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Guide

Turn a Repeated Prompt into a Skill

Convert a prompt you keep retyping into a reusable skill.

~6 min read

The best skill candidates are already sitting in your history: the instructions you re-explain every time a certain task comes up. Converting one is mostly a matter of splitting it correctly.

The split: WHEN goes in the description, HOW goes in the body

A repeated prompt mixes two things: the situation ("when I give you a bug report…") and the procedure ("…format it like this, ask these questions, never do X"). The situation becomes the frontmatter description; the procedure becomes the Markdown body. Keeping procedure out of the description is what keeps the trigger sharp and the always-loaded cost low.

The conversion

  1. Paste your repeated prompt into a scratch file and mark each line W (when) or H (how).
  2. Write the description from the W lines: "Use when…", concrete situation, the words you actually use when asking.
  3. Write the body from the H lines: numbered steps, rules, and one worked example of good output.
  4. Generalize the specifics: replace one-off values with placeholders the body explains.
  5. Save it as a folder + SKILL.md in the right location (personal for your habits, project for team conventions).
---
name: bug-triage
description: Use when I paste a raw bug report and want it triaged
  into severity, repro steps, and a suspected area before any fixing.
---

# Bug triage

1. Extract: expected vs actual, environment, frequency.
2. Severity: blocker / major / minor. Justify in one line.
3. Write minimal repro steps (numbered, no speculation).
4. Name the suspected area of the codebase and why.
5. STOP. Do not propose fixes until asked.

Then test it with three natural phrasings of the real request. If it fires on all three, delete the prompt from your snippets. The skill is the durable home now.