The Anatomy of a SKILL.md

Every skill has one required file: SKILL.md. It opens with YAML frontmatter — a small metadata block between two lines of three dashes — followed by the instructions themselves in Markdown.

---
name: commit-helper
description: Use when writing a git commit message so it follows the team's conventional-commit format.
---

# Commit helper

When the user asks for a commit message:
1. Read the staged diff.
2. Pick a type: feat, fix, docs, refactor, test, chore.
3. Write `<type>(<scope>): <summary>` under 72 chars.
4. Add a body only if the change needs explanation.

The two fields that decide everything

• name — a short, stable identifier for the skill (kebab-case).
• description — the single most important line: it is what Claude reads to decide whether to load the skill at all.

The body below the frontmatter is only read once the description has earned the load. We will spend a whole lesson on writing descriptions that trigger reliably — for now, just recognize the shape.