Claude Skills Project Configuration

This file governs Claude's behavior when working on the claude-skills repository.

Skill Authorship Standards

Skills follow the Agent Skills specification. This section covers project-specific conventions that go beyond the base spec.

The Description Trap

Critical: Skill descriptions must be TRIGGER-ONLY. Never summarize the workflow or process.

When descriptions contain process steps, agents follow the brief description instead of reading the full skill content. This defeats the purpose of detailed skills.

BAD - Process in description:

description: Use for debugging. First investigate root cause, then analyze
patterns, test hypotheses, and implement fixes with tests.

GOOD - Trigger-only:

description: Use when encountering bugs, errors, or unexpected behavior
requiring investigation.

Format: Use when [specific triggering conditions]

Descriptions tell WHEN to use the skill. The SKILL.md body tells HOW.

Frontmatter Requirements

Per the Agent Skills specification, only name and description are top-level required fields. Custom fields go under metadata.

---
name: skill-name-with-hyphens
description: Use when [triggering conditions] - max 1024 chars
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: https://github.com/Jeffallan
  version: "1.0.0"
  domain: frontend
  triggers: keyword1, keyword2, keyword3
  role: specialist
  scope: implementation
  output-format: code
  related-skills: fullstack-guardian, test-master, devops-engineer
---

Top-level fields (spec-defined):

• name: Letters, numbers, and hyphens only (no parentheses or special characters)
• description: Maximum 1024 characters, trigger-only format
• license: Always MIT for this project
• allowed-tools: Space-delimited tool list (only on skills that restrict tools)

Metadata fields (project-specific):

• author: GitHub profile URL of the skill author
• version: Semantic version string (quoted, e.g., "1.0.0")
• domain: Category from the domain list below
• triggers: Comma-separated searchable keywords
• role: specialist | expert | architect | engineer
• scope: implementation | review | design | system-design | testing | analysis | infrastructure | optimization | architecture
• output-format: code | document | report | architecture | specification | schema | manifests | analysis | analysis-and-code | code+analysis
• related-skills: Comma-separated skill directory names (e.g., fullstack-guardian, test-master). Must resolve to existing skill directories.

Domain values: language · backend · frontend · infrastructure · api-architecture · quality · devops · security · data-ml · platform · specialized · workflow

Reference File Standards

Reference files follow the Agent Skills specification. No specific headers are required.

Guidelines:

• 100-600 lines per reference file
• Keep files focused on a single topic
• Complete, working code examples with TypeScript types
• Cross-reference related skills where relevant
• Include "when to use" and "when not to use" guidance
• Practical patterns over theoretical explanations

Framework Idiom Principle

Reference files for framework-specific skills must reflect the idiomatic best practices of that framework, not generic patterns applied uniformly across all skills. If a framework provides a built-in mechanism (e.g., global error handling, middleware, dependency injection), reference examples should use it rather than duplicating that behavior manually. Each framework's conventions for error handling, architecture, and code organization take precedence over cross-project consistency.

Progressive Disclosure Architecture

Tier 1 - SKILL.md (~80-100 lines)

• Role definition and expertise level
• When-to-use guidance (triggers)
• Core workflow (5 steps)
• Constraints (MUST DO / MUST NOT DO)
• Routing table to references

Tier 2 - Reference Files (100-600 lines each)

• Deep technical content
• Complete code examples
• Edge cases and anti-patterns
• Loaded only when context requires

Goal: 50% token reduction through selective loading.

Project Workflow

When Creating New Skills

1. Check existing skills for overlap
2. Write SKILL.md with trigger-only description
3. Create reference files for deep content (100+ lines)
4. Add routing table linking topics to references
5. Test skill triggers with realistic prompts
6. Update SKILLS_GUIDE.md if adding new domain

When Modifying Skills

1. Read the full current skill before editing
2. Maintain trigger-only description format
3. Preserve progressive disclosure structure
4. Update related cross-references
5. Verify routing table accuracy

Release Checklist

When releasing a new version, follow these steps.

1. Update Version and Counts

Version and counts are managed through version.json:

{
  "version": "0.4.2",
  "skillCount": 65,
  "workflowCount": 9,
  "referenceFileCount": 355
}

To release a new version:

1. Update the version field in version.json
2. Run the update script:

python scripts/update-docs.py

The script will:

• Compute counts from the filesystem (skills, references, workflows)
• Update version.json with computed counts
• Update all documentation files (README.md, plugin.json, etc.)

Options:

python scripts/update-docs.py --check    # Verify files are in sync (CI use)
python scripts/update-docs.py --dry-run  # Preview changes without writing

2. Update CHANGELOG.md

Add new version entry at the top following Keep a Changelog format:

## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Added
- New features, skills, commands

### Changed
- Modified functionality, updated skills

### Fixed
- Bug fixes

Add version comparison link at bottom:

[X.Y.Z]: https://github.com/jeffallan/claude-skills/compare/vPREVIOUS...vX.Y.Z

3. Update Documentation for New/Modified Content

For new skills:

• Add to SKILLS_GUIDE.md in appropriate category
• Add to decision trees if applicable
• Run python scripts/update-docs.py to update counts

For new commands:

• Add to docs/WORKFLOW_COMMANDS.md
• Add to README.md Project Workflow Commands table
• Run python scripts/update-docs.py to update counts

For modified skills/commands:

• Update any cross-references
• Update SKILLS_GUIDE.md if triggers changed

4. Generate Social Preview

After all updates, regenerate the social preview image:

npm install --no-save puppeteer && node ./assets/capture-screenshot.js

This creates assets/social-preview.png from assets/social-preview.html.

5. Validate Skills Integrity

Critical: Run validation before release to prevent broken skills from being published.

python scripts/validate-skills.py

The script validates:

• YAML frontmatter - Parsing, required fields (name, description, triggers), format
• Name format - Letters, numbers, hyphens only
• Description - Max 1024 chars, starts with "Use when"
• References - Directory exists, has files, proper headers
• Count consistency - Skills/reference counts match across documentation

Options:

python scripts/validate-skills.py --check yaml       # YAML checks only
python scripts/validate-skills.py --check references # Reference checks only
python scripts/validate-skills.py --skill react-expert  # Single skill
python scripts/validate-skills.py --format json      # JSON output for CI
python scripts/validate-skills.py --help             # Full usage

Exit codes: 0 = success (warnings OK), 1 = errors found

6. Validate Markdown Syntax

Critical: Run markdown validation to catch parsing errors.

python scripts/validate-markdown.py

The script validates:

• HTML comments in tables - Comments between table rows break parsing
• Unclosed code blocks - Ensures all code fences are properly closed
• Missing table separators - Tables require |---| row after header
• Column count consistency - All table rows must have same column count

Options:

python scripts/validate-markdown.py --check       # CI mode (exit code only)
python scripts/validate-markdown.py --path FILE   # Single file
python scripts/validate-markdown.py --format json # JSON output for CI

Exit codes: 0 = no issues, 1 = issues found

7. Final Verification

After running validation, manually verify:

# Check no old version references remain (except historical changelog)
grep -r "OLD_VERSION" --include="*.md" --include="*.json" --include="*.html"

Attribution

Behavioral patterns and process discipline adapted from:

• obra/superpowers by Jesse Vincent (@obra)
• License: MIT

Research documented in: research/superpowers.md