design-skill

Drafts new SKILL.md files from designer intent using a structured decision sequence and delegated audit.

Updated Apr 19, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/nickgogan/improvement-loop --skill design-skill-nickgogan
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: design-skill
Source: https://github.com/nickgogan/improvement-loop/tree/main/.claude/skills/design-skill
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/nickgogan/improvement-loop --skill design-skill-nickgogan

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Authoring a well-formed SKILL.md requires consistent decisions about naming, triggers, tool scope, safety classification, and output shape; this Skill walks designers through that construction sequence and produces a complete draft with an independent audit. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Guided Decision Sequence: Walks the seven-step construction sequence (name, trigger, tools, safety-critical classification, procedure, output shape, composition cross-check) and records each decision. - Template-Based Drafting: Applies the SKILL.md template skeleton to produce a complete draft with populated frontmatter and all required sections. - Delegated Audit: Invokes the assess-skill subagent in fresh context to grade the draft, keeping generation and assessment separate. - Use Case: A designer describes intent for a new skill, optionally supplies a partial draft, and receives a full SKILL.md draft plus audit findings, with optional write to a target path only after explicit approval. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to design a new skill from your intent description, for example: design a skill that reviews pull request descriptions for completeness.

Frequently Asked Questions about design-skill

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I draft a new SKILL.md from a description?▼

Provide your intent as a verb-phrase description of the skill's scope. The skill walks a seven-step decision sequence covering name, trigger, tools, safety classification, procedure, output shape, and composition, then produces a complete draft using the template skeleton.

How do I complete a partial SKILL.md draft?▼

Pass the partial draft path with the --partial flag. The skill reads the existing draft, fills in missing sections via the decision sequence, and asks for scoping clarification if the partial exceeds roughly 500 lines.

Does the design skill deploy the drafted SKILL.md?▼

No, deployment is not automatic. The draft is presented inline by default, and writing to a target path happens only when --target-path was supplied, the audit shows no hard-blocking issues, and the designer explicitly approves.

What is the safety-critical classification gate in skill authoring?▼

A skill is safety-critical if it uses Write, Edit, destructive Bash, state-mutating MCP tools, or feeds downstream automated actions. Safety-critical drafts must declare a HITL gate such as confirm-before-act before the procedure is drafted.

Why does the skill delegate audit instead of self-checking the draft?▼

Per rule 10 on generator-assessor separation, the draft is audited by the assess-skill subagent in fresh context. This preserves an epistemic boundary so the author does not grade its own work against the rubric criteria.