Defines how to author, revise, and validate SKILL.md files so agent skills stay executable, scoped, and testable. It focuses on turning vague know-how into reusable operational instructions with clear triggers, deterministic steps, and verification checks.
Use cases
- Designing a new team skill so repeated tasks follow a consistent procedure
- Refactoring an existing skill that has become ambiguous or too broad
- Reviewing skill instructions that agents misinterpret in production
- Adding verification steps before publishing a skill update
- Standardizing trigger conditions across multiple related skills
Key features
- Define the exact trigger conditions that should activate the skill and list explicit non-triggers
- Write the procedure as numbered, testable steps with no hidden assumptions
- Specify required inputs, expected outputs, and failure handling paths
- Run a dry-run against a realistic task to validate that instructions are unambiguous
- Revise wording to remove optionality where deterministic behavior is required
When to Use This Skill
- When creating a new SKILL.md file for recurring team workflows
- When a skill produces inconsistent outputs across similar prompts
- When you need to raise reliability before deploying skill updates
Expected Output
A production-ready skill document with explicit triggers, executable steps, and verification criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What makes a skill durable over time?
- Durable skills separate stable principles from volatile details, and include verification steps that catch drift when dependencies or tools change.
- How specific should trigger wording be?
- Specific enough that two reviewers independently decide the same trigger outcome for the same request.
- Should a skill include failure paths?
- Yes. Define what to do when required tools, inputs, or permissions are missing so agents fail safely and transparently.
Related
Related
3 Indexed items
Maintaining Cursor Project Rules
Follow Cursor's official Rules documentation when you want persistent Agent guidance tied to a repository. Project rules encode architecture expectations, risky-folder guardrails, or repeatable workflows; Cursor applies them via Always Apply, intelligent relevance, glob-scoped attachments, or manual @mentions. Use .mdc frontmatter for finer control and reference templates with @file instead of pasting large snippets.
Documentation from code
Extracts architecture decisions, API contracts, and usage patterns directly from code to produce accurate documentation that stays in sync with implementation. Documentation-from-code treats code as the source of truth and generates prose from it rather than maintaining documentation as a separate artifact that diverges over time.
Receiving code review
Structures how you respond to code review feedback so the review process stays focused, respectful, and productive. This skill separates substantive feedback from nitpicks, tracks follow-ups without losing them, and produces a record that makes merges faster and post-mortems clearer.