skill-authoring SKILL.md skillA
skill-authoring from rhovian/niles is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add rhovian/niles/skill-authoring@git:20261029.11a5f82Pins git:20261029.11a5f82 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- rhovian/niles
- Path
skills/skill-authoring/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20261029.11a5f82, committed Oct 29, 2026
- Size
- 4,906 bytes
- Repository stars
- 4
- License
- Apache-2.0
Use when writing, tightening, or reviewing an Agent Skill (a SKILL.md), including when one misfires, bloats, or doesn't trigger. Produces lean, portable skills tested against a no-skill baseline.
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 A skill shares a context window with everything else, and agents you don't control will load it. It earns its tokens only by changing what an agent would otherwise do. Measure that instead of assuming it. ## Process Steps 1, 7, 8, and 9 need a fresh agent with no context: either a subagent, or the user running a prompt in a new session. If neither is available, do those steps yourself as a cold read and mark them unverified in the handoff. Don't present a self-review as a baseline. To fix or review an existing skill, first reproduce the problem (step 9 for triggering, step 1 for behavior), then run steps 3-8 on the change. 1. Watch it fail first. Run 2-3 realistic tasks with no skill, and record what goes wrong, verbatim where you can. The skill fixes those failures and stays brief about everything the baseline already does well. 2. Write the description for triggering. It's the only part that's always loaded (1024 characters at most, and some listings truncate sooner), so put the trigger first. Say when to use the skill, in the user's words, and when not to. Agents tend to under-trigger, so name concrete situations. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add rhovian/niles/skill-authoring@sha256:b5b86d8ca3f3ec9cThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261029.11a5f82, 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_zgmhtervgwxxsams)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Oct 29, 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 (4906 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
rhovian/niles · 4 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-02 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_zgmhtervgwxxsams GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=rhovian/niles/skill-authoring GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/b5b86d8ca3f3ec9cb588b29b8c0d46b6d8426d6243f4679be9b21dc36de8fc79
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.