tool-design SKILL.md skillA
tool-design from docxology/template is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add docxology/template/tool-design@git:20260713.397aa15Pins git:20260713.397aa15 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- docxology/template
- Path
.agents/skills/tool-design/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260713.397aa15, committed Jul 13, 2026
- Size
- 20,089 bytes
- Repository stars
- 23
- License
- Apache-2.0
This skill should be used for the tool-interface layer of an agent system specifically: writing tool descriptions agents can route on, designing tool schemas and response formats, naming conventions, actionable error recovery messages, MCP server design, tool-set consolidation, and deciding when to add or remove an individual tool. Use this when the unit of work is a single tool or a set of tools. Route project-shape, pipeline architecture, and task-model-fit decisions to project-development…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Tool Design for Agents Design every tool as a contract between a deterministic system and a non-deterministic agent. Unlike human-facing APIs, agent-facing tools must make the contract unambiguous through the description alone: agents infer intent from descriptions and generate calls that must match expected formats. Every ambiguity becomes a potential failure mode that no amount of prompt engineering can fix. The unit of work for this skill is a single tool or a tool catalog. Project-shape, pipeline architecture, task-model-fit, and cost-at-the-project-level decisions belong to `project-development`. Deciding whether to introduce sub-agents belongs to `multi-agent-patterns`. This skill owns the interface layer that connects deterministic code to the agent. ## When to Activate Activate this skill when the unit of work is a tool: - Writing a new tool description, schema, or response format. - Debugging cases where the agent picked the wrong tool or generated malformed calls. - Consolidating an overlapping tool catalog (the classic "we have 17 tools, the agent picks wrong half the time" case). - Designing actionable error messages so the agent can self-correct. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add docxology/template/tool-design@sha256:14f5a12b69113bc6The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260713.397aa15, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_kjby3g7thv6oxzyg)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jul 13, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (20089 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
docxology/template · 23 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-08 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_kjby3g7thv6oxzyg GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=docxology/template/tool-design GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/14f5a12b69113bc6450da69c5b4d408fe91601832ab1055ae25311339c84a06b
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
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