Skill Authoring & Documentation TDD FAQs

Question 1

What is the TDD approach for writing skills?

Accepted Answer

It involves creating a pressure scenario to watch an agent fail (Red), writing the skill documentation to address the failure (Green), and then refining the documentation to close loopholes while maintaining compliance (Refactor).

Question 2

Why shouldn't I summarize the workflow in the skill description?

Accepted Answer

Summarizing the workflow in the description can cause Claude to skip the full SKILL.md content and only follow the summary, potentially missing critical steps or logic.

Question 3

Where should personal Claude Code skills be stored?

Accepted Answer

Personal skills for Claude Code should be stored in the ~/.claude/skills directory, while Codex skills live in ~/.codex/skills.

Question 4

What are the token limits for skill files?

Accepted Answer

Getting-started workflows should be under 150 words, frequently-loaded skills under 200 words, and general skills under 500 words to maintain context efficiency.

Question 5

What is Claude Search Optimization (CSO)?

Accepted Answer

CSO is a set of techniques including rich descriptions, keyword coverage, and descriptive naming to ensure future Claude instances can find and load the relevant skill for a specific task.

Skill Authoring & Documentation TDD

Key Features

Use Cases

Skill Authoring & Documentation TDD

Key Features

Use Cases