---
title: SKILL.md Template
type: artifact
level: L2
status: live
revision: 1
updated: 2026-08-14
systemVersion: 4.2
tags: [download, skills, template]
rating: 6.70
ratingAxes: useful 8 · evidence 5 · pull 6 · original 7 · form 8
ratingKind: derived
source: derived from live skill files
---

# SKILL.md Template

_Written 2026-08-14 · last verified 2026-08-14 · system v4.2 · live_

**TL;DR** — A template for a callable skill file. The two fields that decide whether it is ever used correctly are the trigger list and the explicit not-for list — without the second, a skill gets invoked for adjacent tasks it handles badly, and the failure looks like a capability problem rather than a routing one.

## What it is

A template for one reusable capability that an agent can invoke by name.

```markdown
---
name: [skill-name]
description: [One sentence: what it does.]
  Trigger: [exact phrases that should fire this].
  NOT FOR: [the adjacent thing it will be wrongly used for] (→ [correct route]).
---

# [SKILL NAME]

## When this fires
Concrete triggers. Phrases, file types, situations.

## When it does NOT fire
The nearest neighbours, each with where to go instead.
This section prevents more errors than the one above.

## Steps
1. ...
Numbered. Each independently checkable.

## Output
Format, location, naming. Where the result goes.

## Failure modes
What goes wrong, how it looks, what to do.

## Anti-patterns
What not to do with this skill, and why.
```

## How to use

Write the **NOT FOR** line before the steps. It is the field that decides whether a skill is used correctly, and it is the one everyone skips.

A skill without it gets invoked for adjacent tasks it handles poorly — and the resulting bad output reads as a capability problem rather than a routing one, so the wrong thing gets fixed.

Keep the body short. A skill file is loaded into context every time it is considered, so length is a running cost, not a one-time one. If it exceeds roughly 200 lines, split it or move detail into a reference the skill points at.

## What to fill in

The trigger phrases should be the words **actually used**, not the words that would be logical. Collect them from real requests over a week rather than inventing them — invented triggers match nothing.

## License

MIT.