yao-meta-skill/SKILL.md

name, description, metadata

name	description	metadata
yao-meta-skill	Create, refactor, evaluate, and package agent skills from workflows, transcripts, prompts, docs, or rough notes. Use when asked to create a skill, turn a repeated process into a reusable skill, improve an existing skill, optimize skill triggering, add evals, or prepare a skill for team reuse. Relevant for meta-skills, skill factories, skill templates, skill QA, and cross-platform skill packaging.	author philosophy Yao Team structured design, evaluation loop, template ergonomics, operational packaging

Yao Meta Skill

Build skills as reusable products, not long prompts.

Core Rules

• Treat a skill as a maintained capability package.
• Write the frontmatter description early; it is the main trigger surface.
• Keep SKILL.md lean. Put detail in references/, deterministic logic in scripts/, and output artifacts in assets/.
• Use the lightest process that still protects quality.
• Package for reuse only when the user actually needs reuse.

Use Cases

Use this skill to:

• create a new skill
• turn a workflow, runbook, transcript, or prompt set into a skill
• improve a skill's boundary, description, evals, or packaging
• design a team skill template or skill-library standard
• migrate a skill toward the Agent Skills open format

Modes

Choose the lightest mode that fits.

Scaffold

Use for exploratory or personal skills.

Deliver:

• SKILL.md
• agents/interface.yaml
• references/ only if clearly needed

Production

Use for reusable team skills.

Deliver:

• concise package structure
• focused references/
• scripts/ when prose would be brittle or repetitive
• evals/ when output quality can be checked

Library

Use for important organizational skills or meta-skills.

Add:

• trigger positives, negatives, and near neighbors
• revision rubric
• packaging guidance
• maintenance metadata when useful

Factory Components

Use these when they materially improve quality:

• templates/basic_skill.md.j2
• templates/complex_skill.md.j2
• scripts/trigger_eval.py
• scripts/context_sizer.py
• scripts/cross_packager.py

Workflow

1. Capture the real job

Infer:

• the recurring task or decision
• likely trigger phrases and contexts
• expected outputs
• what must be deterministic
• whether the skill is personal, team, or cross-platform

Keep discovery lean. Default to no more than two clarification rounds unless guessing is risky.

2. Set the boundary

One skill should usually have:

• one capability family
• one trigger surface
• one coherent workflow

Split oversized skills. Move variants into references/ or sibling skills.

3. Design the trigger

The description should say:

• what the skill does
• when to use it
• phrases, artifacts, or file types that should trigger it
• adjacent cases that are easy to miss

For important skills, create should_trigger, should_not_trigger, and near-neighbor prompts. Use scripts/trigger_eval.py when helpful.

4. Write the package

Default structure:

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md
├── agents/interface.yaml
├── references/
├── scripts/
├── assets/
└── evals/

Only create folders that earn their keep. Start from the basic template unless the skill clearly needs the complex one.

5. Add quality gates

Use the minimum useful QA:

• basic: structure and naming check
• standard: realistic prompts and expected outcomes
• advanced: trigger evals, benchmark comparisons, revision loop

For production or library-grade skills, run scripts/context_sizer.py before finalizing.

6. Package for reuse

If team reuse matters, include:

• stable folder name
• aligned agents/interface.yaml
• minimal tool assumptions
• version or maintenance metadata when useful
• target-specific packaging only for requested platforms

Use scripts/cross_packager.py when packaging artifacts are needed.

7. Report the result

Summarize:

• what was packaged
• what trigger surface was chosen
• what was excluded
• what quality gates exist
• what should be improved next

Output Contract

Unless the user asks otherwise, produce:

1. a working skill directory
2. a trigger-aware SKILL.md
3. aligned agents/interface.yaml
4. references only where they reduce context bloat
5. optional scripts, evals, and manifest.json when justified

Reference Map

• Skill Design Guidelines
• Client Compatibility
• Comparative Analysis
• Meta-Skill Rubric
• Skill Template
• Trigger And Eval Playbook