Is the Authoring Skills skill free?

Yes. The skill itself is free from andrueandersoncs/claude-skill-authoring-skill. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.

What is the Authoring Skills SkillProof Score?

9.6/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 9/10, docs & honesty 5/5.

How do I install Authoring Skills?

Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.

Can I use Authoring Skills with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?

The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.

Authoring Skills

Checklist-driven guidance for writing well-structured, discoverable SKILL.md files.

by andrueandersoncs · andrueandersoncs/claude-skill-authoring-skill

Tested · Works

Install — copy the command Download source ↗

Test report

Verdict: Tested · Works
Score: 9.6/10
Tested: Jul 16, 2026
Environment: Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
Upstream re-checked: Jul 18, 2026 · 98c86db

Wrote a throwaway CSV-summarizer SKILL.md two ways: a naive baseline reproduced nearly every anti-pattern the skill itself warns against (vague 'helper' name, 'Helps with CSV files' description, explains what a CSV is, offers 4 competing libraries); applying the skill's own checklist fixed every one of them in the rewrite. Note: SKILL_AUTHORING_BEST_PRACTICES.md is essentially a verbatim copy of Anthropic's public skill-authoring docs page, not original content, though nothing is misrepresented.

Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works

Installs cleanly 5/5
Triggers reliably 5/5
Output vs. baseline 9/10
Docs & honesty 5/5

What Authoring Skills does

A reference skill covering SKILL.md frontmatter rules, naming conventions, progressive disclosure, degrees-of-freedom, and a pre-share validation checklist for authoring Claude skills. Triggers when creating new skills, improving existing SKILL.md files, reviewing skill quality, or when the user mentions writing skills, skill authoring, or SKILL.md.

How to install Authoring Skills

git clone https://github.com/andrueandersoncs/claude-skill-authoring-skill
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r claude-skill-authoring-skill ~/.claude/skills/authoring-skills   # (or just SKILL.md + reference/ to skip README/best-practices doc)

Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ (per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.

Commands — how to trigger Authoring Skills

/authoring-skills Checklist-driven guidance for writing well-structured, discoverable SKILL.md files.

It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:

Review my SKILL.md file for naming and description mistakes
Help me write a well-structured skill for summarizing CSV files
Check this skill's frontmatter and folder layout before I share it

Frequently asked questions

Is the Authoring Skills skill free?: Yes. The skill itself is free from andrueandersoncs/claude-skill-authoring-skill. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
Does Authoring Skills work with Claude Code?: We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 16, 2026. Verdict: Tested · Works. Wrote a throwaway CSV-summarizer SKILL.md two ways: a naive baseline reproduced nearly every anti-pattern the skill itself warns against (vague 'helper' name, 'Helps with CSV files' description, explains what a CSV is, offers 4 competing libraries); applying the skill's own checklist fixed every one of them in the rewrite. Note: SKILL_AUTHORING_BEST_PRACTICES.md is essentially a verbatim copy of Anthropic's public skill-authoring docs page, not original content, though nothing is misrepresented.
What is the Authoring Skills SkillProof Score?: 9.6/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 9/10, docs & honesty 5/5.
How do I install Authoring Skills?: Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
Can I use Authoring Skills with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?: The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.