Setup & Installation
openclaw skills install @kjaylee/skill-authoring
Or with the ClawHub CLI, for registry-managed skill folders outside a full OpenClaw workspace:
npx clawhub install skill-authoring
What This Skill Does
A guide for writing SKILL.md files that extend agent capabilities on the agentskills.io standard. Covers frontmatter structure, conciseness principles, and freedom-level matching for different task types.
Provides explicit anti-patterns and a freedom-level framework that prevent authors from over-specifying or under-specifying agent behavior.
When to use it
- Writing a new SKILL.md for a custom agent workflow
- Updating an existing skill's description to improve activation reliability
- Teaching an agent a domain-specific process it doesn't already know
- Deciding how prescriptive skill instructions should be for a given task
- Splitting a large skill into SKILL.md and references/ for token efficiency
Example Workflow
Here's how your AI assistant might use this skill in practice.
INPUT
User asks: Write a SKILL.md for a code review workflow
AGENT
- 1Identify the task type and determine the appropriate freedom level (high, medium, or low)
- 2Draft frontmatter with name, description, and metadata fields
- 3Write instructions matching the chosen freedom level, using scripts or pseudocode where consistency is required
- 4Add directory structure if scripts or reference documents are needed
- 5Review for token efficiency and remove any explanations the agent already knows
OUTPUT
A complete SKILL.md file with frontmatter, structured instructions, and guardrails appropriate for the code review workflow