ballerina-platform/ballerina-vscode/skill-creator

Skill Creator

When asked to create a new skill, follow these steps precisely.

Step 1 — Gather requirements

If the user's request is vague, ask one focused clarifying question before proceeding:

• What specific task or scenario should this skill apply to?
• What rules or guidance should the skill enforce?

If the request is clear enough, skip clarification and proceed.

Step 2 — Formulate the skill definition

Compose the three parts of the skill:

Name (name)

• Lowercase, kebab-case: api-design, error-handler, test-writer
• 2–3 words, no spaces or special characters

Trigger (trigger)

• One or two sentences: when to invoke this skill
• Start with: "Use this skill when..."
• Be specific — the agent uses this to decide when to call invoke_skill

Body (body) — optional but recommended for non-trivial skills

• Detailed rules, constraints, examples
• Use markdown headers and bullet lists
• Focus on what the agent should do differently when this skill is active
• Include concrete examples where helpful

Step 3 — Save the skill

Write the skill to the project's skills directory using the file_write tool. The file path MUST be .agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md (relative to the project root), where <name> is the kebab-case skill name from Step 2.

The file content MUST be the skill's markdown with YAML front matter, in exactly this format:

---
name: <name>
description: <trigger>
---
 
<body>

Notes:

• description is the trigger sentence(s) from Step 2.
• Omit the body section entirely (just the front matter) only for very simple skills.
• After writing, briefly confirm to the user that the skill was created.

Do NOT:

• Announce that you are about to write before calling the tool — just call file_write.