AI For Dummies — Skills
← ROUTE MAP
03 / SKILLS
review desk ↗
Reusable judgment
Teach the
decision.
A skill changes behavior. Keep the trigger precise, put the workflow in
SKILL.md
, and move conditional facts, scripts, and examples into focused files.
Package anatomy
One job.
More than
one
file.
Choose a file to see why it belongs in the package.
REVIEW-UI / SKILL PACKAGE
├── SKILL.md
trigger + workflow
├── references/
conditional facts
├── scripts/
deterministic checks
└── assets/
templates + examples
Create a skill
Observe →
trigger →
validate
01
Observe friction
Find a repeated decision or failure.
02
Define the trigger
Say when it should load and when it should stay out.
03
Choose anatomy
Use references for facts and scripts for deterministic mechanics.
04
Evaluate behavior
Test realistic prompts, edge cases, safety, and evidence.
Check yourself
Recall it before
you
ship it.
Answer from memory first — the reveal is the feedback.
Format specification ↗
Try it on the Tiny Tasks lab →
The skill never loads. What is the first suspect?
+
The trigger. A precise description says when to load the skill — and when to leave it out. A vague one never fires.
Where do the workflow, the facts, and the repeated mechanics each go?
+
The workflow stays in SKILL.md, conditional facts move to references/, and deterministic repeated mechanics become scripts/.
What proves a skill works?
+
Behavior, not headings: realistic prompts, edge cases, and safety checks with observable evidence — the same bar the review desk applies.
Agents & trees →
Rules case study →
Review submitted skills →
Full guide: skill forge →