow
- Stay specific enough for discovery
- Avoid harness-specific claims unless the skill is intentionally harness-specific

## Authoring Rules

- Keep the workflow native to the target harness.
- Name real tools and files the agent actually has.
- Prefer concrete triggers over broad abstractions.
- Cut repeated explanations aggressively.
- Include red flags when the failure mode is predictable.

## Testing the Skill

Validate the skill against realistic tasks:

1. Observe baseline behavior on a representative request.
2. Write or revise the skill to address the real failure.
3. Re-run the task and compare behavior.
4. Tighten wording only where the skill still leaves loopholes.

Use subagents for testing only when they add signal. They are optional, not the point.

## Red Flags

- Descriptions that summarize the full workflow
- Instructions referencing tools unavailable in the target harness
- Long examples that restate the same rule
- Skills that duplicate repo-level policy

Files: 1

Size: 2.6 KB

Complexity: 5/100

Category: Writing & Docs

Source: https://github.com/0xbigboss/claude-code/tree/main/codex-overrides/skills/writing-skills

Related in Writing & Docs

jax-development

Included

Use this skill when the user is writing, debugging, profiling, refactoring, reviewing, benchmarking, parallelising, exporting, or explaining JAX code, or when they mention JAX, jax.numpy, jit, grad, value_and_grad, vmap, scan, lax, random keys, pytrees, jax.Array, sharding, Mesh, PartitionSpec, NamedSharding, pmap, shard_map, Pallas, XLA, StableHLO, checkify, profiler, or the JAX repo. It helps turn NumPy or PyTorch-style code into pure functional JAX, fix tracer/control-flow/shape/PRNG bugs, remove recompiles and host-device syncs, choose transforms and sharding strategies, inspect jaxpr/lowering/IR, and benchmark compiled code correctly.

Writing & Docsscripts

nature-article-writer

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Drafts, rewrites, diagnostically critiques, and style-calibrates primary research manuscripts for Nature and Nature Portfolio journals. Use when the user wants a Nature-style title, summary paragraph or abstract, introduction, results, discussion, methods, figure legends, presubmission enquiry, cover letter, reviewer response, or when a scientific draft sounds generic, jargon-heavy, structurally weak, or AI-ish and needs precise, broad-reader-friendly prose without inventing data, analyses, or references. Best for primary research articles and letters rather than reviews or press releases unless explicitly adapting one.

Writing & Docsscripts

deckrd

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Document-driven framework that derives requirements, specifications, implementation plans, and executable tasks from goals through structured AI dialogue. Use when user says "write requirements", "create spec", "plan implementation", "derive tasks", "structure this feature", "break down into tasks", or "document this module". Also use for reverse engineering existing code into docs (/deckrd rev). Do NOT use for direct code writing — use /deckrd-coder after tasks are generated. Do NOT use when the user only wants to run or fix existing code without planning.

Writing & Docsscripts

clinical-decision-support

Included

Generate professional clinical decision support (CDS) documents for pharmaceutical and clinical research settings, including patient cohort analyses (biomarker-stratified with outcomes) and treatment recommendation reports (evidence-based guidelines with decision algorithms). Supports GRADE evidence grading, statistical analysis (hazard ratios, survival curves, waterfall plots), biomarker integration, and regulatory compliance. Outputs publication-ready LaTeX/PDF format optimized for drug development, clinical research, and evidence synthesis.

Writing & Docsscripts

handling-sf-data

Included

Salesforce data operations with 130-point scoring. Use this skill to create, update, delete, bulk import/export, generate test data, and clean up org records using sf CLI and anonymous Apex. TRIGGER when: user creates test data, performs bulk import/export, uses sf data CLI commands, needs data factory patterns for Apex tests, or needs to seed/clean records in a Salesforce org. DO NOT TRIGGER when: SOQL query writing only (use querying-soql), Apex test execution (use running-apex-tests), or metadata deployment (use deploying-metadata).

Writing & Docsscripts

accelint-ac-to-playwright

Included

Convert and validate acceptance criteria for Playwright test automation. Use when user asks to (1) review/evaluate/check if AC are ready for automation, (2) assess if AC can be converted as-is, (3) validate AC quality for Playwright, (4) turn AC into tests, (5) generate tests from acceptance criteria, (6) convert .md bullets or .feature Gherkin files to Playwright specs, (7) create test automation from requirements. Handles both bullet-style markdown and Gherkin syntax with JSON test plan generation and validation.

Writing & Docsscripts