# Skill Creator

Create or improve codewhale skills.

- Repository: https://github.com/codewhale-hq/Codewhale (41164 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill skill-creator -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill skill-creator -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill skill-creator -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill skill-creator -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Create or improve codewhale skills. Use when the user wants a new skill, wants to update an existing skill, or needs guidance on when a skill should be a skill versus MCP, hooks, tools, or a plugin scaffold.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Skill Creator

Use this skill to create small, useful codewhale skills that match the
runtime this repository actually ships.

## What A Skill Is

A skill is a local folder with a `SKILL.md` file. Codewhale reads the skill name
and description during discovery, then loads the body only when the user or task
matches the skill.

Discovery paths, in precedence order:

- `<workspace>/.agents/skills`
- `<workspace>/skills`
- `<workspace>/.opencode/skills`
- `<workspace>/.claude/skills`
- `<workspace>/.cursor/skills`
- `<workspace>/.codewhale/skills`
- `~/.agents/skills`
- `~/.claude/skills`
- `~/.codewhale/skills`

Use skills for model instructions, workflows, and lightweight conventions. Use
MCP for live external APIs or durable tools. Use hooks for automatic local
events. To distribute a skill through a plugin bundle, give the bundle a
`plugin.json` whose `net.codewhale` extension points `skills.path` at a
directory holding `<name>/SKILL.md` folders; each skill then loads namespaced
as `<plugin>:<skill>` after review, trust, and enablement. A bare `SKILL.md`
directory is discoverable on the skills paths above but is not a plugin
bundle and cannot be installed through `/plugin install`.

## Minimum Shape

```text
my-skill/
`-- SKILL.md
```

```markdown
---
name: my-skill
description: Use when Codewhale should follow this specific workflow.
---

# My Skill

Instructions for the agent.
```

Frontmatter parsing is intentionally simple. Keep `name` and `description` as
plain single-line values. Use lower-case hyphen-case names.

## Writing Rules

The rest: https://github.com/codewhale-hq/Codewhale/blob/HEAD/crates/skills/assets/skills/skill-creator/SKILL.md