Adding a Skill

Most contributions are new skills layered onto an existing plugin. The flow is short.

Steps

1. Pick the right plugin. SDLC workflows go in acn-base-sdlc. Pursuit / RFP work goes in acn-pursuit-toolkit. Slide generation goes in acn-slide-gen. If your skill doesn’t fit any V1 plugin, see Adding a Plugin instead.

2. Create a feature branch.

   git checkout -b feat/<plugin>-<skill-name>

3. Add the skill file.

   plugins/<plugin>/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

   Use kebab-case for <skill-name> (max 64 chars).

4. Write the YAML frontmatter. Required fields are name and description. See Skill Frontmatter Schema for the full spec.

   ---
   name: skill-name
   description: "Specific trigger context — Claude uses this for auto-matching, so be specific about when this skill applies."
   allowed-tools: Read, Write, Bash      # optional
   disable-model-invocation: true        # for commands meant to be explicit-only
   argument-hint: --flag <value>         # shows in the slash-command picker
   ---

5. Write the skill body. The body is the prompt Claude reads when invoking the skill. Useful conventions:

   • Open with a one-line summary of what the skill produces
   • Document arguments in a table or list
   • Lay out the workflow step-by-step
   • Specify output format and any error-handling rules
   • End with $ARGUMENTS if the skill takes arguments — Claude substitutes the user’s args here

6. Validate locally.

   claude plugin validate ./plugins/<plugin>

7. Smoke-test.

   claude --plugin-dir ./plugins/<plugin>
   # then invoke /<plugin>:<skill-name>

8. Open a PR with a one-line reason for the skill. CI runs claude plugin validate plus frontmatter checks. Platform-team approval, merge.

Variants

• Adding a rule — same flow, but the file is plugins/<plugin>/rules/<topic>.md. No frontmatter required (just markdown body). Rules are always-on context.
• Adding an agent — same flow, but the file is plugins/<plugin>/agents/<name>.md. Frontmatter includes model, tools, disallowedTools, color. See plugins/acn-base-sdlc/agents/code-reviewer.md for a working reference.

Files to reference

Reference	Why
plugins/acn-base-sdlc/skills/review/SKILL.md	Compact skill (~80 lines) — good shape for a simple workflow
plugins/acn-pursuit-toolkit/skills/rfp-synthesize/SKILL.md	Larger skill (~120 lines) with multi-phase workflow and Agent delegation — good shape for complex skills
plugins/acn-slide-gen/skills/generate/SKILL.md	Largest skill (~317 lines) — argument-driven, multi-mode, pipeline-style