Creating Skills in Cursor

This skill guides you through creating effective Agent Skills for Cursor. Skills are markdown files that teach the agent how to perform specific tasks: reviewing PRs using team standards, generating commit messages in a preferred format, querying database schemas, or any specialized workflow.

Before You Begin: Gather Requirements

Before creating a skill, gather essential information from the user about:

1. Purpose and scope: What specific task or workflow should this skill help with?
2. Target location: Should this be a personal skill (~/.cursor/skills/) or project skill (.cursor/skills/)?
3. Trigger scenarios: When should the agent automatically apply this skill?
4. Key domain knowledge: What specialized information does the agent need that it wouldn't already know?
5. Output format preferences: Are there specific templates, formats, or styles required?
6. Existing patterns: Are there existing examples or conventions to follow?

Inferring from Context

If you have previous conversation context, infer the skill from what was discussed. You can create skills based on workflows, patterns, or domain knowledge that emerged in the conversation.

Gathering Additional Information

If you need clarification, use the AskQuestion tool when available:

Example AskQuestion usage:
- "Where should this skill be stored?" with options like ["Personal (~/.cursor/skills/)", "Project (.cursor/skills/)"]
- "Should this skill include executable scripts?" with options like ["Yes", "No"]

If the AskQuestion tool is not available, ask these questions conversationally.

Skill File Structure

Directory Layout

Skills are stored as directories containing a SKILL.md file:

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md              # Required - main instructions
├── reference.md          # Optional - detailed documentation
├── examples.md           # Optional - usage examples
└── scripts/              # Optional - utility scripts
    ├── validate.py
    └── helper.sh

Storage Locations

| Type | Path | Scope | |------|------|-------| | Personal | ~/.cursor/skills/skill-name/ | Available across all your projects | | Project | .cursor/skills/skill-name/ | Shared with anyone using the repository |

IMPORTANT: Never create skills in ~/.cursor/skills-cursor/. This directory is reserved for Cursor's internal built-in skills and is managed automatically by the system.

SKILL.md Structure

Every skill requires a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter and markdown body:

markdown
---
name: your-skill-name
description: Brief description of what this skill does and when to use it
---

# Your Skill Name

## Instructions
Clear, step-by-step guidance for the agent.

## Examples
Concrete examples of using this skill.

Required Metadata Fields

| Field | Requirements | Purpose | |-------|--------------|---------| | name | Max 64 chars, lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens only | Unique identifier for the skill | | description | Max 1024 chars, non-empty | Helps agent decide when to apply the skill |

Writing Effective Descriptions

The description is critical for skill discovery. The agent uses it to decide when to apply your skill.

Description Best Practices

1. Write in third person (the description is injected into the system prompt):

• Good: "Processes Excel files and generates reports"
• Avoid: "I can help you process Excel files"
• Avoid: "You can use this to process Excel files"

1. Be specific and include trigger terms:

• Good: "Extract text and tables from PDF files, fill forms, merge documents. Use when working with PDF files or when the user mentions PDFs, forms, or document extraction."
• Vague: "Helps with documents"

1. Include both WHAT and WHEN:

• WHAT: What the skill does (specific capabilities)
• WHEN: When the agent should use it (trigger scenarios)

Core Authoring Principles

1. Concise is Key

The context window is shared with conversation history, other skills, and requests. Every token competes for space.

Default assumption: The agent is already very smart. Only add context it doesn't already have.

2. Keep SKILL.md Under 500 Lines

For optimal performance, the main SKILL.md file should be concise. Use progressive disclosure for detailed content.

3. Progressive Disclosure

Put essential information in SKILL.md; detailed reference material in separate files that the agent reads only when needed.

Keep references one level deep - link directly from SKILL.md to reference files. Deeply nested references may result in partial reads.

4. Set Appropriate Degrees of Freedom

| Freedom Level | When to Use | Example | |---------------|-------------|---------| | High (text instructions) | Multiple valid approaches, context-dependent | Code review guidelines | | Medium (pseudocode/templates) | Preferred pattern with acceptable variation | Report generation | | Low (specific scripts) | Fragile operations, consistency critical | Database migrations |

Common Patterns

Template Pattern

Provide output format templates for consistent results.

Examples Pattern

For skills where output quality depends on seeing examples, provide concrete input/output pairs.

Workflow Pattern

Break complex operations into clear steps with checklists.

Feedback Loop Pattern

For quality-critical tasks, implement validation loops.

Skill Creation Workflow

Phase 1: Discovery

Gather purpose, location, triggers, requirements, existing patterns.

Phase 2: Design

Draft name, description, outline sections, identify supporting files.

Phase 3: Implementation

Create directory, write SKILL.md, create reference files and scripts.

Phase 4: Verification

Check line count, description specificity, terminology consistency, file references.

Summary Checklist

Core Quality

• ] Description is specific and includes key terms
• ] Description includes both WHAT and WHEN
• ] Written in third person
• ] SKILL.md body is under 500 lines
• ] Consistent terminology throughout
• ] Examples are concrete, not abstract

Structure

• ] File references are one level deep
• ] Progressive disclosure used appropriately
• ] Workflows have clear steps
• ] No time-sensitive information