ClaudSkills / Engineering / code-quality

Skill Authoring Guide

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Skill Authoring Guide skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Skill Authoring Guide is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: Engineering · Sub-category: code-quality · Last updated: 2026-06-01

Create or refactor high-quality skills with lean frontmatter, progressive disclosure, and optional bundled helpers. Use when authoring reusable agent workflows.

From the source SKILL.md

Use this skill when creating or improving a reusable skill.

What this skill does

Skill Authoring Guide is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the code-quality sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/skill-authoring-guide/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when authoring reusable agent workflows.

Who uses this skill

The Skill Authoring Guide Claude Code skill is built for software engineers, backend developers, full-stack teams, and technical leads building and maintaining production systems. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 93,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).

How to install

Free

Manual install (2 steps)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/skill-authoring-guide
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/skill-authoring-guide/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/skill-authoring-guide/SKILL.md

Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/skill-authoring-guide/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/skill-authoring-guide/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\skill-authoring-guide\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.

📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram

Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →

Pro

One-click install via the desktop app

The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.

See pricing → Download desktop app

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Skill Authoring Guide Claude Code skill?

Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/skill-authoring-guide/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.

What does the Skill Authoring Guide skill do?

Create or refactor high-quality skills with lean frontmatter, progressive disclosure, and optional bundled helpers. Use when authoring reusable agent workflows.

Is this skill free to install?

Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.

When should I use the Skill Authoring Guide skill?

Use Skill Authoring Guide when your Claude Code task falls under the Engineering category — specifically in the code quality area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use Skill Authoring Guide" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/engineering/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Skill Authoring Guide skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Skill Authoring Guide is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Source: https://github.com/yeaight7/agent-powerups/blob/HEAD/plugins/skill-authoring/skills/skill-authoring-guide/SKILL.md
License: Apache-2.0
Author: yeaight7

Cite this skill

If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:

APA

yeaight7. (2026). Skill Authoring Guide [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/skill-authoring-guide/

BibTeX

@misc{skill-authoring-guide-2026,
  author    = {yeaight7},
  title     = {Skill Authoring Guide [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/skill-authoring-guide/}
}

Embed this skill

Promote, attribute, or link this skill from your own README, blog post, or documentation. All three snippets are free to use — no sign-up, no API key. More distribution surfaces →

Badge

[![ClaudSkills](https://claudskills.com/badge/skill-authoring-guide.svg)](https://claudskills.com/skills/skill-authoring-guide/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=skill_badge)

More Engineering skills

Browse all Engineering skills in the ClaudSkills registry, or explore these other picks from the same category:

Browse all Engineering skills → Top 100 skills

Part of ClaudSkills — the open registry for Claude Skills & Claude Code Skills. · What's New · Install guide · About · llms.txt

Part of Acreator Store — Adam Lankamer's AI tools: PerfectStudio · Ucaption · UTagger · AutoXPoster · TestYourSkills · AutomationFlows · Au Naturel · Telegram @acreatorstore