Guide creating Claude Code skills with TDD and persuasion principles. Use for new skill 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
# Skill Authoring Guide
## When NOT To Use
- Scoring a skill that already exists (use `abstract:skills-eval`)
- Authoring a hook (use `abstract:hook-authoring`)
- Verifying the skill fires (use `abstract:subagent-testing`)
## Overview
Writing effective Claude Code skills requires Test-Driven Development (TDD) and persuasion principles from compliance research. We treat skill writing as process documentation that needs empirical validation rather than just theoretical instruction. Skills are behavioral interventions designed to change model behavior in measurable ways.
By using TDD, we ensure skills address actual failure modes identified through testing. Optimized descriptions improve discovery, while a modular structure supports progressive disclosure to manage token usage. It states intent, constraints and exit criteria, and leaves the path between them to the session doing the work. `modules/persuasion-principles.md` carries the strength budget that decides which of the three each statement is.
### The Iron Law
**NO SKILL WITHOUT A FAILING TEST FIRST**
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The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260902.b3bb3ff, 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.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_oyp2tzxztqp7zrtx
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=athola/claude-night-market/skill-authoring
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/1136bb6744b01193414fabf78a8eb9d8f3a6d8bd1b5c715a58f74d1b23802b94
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.
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/claude-code-plugin-reference/SKILL.md · Explain plugin, skill, command, agent, and hook mechanics used here. Use when authoring or debugging plugins. Do not…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-architecture-contract/SKILL.md · States load-bearing decisions, invariants, and weak points. Use when judging a design change. Do not use for gating…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-build-and-env/SKILL.md · Rebuild the dev environment: uv, Python tiers, pins, traps. Use when onboarding or toolchain breaks. Do not use for…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-change-control/SKILL.md · Classify, gate, and review changes. Use when landing a PR, releasing, or amending rules. Do not use for failure triage…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-collective-memory/SKILL.md · Search and record project memory (Discussions, journal, ADRs). Use before re-investigating anything. Do not use for…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-completion-integrity-campaign/SKILL.md · Bind loop 'done' to unfakeable gates. Use to harden egregore/herald loops or promote completion_integrity. Not for QA…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-config-catalog/SKILL.md · Catalog every config axis, its defaults and guards. Use when adding or auditing configuration. Do not use for running…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-debugging-playbook/SKILL.md · Triage night-market failures by symptom (hooks, CI, tests). Use when a check fails unexpectedly. Do not use for routine…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-diagnostics-toolkit/SKILL.md · Run and interpret repo diagnostic scripts (ratchets, validators, token stats). Use when measuring health. Do not use to…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-docs-and-writing/SKILL.md · Maintain docs of record, ADRs, changelog, and house style. Use when writing repo docs. Do not use for release steps…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-failure-archaeology/SKILL.md · Chronicles settled battles, reverts, and dead ends. Use when a fix echoes a past failure. Do not use for live triage…
athola/claude-night-market · .claude/skills/night-market-model-and-harness-updates/SKILL.md · Sweep plugins, skills, agents, commands, and hooks after a model release or Claude Code version bump. Use when upstream…
nyldn/claude-octopus · .claude/skills/skill-authoring/SKILL.md · Principles for writing skills that behave the same way every run — use when adding, editing, or reviewing a skill in…
nyldn/claude-octopus · skills/skill-authoring/SKILL.md · Principles for writing skills that behave the same way every run — use when adding, editing, or reviewing a skill in…
cbrock84/headcount · plugins/technology/skills/skill-authoring/SKILL.md · Writes and revises agent skills so they trigger at the right moments and give usable instruction when they do. Use this…
microsoft/github-copilot-for-azure · .github/skills/skill-authoring/SKILL.md · Guidelines for writing Agent Skills that comply with the agentskills.io specification. WHEN: "create a skill", "new…
