CoE Skill Template

This skill is the canonical example for the Trilogy AI CoE skill marketplace. It does two jobs: it installs cleanly so the marketplace is never empty, and it shows contributors the exact structure a real skill should follow.

When authoring a real skill, delete everything below and write task instructions in the imperative ("Do X", "When the user asks for Y, gather Z first"). Keep the body focused on what the agent should do, not prose about the skill.

Anatomy of a skill

A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file. Required frontmatter is name and description. The description is the single most important field: it is what every runtime uses to decide whether to load the skill, so make it specific and include the trigger phrases a user would actually say.

plugins/<skill-name>/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json          # plugin manifest (name, description, version)
└── skills/
    └── <skill-name>/
        └── SKILL.md         # frontmatter + instructions (this file)

Optional supporting files live alongside SKILL.md and are loaded on demand:

• reference/ — longer docs the agent reads only when needed
• scripts/ — executable helpers the agent can run
• assets/ — templates, images, or sample data

Writing a good description

• Lead with the action, then the triggers: "Generate X. Use when the user says 'A', 'B', or asks to C."
• Name concrete artifacts and verbs, not vague capabilities.
• Keep it under ~500 characters; specificity beats length.

Writing good instructions

• Use imperative steps the agent can follow deterministically.
• Surface required inputs up front; if something is missing, say what to ask for.
• Prefer a short checklist or numbered procedure over narrative.
• Call out edge cases and failure modes explicitly.

How this gets installed

This skill ships as a plugin in the aicoe-skills marketplace. Once the marketplace is added, a user installs it with:

/plugin install coe-skill-template@aicoe-skills

Because SKILL.md is the open Agent Skills standard, the same folder also works in Codex CLI, opencode/OpenClaw, and other compatible runtimes by placing it in their skills directory. See the repo README for per-runtime install paths.