Claude Code Skills — Meta Reference

This skill provides the definitive reference for creating, organizing, and maintaining Claude Code skills. Use this when building new skills or improving existing skill architecture.

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Quick Reference

Component	Purpose	Required
SKILL.md	Main reference file with frontmatter	Yes
resources/	Detailed documentation	Recommended
templates/	Reusable code templates	Optional
data/sources.json	Curated external links	Recommended

Skill Structure

skills/
└── skill-name/
    ├── SKILL.md           # Main reference (required)
    ├── README.md          # Usage notes (optional)
    ├── resources/         # Detailed docs
    │   ├── patterns.md
    │   └── examples.md
    ├── templates/         # Code templates
    │   └── starter.md
    └── data/
        └── sources.json   # External references

---

SKILL.md Template

---
name: skill-name
description: One-line description of what this skill provides and when to use it
---

# Skill Name — Quick Reference

Brief overview of the skill's purpose and value.

---

## Quick Reference

| Task | Tool/Method | When to Use |
|------|-------------|-------------|
| Task 1 | Tool A | Context for usage |

## When to Use This Skill

Claude should invoke this skill when a user requests:

- Use case 1
- Use case 2
- Use case 3

---

## Core Concepts

### Concept 1

Explanation with code example:

\`\`\`language
code example
\`\`\`

### Concept 2

Additional patterns...

---

## Navigation

**Resources**
- [resources/detailed-guide.md](resources/detailed-guide.md) — Extended documentation

**Related Skills**
- [../related-skill/SKILL.md](../related-skill/SKILL.md) — How it connects

---

Progressive Disclosure

Skills use progressive disclosure to optimize token usage:

Layer	Content	Token Cost
Metadata	Name + description only	~100 tokens
SKILL.md	Quick reference, patterns	<5K tokens
resources/	Deep dives, full examples	On-demand

Pattern: SKILL.md provides overview → Resources provide depth

When to Split Content

Keep in SKILL.md	Move to resources/
Decision trees	Full API references
Quick commands	Step-by-step tutorials
Common patterns	Edge case handling
1-2 code examples	Complete implementations

---

Frontmatter Specification

---
name: string          # Required: lowercase-kebab-case, matches folder name
description: string   # Required: One line, explains when Claude should use it
---

Name rules:

• Use kebab-case: ai-llm, not AI_LLM_Engineering
• Match folder name exactly
• Be specific: software-backend not backend

Description rules:

• Single line, under 200 characters
• Include key technologies/concepts
• End with context of when to use

---

Skill Categories

Category	Prefix	Examples
AI/ML	ai-	ai-llm, ai-ml-data-science
Software	software-	software-backend, software-frontend
Operations	ops-	ops-devops-platform
Data	data-	data-lake-platform, data-sql-optimization
Quality	quality-	quality-debugging, qa-docs-coverage
Developer Tools	dev-, git-	dev-api-design, git-commit-message, dev-workflow-planning
Product	product-	product-management, docs-ai-prd
Document	document-	document-pdf, document-xlsx
Testing	testing-, qa-testing-	qa-testing-playwright, qa-testing-strategy
Marketing	marketing-	marketing-social-media, marketing-seo-technical
Claude Code	claude-code-	claude-code-agents, claude-code-skills

---

sources.json Schema

{
  "metadata": {
    "title": "Skill Name - Sources",
    "description": "Brief description",
    "last_updated": "YYYY-MM-DD",
    "skill": "skill-name"
  },
  "category_name": [
    {
      "name": "Resource Name",
      "url": "https://example.com/docs",
      "description": "What this covers",
      "add_as_web_search": true
    }
  ]
}

Categories should group logically:

• official_documentation
• tutorials
• community_resources
• tools_and_libraries

---

Quality Checklist

SKILL VALIDATION CHECKLIST

Frontmatter:
[ ] name matches folder name (kebab-case)
[ ] description is concise and actionable

Structure:
[ ] SKILL.md under 5K characters (progressive disclosure)
[ ] resources/ for detailed content
[ ] data/sources.json with curated links

Content:
[ ] Quick reference table at top
[ ] "When to Use" section present
[ ] Code examples are copy-paste ready
[ ] Related skills linked at bottom

Quality:
[ ] >40% operational content (code, tables, checklists)
[ ] <50% prose paragraphs
[ ] All URLs are live (no 404s)
[ ] Sources updated within 6 months

---

Multi-Tech vs Single-Tech Skills

Single-Tech Skill

software-backend/
├── SKILL.md              # Node.js focus
└── resources/
    └── nodejs-patterns.md

Multi-Tech Skill

software-backend/
├── SKILL.md              # Overview + decision tree
├── resources/
│   ├── nodejs-patterns.md
│   ├── go-patterns.md
│   ├── rust-patterns.md
│   └── python-patterns.md
└── templates/
    ├── nodejs/
    ├── go/
    ├── rust/
    └── python/

---

Navigation

Resources

• resources/skill-patterns.md — Common skill patterns
• resources/skill-validation.md — Validation criteria
• data/sources.json — Official documentation links

Related Skills

• ../claude-code-agents/SKILL.md — Agent creation
• ../claude-code-commands/SKILL.md — Command creation
• ../claude-code-hooks/SKILL.md — Hook automation