Create Skill

Interactively gather requirements from the user and create a fully working Grok skill on disk.

Step 1: Gather information

Ask the user the following questions one at a time as regular conversation questions (do NOT use structured option prompts for free-text inputs):

1. Skill name - ask the user to type a name. Lowercase letters (a-z), digits (0-9), and hyphens (-) only. Must start and end with a letter or digit. Must be 2-64 characters long (e.g. deploy-k8s). Validate the name before proceeding.
2. Scope - present the user with two options:
   • Project (Recommended): <repo-root>/.grok/skills/<name>/SKILL.md - available only in this repo, shareable with teammates
   • User: ~/.grok/skills/<name>/SKILL.md - available in all projects
   • Default to Project if inside a git repo, otherwise User.
3. What it should do - ask the user to describe the workflow, paste an example prompt they keep repeating, or explain the task the skill should automate.

Step 2: Draft the description

Write a description frontmatter value that includes:

• What the skill does (1-2 sentences)
• Trigger phrases and keywords so Grok knows when to auto-invoke it
• The slash command name (e.g. "Use when the user runs /deploy-k8s")

Show the drafted description to the user and let them approve or edit it.

Step 3: Create the directory

Run this bash command to create the skill directory:

mkdir -p <SKILL_DIR>

Where <SKILL_DIR> is:

• User scope: ~/.grok/skills/<name>
• Project scope: <repo-root>/.grok/skills/<name>

If the skill needs helper scripts, also create <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/. If the skill needs reference docs, also create <SKILL_DIR>/references/.

Step 4: Write SKILL.md

Use search_replace with an empty old_string to create the file at <SKILL_DIR>/SKILL.md.

The file MUST follow this exact format:

---
name: <skill-name>
description: <the description from Step 2>
---

<markdown body with instructions, steps, code blocks>

Also write any supporting files (scripts, references) using the same create method.

Step 5: Verify and confirm

1. Run cat <SKILL_DIR>/SKILL.md to verify the file was written correctly.
2. Tell the user the skill is ready and how to use it:
   • Slash command: /<skill-name>
   • TUI menu: /skills <skill-name>
   • Automatic: Grok will invoke it when the description matches user intent
3. Tell the user the skill should appear in the slash menu within a few seconds (skills auto-reload when files change on disk).

Step 6: Register user-scope skills in the catalog

If the skill was created under ~/.grok/skills/<name> and it should sync across CLIs:

1. Add <name> to catalog.portableSkills in ~/.grok/sync-targets.json.
2. Do not leave a real directory in ~/.grok/skills that is absent from both portableSkills and externalLinkedSkills. The next /sync-clis run will refuse to start with a catalog mismatch.
3. Run /sync-clis (python3 ~/.grok/scripts/sync-clis.py --verbose, then the ABI in-repo launcher). Require a follow-up run that reports 0 actions/changes.

Vendor or plugin-owned skills belong in externalLinkedSkills as live symlinks, not as copied trees. Do not create placeholder or TODO skills in ~/.grok/skills.

Guidelines

• Keep the SKILL.md body focused and actionable. It is a prompt for the agent, not documentation.
• The description field is critical. It controls auto-invocation. Be specific with trigger words.
• Prefer referencing existing CLI tools over writing custom scripts.
• Do NOT skip creating the directory. The file will fail to save without it.
• Always use absolute paths when creating files to avoid writing to the wrong location.
• User-scope skills are not portable until they are named in ~/.grok/sync-targets.json.