--- name: skill-builder description: "Router for skill creation: routes doc/repo-to-skill codification or routes to skill-creator for authoring. Use for doc-to-skill, new skills, or merging skills." skill_type: workflow category: process-skill-builder --- # Lev Skill Builder ## Overview Unified skill creation hub. Routes between documentation codification (Skill_Seekers v2.7.4) and new skill authoring (skill-creator standards). Supports website scraping, GitHub repository analysis (with AST parsing), PDF extraction, and unified multi-source with conflict detection. ## When to Use This Skill Use skill-builder when you need to: | Scenario | Example | Route | | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | --------------------------- | | Convert docs website to skill | "Codify the FastAPI docs" | Codifier pipeline (see below) | | Convert GitHub repo to skill | "Make a skill from facebook/react" | Codifier pipeline (see below) | | Extract PDF into skill | "Turn this manual into a skill" | Codifier pipeline (see below) | | Combine multiple sources | "Skill from React docs + repo + PDF" | Codifier pipeline (see below) | | Author new skill from scratch | "Create a skill for my workflow" | skill-creator | | Merge existing skills | "Combine these 3 skills into one" | Both routes | | Export for non-Claude LLMs | "Package for Gemini/ChatGPT" | Codifier with `--target` | **Do NOT use** for: editing existing skills (use editor), searching skills (use `lev get`), or installing skills (use clawdhub). ## Quick Decision Tree ``` What does the user want? │ ├─→ Convert existing docs to skill? │ ├─→ Website only? → Website Scraping │ ├─→ GitHub repo only? → GitHub Analysis │ ├─→ PDF only? → PDF Extraction │ └─→ Multiple sources? → Unified Multi-Source │ ├─→ Create NEW skill from scratch? │ └─→ Route to skill-creator │ - SKILL.md format: YAML frontmatter + markdown body │ - Progressive disclosure: metadata → body → references │ - Body <500 lines, description is PRIMARY trigger │ - See skill-creator skill for full standards │ ├─→ Combine/merge existing skills? │ └─→ Route to BOTH: │ 1. Analyze existing skills (codifier patterns) │ 2. Author merged skill (skill-creator standards) │ 3. Ensure router pattern if subsumes others │ ├─→ Export for non-Claude platform? │ └─→ Package with --target (gemini|openai|markdown) │ └─→ First time? → references/setup.md ``` ## Skill Installation from External Sources When intake routes a skills.sh URL or skill:// to skill-builder: ### Step 1: Acquire → skills-db staging ```bash # Extract GitHub repo URL from skills.sh page (WebFetch for the link ONLY) git clone --depth 1 {repo} /tmp/skill-intake-{ts}/ # Find the skill: find /tmp/skill-intake-{ts}/ -name "SKILL.md" -path "*{name}*" # Stage to skills-db (NOT directly to active): cp -r /tmp/skill-intake-{ts}/skills/{name}/ ~/.agents/skills-db/_workshop/{source}/{name}/ rm -rf /tmp/skill-intake-{ts}/ ``` ### Step 2: Validate (HARD GATES — run on staged copy) ```bash file=~/.agents/skills-db/_workshop/{source}/{name}/SKILL.md head -1 "$file" | grep -q "^---$" # Has YAML frontmatter grep -q "^name:" "$file" # Has name field grep -q "^description:" "$file" # Has description field awk '/^---$/{c++} c==2{exit}' "$file" # Has closing --- ``` If any hard gate fails → REJECT. Move to `.archive/` or delete. Do NOT promote. ### Step 3: Prior Art Check - Search ~/.agents/skills/ for name/trigger overlap - Exact match → compare quality (line count, scoring), keep better version - Partial overlap (>30% triggers) → recommend merge - No overlap → proceed to scoring ### Step 4: Quality Score (run on staged copy, BEFORE promotion) Score 1-10 on 5 dimensions (read the SKILL.md content): | Dimension | What to evaluate | |-----------|-----------------| | Actionability | Concrete steps/code/templates vs vague advice | | Depth | Expert-level detail vs surface overview | | Structure | Decision trees/tables vs wall of text | | Trigger quality | WHAT/HOW/WHEN/WHY + tags vs bare description | | Uniqueness | Novel frameworks vs generic blog advice | Grades: A (8+) promote, B (7-7.9) promote with note, C (5-6.9) hold in _todo, D (<5) reject ### Step 5: Catalog (move from staging to skills-db home) ```bash # A/B grade → catalog in skills-db (DEFAULT destination): mv ~/.agents/skills-db/_workshop/{source}/{name}/ ~/.agents/skills-db/{domain}/{name}/ # C grade → move to _todo for enhancement: mv ~/.agents/skills-db/_workshop/{source}/{name}/ ~/.agents/skills-db/_todo/{name}/ # D grade → reject: mv ~/.agents/skills-db/_workshop/{source}/{name}/ ~/.agents/skills-db/.archive/{name}/ ``` ### Step 5b: Activate (ONLY if user requests) ```bash # Only when user explicitly wants the skill loaded into Claude Code: cp -r ~/.agents/skills-db/{domain}/{name}/ ~/.agents/skills/{name}/ # Or symlink: ln -s ~/.agents/skills-db/{domain}/{name}/ ~/.agents/skills/{name} ``` **NOTE**: Most skills stay in skills-db. Only day-to-day/global operational skills get activated. The user decides when to activate — skill-builder should PROPOSE activation, not assume it. ### Step 6: Lifecycle Check - Is this skill a candidate for merging into an existing hub/router? - Does it overlap with 2+ existing skills in the same domain? - If yes → recommend leaf→hub→router graduation ## Skill Lifecycle: Leaf → Hub → Router Skills grow organically through 3 stages: | Stage | Lines | Pattern | Example | |-------|-------|---------|---------| | LEAF | <300L | Standalone, no routing | writing-substack (147L) | | HUB | 300-500L | Cross-references peers | content-strategy (356L) | | ROUTER | 80-100L body | Dispatches to sub-skills | security-hub (80L → 4 sub-skills) | ### Growth triggers - **Merge**: 2+ skills share >30% intent overlap → merge into hub - **Router**: Merged hub exceeds ~400L → graduate to router (move content to sub-skills) - **Split**: Single skill >500L without references/ → split into skill + references/ ### Router graduation checklist 1. Create {domain}-hub/ directory 2. Write SKILL.md routing header (<100L): decision tree + sub-skill table 3. Add `skill_type: router` and `subsumes: [list]` to frontmatter 4. Keep sub-skills as independent SKILL.md files 5. Router description MUST include ALL sub-skill triggers (union of tags) ## Full Pipeline (The Correct Order) Every codification job follows this pipeline. Do NOT skip steps. ``` 1. PRIOR ART CHECK → Does this skill already exist? ├─ lev get "{name}" --scope=knowledge --pattern="SKILL.md" ├─ grep -rl "{name}" ~/.claude/skills/ └─ If found: • Exact match → use as-is or enhance existing, skip to step 4 • Partial overlap → recommend merge/consolidation with existing • Related but different → proceed, note in description for routing 2. ESTIMATE (websites only) → How big is this job? └─ skill-seekers estimate configs/{name}.json • < 5K pages: single skill, proceed normally • 5K-10K: consider category split • 10K+: must split with router strategy 3. EXTRACT → Get the raw content ├─ Website: skill-seekers scrape --name {name} --url {url} ├─ GitHub: skill-seekers github --repo {owner/repo} ├─ PDF: skill-seekers pdf --pdf {file} --name {name} └─ Unified: skill-seekers unified --config {config.json} 4. ENHANCE → Transform raw extraction into a real skill └─ skill-seekers enhance output/{name}/ ⚠️ KNOWN BUG (skill-seekers ≤2.7.4): enhance passes file path as positional arg to claude CLI. SKILL.md never gets updated. USE WORKAROUND: scripts/enhance-workaround.sh output/{name} 5. REVIEW → Check the enhanced output • Compare frontmatter against standards (what/how/when/why + triggers) • Verify description is the PRIMARY trigger mechanism • Check progressive disclosure (SKILL.md <500 lines, rest in references/) • Validate: no stats-only wrappers, real actionable content 6. PACKAGE → Bundle for distribution └─ echo "y" | skill-seekers package output/{name}/ [--target claude|gemini|openai|markdown] 7. INSTALL → Put it where it belongs ├─ Global: cp -r output/{name} ~/.claude/skills/{name}/ ├─ Project: cp -r output/{name} .claude/skills/{name}/ └─ Upload: output/{name}.zip → https://claude.ai/skills ``` ## Quick Reference: Essential Commands ### 1. Installation Check ```bash command -v skill-seekers || python3 -m skill_seekers --version ``` If not installed, see `references/setup.md` for uv/venv/pip auto-detection. ### 2. Website Scraping (Preset) ```bash skill-seekers scrape --config configs/react.json --enhance-local skill-seekers package output/react/ ``` ### 3. Website Scraping (Custom) ```bash skill-seekers scrape --name myframework --url https://docs.example.com/ skill-seekers package output/myframework/ ``` ### 4. GitHub Repository Analysis ```bash skill-seekers github --repo facebook/react skill-seekers package output/react/ ``` Supports deep AST parsing for Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, C++, Go. Extracts APIs, issues, PRs, changelogs, and detects doc-vs-code conflicts. ### 5. PDF Extraction ```bash skill-seekers pdf --pdf docs/manual.pdf --name myskill skill-seekers package output/myskill/ ``` Supports OCR for scanned PDFs, table extraction, password-protected files, and parallel processing. ### 6. Unified Multi-Source (Docs + GitHub + PDF) ```bash skill-seekers unified --config configs/react_unified.json skill-seekers package output/react/ ``` Combines all sources with automatic conflict detection and intelligent merging. ### 7. Multi-Platform Export ```bash # Claude (default) skill-seekers package output/react/ # Google Gemini skill-seekers package output/react/ --target gemini # OpenAI ChatGPT skill-seekers package output/react/ --target openai # Generic Markdown (any LLM) skill-seekers package output/react/ --target markdown ``` For large docs (10K+ pages), async mode, three-stream GitHub analysis, splitting strategies, and troubleshooting, see `references/advanced-commands.md`. ## Frontmatter Design Philosophy ### The Description is Everything The `description` field is the **PRIMARY trigger mechanism**. Agents read descriptions to route. Body loads AFTER triggering. Every description needs What/How/When/Why + tag soup: ```yaml description: | [WHAT] - What this skill does (1 sentence) [HOW] - How it works (mechanism, tools used) [WHEN] - When to use it (trigger conditions) [WHY] - Why it exists (problem it solves) Triggers: "tag1", "tag2", "tag3", ... ``` ### Intentional Tag Overlap Skills SHOULD have overlapping triggers for semantic routing: | Domain | Shared Triggers | Skills | | ----------------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | Context gathering | find, search, lookup, get | lev get, lev-research, lev-memory | | Modification | update, patch, change, edit | lev-patch, bd, edit tools | | Execution | run, execute, do, make | ralph, bash, Task tool | **Anti-pattern:** Descriptions that only say WHAT without WHEN triggers: ```yaml # BAD description: Manages memory storage and retrieval. # GOOD description: | Store and recall information across sessions using AutoMem. Triggers: "remember", "recall", "forget", "save this", "memory" ``` ### The 3-Tool Agent Model Skills wrap 3 fundamental operations: 1. **GET** (context gathering) - lev get, lev-research, read 2. **EXECUTE** (run things) - ralph, bash, Task tool, skills 3. **PATCH** (modify the graph) - bd, edit, write, memory_store Categorize your skill's operations to help semantic routing. ## Skill Creator Standards (Quick Reference) When authoring a new skill from scratch: **Structure:** ``` skill-name/ ├── SKILL.md (required, <500 lines) │ ├── YAML frontmatter (name, description required) │ └── Markdown body └── references/ (optional, loaded on demand) ``` **Progressive Disclosure Tiers:** 1. Metadata (~100 words) - Always loaded 2. Body (<5k words) - On trigger 3. References (unlimited) - On demand **Rules:** - `description` is the PRIMARY trigger - include what + when - Use imperative/infinitive form - No separate README.md or CHANGELOG.md - the skill IS the docs ## Validation (Post-Extraction) ``` VALIDATION RULES: 1. SKILL.md > 150 lines? → Move detail to references/ 2. No references/ + heavy SKILL.md? → Create references/, split 3. Any file > 500 lines? → Consider chunking 4. Total skill > 2000 lines? → Consider sub-skills with router IDEAL STRUCTURE: skill-name/ ├── SKILL.md (~100-150 lines) │ ├── Frontmatter + decision tree │ └── "See references/X.md" pointers ├── references/ │ ├── api.md │ └── patterns.md └── scripts/ (optional) ``` ## Install Location Ask user where to install: - `~/.claude/skills/X/` - User-level (global) - `.claude/skills/X/` - Project-level (local) ## Output & Delivery All workflows create `.zip` in `output/.zip`. Users upload to Claude at https://claude.ai/skills. For other platforms, use `--target` flag. ## Working with This Skill ### Beginners 1. Run installation check (`command -v skill-seekers`) 2. If not installed, follow `references/setup.md` (auto-detects uv/venv/pip) 3. Start with a preset: `skill-seekers scrape --config configs/react.json --enhance-local` 4. Package: `skill-seekers package output/react/` ### Intermediate - Use unified multi-source for comprehensive skills (docs + code + PDF) - Enable async mode for docs over 500 pages - Use `--enhance-local` (no API key) or `--enhance` (with `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`) for AI improvement - Export to multiple LLM platforms with `--target` ### Advanced - Split 10K+ page docs with router strategy for parallel scraping - Use three-stream GitHub analysis (code + docs + insights) via Python API - Configure GitHub profiles for private repos: `skill-seekers config --github` - Resume interrupted scrapes: `skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --resume` - Custom endpoint support: set `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` for GLM-4.7 compatible APIs For troubleshooting, see `references/advanced-commands.md` or `references/troubleshooting.md`. ## Reference Files | File | Content | | ------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | `references/setup.md` | Installation with uv/venv/pip auto-detection | | `references/advanced-commands.md` | Large docs, async, three-stream, splitting, troubleshooting | | `references/advanced-workflows.md` | Unified multi-source config, enhancement options | | `references/troubleshooting.md` | Installation issues, runtime errors, CSS selectors | | `references/skill-seekers-readme.md` | Full Skill_Seekers v2.7.4 feature matrix | | `scripts/enhance-workaround.sh` | Fix for broken `skill-seekers enhance` CLI invocation | ## Routing Summary | Intent | Route To | Action | | -------------------------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | | "codify docs", "convert docs to skill" | Codifier pipeline | Prior art → extract → enhance → package → install | | "skill from GitHub repo" | Codifier pipeline | Prior art → github → enhance → package → install | | "skill from PDF" | Codifier pipeline | Prior art → pdf → enhance → package → install | | "combine docs + code + PDF" | Codifier pipeline | Prior art → unified → enhance → package → install | | "make a skill", "new skill" | skill-creator | Author with standards | | "combine skills", "merge skills" | Both | Analyze + author | | "export for Gemini/ChatGPT" | Codifier pipeline | Package with `--target` flag | | "enhance skill" | Enhance step | Run enhance workaround (pipe to claude -p) | | "codify X" (ambiguous) | Ask clarification | Docs source or new authoring? | For full skill authoring guidance, load the `skill-creator` skill. ## Technique Map - **Identify scope** — Determine what the skill applies to before executing. - **Follow workflow** — Use documented steps; avoid ad-hoc shortcuts. - **Verify outputs** — Check results match expected contract. - **Handle errors** — Graceful degradation when dependencies missing. - **Reference docs** — Load references/ when detail needed. - **Preserve state** — Don't overwrite user config or artifacts. ## Technique Notes Skill-specific technique rationale. Apply patterns from the skill body. Progressive disclosure: metadata first, body on trigger, references on demand. ## Prompt Architect Overlay **Role Definition:** Specialist for skill-builder domain. Executes workflows, produces artifacts, routes to related skills when needed. **Input Contract:** Context, optional config, artifacts from prior steps. Depends on skill. **Output Contract:** Artifacts, status, next-step recommendations. Format per skill. **Edge Cases & Fallbacks:** Missing context—ask or infer from workspace. Dependency missing—degrade gracefully; note in output. Ambiguous request—clarify before proceeding. ## Agent Rules for Skill Operations HARD LEARNED (2026-02-11): 1. NEVER use WebFetch to extract SKILL.md content — it summarizes 2. NEVER use haiku agents for skill installation — they hallucinate content 3. ALWAYS git clone source repo and cp files verbatim 4. ALWAYS verify: head -1 == "---", wc -l matches source 5. NEVER add custom frontmatter if source already has it