Skill Authoring - writing skills the right way

Skills are where production know-how accumulates. A good skill makes the next video automatically better than the last one without having to repeat anything in chat.

Required structure

.claude/skills/<name-kebab-case>/
└── SKILL.md

---
name: <matches the folder name, kebab-case>
description: <1-2 sentences: what the skill does + WHEN to use it. Claude decides whether to load the skill from this line alone - be specific, include keywords>
---

# Title

<skill body>

Writing rules

1. The description decides everything. Claude only sees the description when choosing a skill - it must spell out the trigger situation: "Read when...", "Use when the user provides...". A vague description = a skill that never gets used.
2. Write for the next use, not as a souvenir. Every section must answer "what do I do differently next time". Do not transcribe debugging history - keep only the conclusion + how to apply it.
3. Every fix needs its recognition condition. The standard template for a lesson:
   • Symptom: Vietnamese gradient text loses its diacritics on the reveal frame
   • Cause: background-clip: text clips the diacritics that sit outside the line-box
   • Fix: add enough padding-top + line-height to contain the diacritics, then check the first/last frame of the reveal
4. Specific beats exhaustive. A runnable command > a general description. Concrete numbers (CRF 28, volume 0.3, stroke 1.5px) > adjectives ("appropriate", "moderate").
5. Write skills in English; keep code/commands/technical names as-is. Do not translate technical terms (frame, render, timeline...). Vietnamese strings that are literal data (sample captions, UI labels, on-screen text) stay verbatim.
6. One skill, one topic. Split a skill once it grows past ~200 lines. Reference other skills by name (see the remotion-assemble skill) instead of copying content across files.

When to CREATE a new skill vs UPDATE an existing one

Creating a skill from the web UI

When the user creates a skill through the Skills page (describing it in their own words, often in Vietnamese):

1. Read this skill plus the closest existing skill of the same kind as a template.
2. Write a full SKILL.md in English, with complete frontmatter, following the rules above.
3. If the skill relates to Vietnamese-language video: inherit the verified fixes (Vietnamese diacritics, ffmpeg PATH) by reference, do not copy them.
4. Return it to the UI as a draft for the user to approve before writing the file.

After every finished video

Ask yourself: is there a new symptom -> cause -> fix? Was there a step done manually more than twice (the sign it should become a skill)? If so, update the skill in that same session - do not defer it to the next one.