notis-skill-creator

Notis Skill Creator

This skill guides the process of creating new skills from scratch or iterating on existing ones. A skill is a self-contained unit of instructions, references, and optional scripts that extend the assistant's capabilities.

When to Use This Skill

• User wants to create a new skill (e.g., "Create a skill for X", "I need a skill that does Y")
• User is iterating on or packaging an existing skill
• User asks how to structure, validate, or distribute a skill

Skill Development Workflow

Step 1: Define the Skill

Before creating files, clarify:

• Name — kebab-case (e.g., my-skill, api-helper)
• Description — One or two sentences: what the skill does and when to use it
• Scope — Instructions only, or instructions + scripts/references/assets

Step 2: Plan the Contents

• SKILL.md — Required. Contains YAML frontmatter (name, description) and the main instructions.
• scripts/ — Optional. Executable code (Python, Bash, etc.) the assistant can run.
• references/ — Optional. Documentation or reference files loaded on demand.
• assets/ — Optional. Templates, images, or other files used in outputs.
• State — Required whenever the skill keeps anything between runs: history, progress, approvals, queues, caches or results. Skills can run on the Notis backend, where local files do not survive, so plan a Notis database now:
  • Reuse a fitting database (LOCAL_NOTIS_DATABASE_LIST_DATABASES) or create one with LOCAL_NOTIS_DATABASE_UPSERT_DATABASE, linked to the Space the skill belongs to with its main view (see the notis-query database discovery reference). Name its key property and the fields each run reads and writes.
  • Tell the skill to write rows with the row_write_tool that LOCAL_NOTIS_DATABASE_GET_DATABASE returns for the database slug, never a hard-coded generated tool name.
  • Documents the user keeps go to Notis documents or reports, not local files.
  • Scripts write only scratch, in a temporary directory. A skill never writes into its own folder: skill sync uploads that folder.
• Model work — Generation, classification and research belong to the agent running the skill or its sub-agents. Ship a script that calls a model provider API only when the user explicitly asks for it.

Intelligence and invocation overrides

• Declare low, medium, or high for each delegated step according to its work; use high when the skill does not specify a level. Do not embed vendor model names, version pins, family aliases, price tables or a separate effort mapping in instructions, scripts, templates or examples.
• Use LOCAL_NOTIS_GET_INTELLIGENCE_POLICY, directly or through the authenticated Notis CLI, for both the shared contract and current harness mapping. Use this same runtime contract in repository and account-installed skills; never require a checkout-relative docs/ link for intelligence guidance. Resolve model and effort together; do not infer effort from the level.
• Explicit user choices in this invocation override skill defaults, including a requested exact model or effort. Do not change saved account defaults unless asked.
• A fixed-model harness inherits its current configuration and reports that the requested level was not applied. Automated launchers requiring an exact selection stop before side effects if the live policy is unavailable; never guess a fallback.
• Request media through discovered capabilities, not hard-coded image/audio/video engine names. Preserve actual-model receipts as provenance; never store a level where a schema requires the identifier that actually generated the result.
• Validate with a changed policy, an explicit override, an unsupported harness and an unavailable lookup. Weekly mapping changes must not require editing the skill.

Step 3: Initializing the Skill

At this point, it is time to actually create the skill.

Skip this step only if the skill being developed already exists, and iteration or packaging is needed. In this case, continue to the next step.

When creating a new skill from scratch, create the directory structure manually:

mkdir -p my-skill/scripts my-skill/references my-skill/assets

Then create my-skill/SKILL.md with the proper YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill
description: "Description of what this skill does and when to use it"
---

# My Skill

## Instructions

(Add your skill instructions here)

Create any supporting files in the appropriate directories:

• scripts/ for executable code (Python, Bash, etc.)
• references/ for documentation to be loaded on demand
• assets/ for files used in output (templates, images, etc.)

Step 4: Writing and Iterating

• Keep instructions clear and actionable. Include when to use the skill, required inputs, and expected outputs.
• Reference scripts or assets by path (e.g., scripts/helper.py, references/glossary.md).
• Test the skill by having the assistant follow it in a real scenario.

Step 5: Save or update the exact skill

Discover the native skill tools and read the current installed skill list first. Resolve the existing skill by exact id, owner and Space links (as listed by LOCAL_NOTIS_LIST_SKILLS); never pick the first name match. An edit updates that id; creation is only for genuinely new skills.

• Single-file creation: use discovered LOCAL_NOTIS_CREATE_SKILL with name, description and skill_md. Single-file edit: LOCAL_NOTIS_UPDATE_SKILL with skill_id and only changed fields. Preserve unrelated agent_targets and status.
• Multi-file creation or update: package the complete folder with SKILL.md, scripts, references and assets. Use the CLI --file bundle_url=./skill.zip upload path with the discovered CREATE or UPDATE tool (UPDATE includes skill_id). Do not wait for an invented public-URL notification or drop existing resources.
• Curated skills are maintained in their canonical source and published separately; normal user-skill updates cannot replace curated content. A Skill linked in Spaces is one shared resource: an edit changes it in every Space that links it, and a Space source deploy commits its changed Skill folders with the release.
• Validate frontmatter, resource paths and intended changes; dry-run the mutation. Read back the same id, content and preserved assignments; for bundles verify the full resource set. An update must not increase the installed record count.
• Deliver the native skill link. Export a zip to the user only when requested.

SKILL.md Frontmatter

Every skill must have a SKILL.md with at least:

---
name: skill-name
description: "Clear description of what the skill does and when to use it."
---

• name — kebab-case identifier; used for packaging and display.
• description — Shown in skill lists and used for triage; be specific.

Best Practices

1. One clear purpose — Each skill should do one thing well.
2. Good description — The description is used to decide when to invoke the skill; make it searchable and precise.
3. Stable structure — Use scripts/, references/, assets/ consistently so users and tools know where to find things.
4. Validate before packaging — Check frontmatter, naming, and that all referenced files exist.
5. State lives in Notis — Anything a later run needs is a Notis database row or document, never a file in the skill folder or on the machine.

Notis-Specific Notes

• Product sources live in server/skills/; development workflows in .agents/skills/. Do not edit generated mirrors or vendor caches as the canonical source.
• CLI-owned sync materializes account bundles and manages per-agent links. Automatic Desktop sync is optional; local availability is not proven merely by saving a row. Preserve target assignments and use the supported sync workflow for the intended account. Verify content/materialization and discovery before claiming availability.
• Repo maintainers follow docs/notis-skills-lifecycle.md and docs/skills-sync.md.