Skip to content

feat: enhance skill-development description with stronger triggers #3

@sjnims

Description

@sjnims

Summary

The skill-development skill has the weakest description of all 7 skills in the plugin-dev plugin. It lacks specific trigger phrases that would help Claude recognize when to activate this skill.

Current vs Proposed

Current Description (~300 chars)

description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a skill", "add a skill to plugin", "write a new skill", "improve skill description", "organize skill content", or needs guidance on skill structure, progressive disclosure, or skill development best practices for Claude Code plugins.

Proposed Description (~450 chars)

description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a skill", "add a skill to plugin", "write a new skill", "improve skill description", "organize skill content", "SKILL.md format", "skill frontmatter", "skill triggers", "trigger phrases for skills", "progressive disclosure", "skill references folder", "skill examples folder", or needs guidance on skill structure, writing style, validation, or skill development best practices for Claude Code plugins.

Comparison with Gold Standard

The hook-development skill (gold standard) includes:

  • Specific file references (.json, events)
  • Action phrases ("create", "add", "validate", "implement")
  • Technical terms (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, etc.)
  • Use case phrases ("block dangerous commands")

The skill-development skill should similarly include:

  • File references (SKILL.md, references/, examples/)
  • Technical terms (frontmatter, triggers, progressive disclosure)
  • More action phrases (validate, test, structure)

Additional Trigger Phrases to Add

  • "SKILL.md format" / "SKILL.md structure"
  • "skill frontmatter" / "skill metadata"
  • "skill triggers" / "trigger phrases"
  • "progressive disclosure"
  • "skill references folder" / "skill examples folder"
  • "validate skill" / "test skill"
  • "skill word count"

Acceptance Criteria

  • Description includes at least 10 specific trigger phrases
  • Covers file/folder references (SKILL.md, references/, examples/)
  • Includes technical terms (frontmatter, triggers, progressive disclosure)
  • Maintains third-person format ("This skill should be used when...")
  • Stays under 1024 character limit
  • Skill triggers correctly on new phrases

Why This Matters

As a meta-skill (teaching how to create skills), skill-development should have an exemplary description. It's ironic that the skill teaching description best practices has one of the weaker descriptions.

References

  • hook-development description - Gold standard example
  • Official Skills Docs - Description requirements

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Projects

No projects

Milestone

No milestone

Relationships

None yet

Development

No branches or pull requests

Issue actions