skill-author SKILL.md skillA
skill-author from laude-institute/headlong is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add laude-institute/headlong/skill-author@git:20260820.6323e14Pins git:20260820.6323e14 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- laude-institute/headlong
- Path
skills/skill-author/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- git:20260820.6323e14, committed Aug 20, 2026
- First version recorded
- May 2, 2026
- Size
- 5,180 bytes
- Repository stars
- 1,269
- License
- Apache-2.0
Create new ShellLM skills. Use when the user asks to write, author, build, or scaffold a new skill, or when an agent needs to extend its own capabilities by creating a new SKILL.md file.
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-author
## When to use
The user asks to create, write, author, build, or scaffold a new skill. Or you (the agent) need to extend your own capabilities by writing a new SKILL.md.
## What a skill is
A skill is a directory containing a `SKILL.md` file. It tells an agent *when* to use a capability and *how* to invoke it. Skills are procedural documentation, not reference docs. The agent reads a skill on demand via `skills show <name>`.
## Directory structure
```
skills/<skill-name>/
├── SKILL.md # required: the skill definition
├── README.md # optional: human-facing notes
└── <other files> # optional: scripts, templates, data
```
## Frontmatter spec
```yaml
---
name: my-skill
description: One or two sentences. Be specific about WHEN to use the skill.
metadata:
shelllm:
requires:
env: ["API_KEY"] # all must be set
bins: ["curl", "jq"] # all must exist on PATH
anyBins: ["gh", "hub"] # at least one must exist
os: ["darwin", "linux"] # current OS must be in list
---
```
**Required:** `name` (kebab-case, matches directory name), `description`.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add laude-institute/headlong/skill-author@sha256:f54b6db8341cb10aThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260820.6323e14, 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_xdwcsshnydxnwqfw)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between May 2, 2026 and Aug 20, 2026, about one every 110 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260820.6323e14 latest | 2026-08-20 | 6323e14 | 5,180 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260502.9b702aa | 2026-05-02 | 9b702aa | 5,147 B | A | view |
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 (5180 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
laude-institute/headlong · 1,269 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-01 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_xdwcsshnydxnwqfw GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=laude-institute/headlong/skill-author GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/f54b6db8341cb10ab1028cd650a19943c2a7e43b04c70da68e59dcedb5bf1bc6
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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