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Build Your First Skill

Build a working skill in 15 minutes. We’ll create a simple “meeting notes” skill.

Step 1: Create the folder

mkdir -p .claude/skills/meeting-notes

Step 2: Write SKILL.md

Create .claude/skills/meeting-notes/SKILL.md:

---
name: meeting-notes
description: >
  Creates structured meeting notes from conversations or transcripts.
  Use when user says "meeting notes", "summarize this meeting",
  "write up the standup", or pastes a meeting transcript.
---

# Meeting Notes

Create structured meeting notes following a consistent format.

## Format

Use this template for all meeting notes:

# [Meeting Title] - [Date]

**Attendees:** [list]
**Duration:** [time]

## Key Decisions
- [Decision]: [Context and rationale]

## Action Items
- [ ] [Task] - [Owner] - [Due date if mentioned]

## Discussion Summary
[Concise summary organized by topic, not chronological]

## Open Questions
- [Unresolved items that need follow-up]

## Instructions

1. Extract decisions first - they're the most valuable part
2. Action items must have an owner (use "TBD" if unclear)
3. Summarize by topic, not chronologically
4. Keep it concise - meeting notes nobody reads are useless
5. Flag any commitments with deadlines

Step 3: Test triggering

Open Claude Code in the project directory and try these prompts:

Should trigger:

  • “Write up meeting notes from this standup”
  • “Summarize this meeting transcript”
  • “Meeting notes please”

Should NOT trigger:

  • “Write a Python function”
  • “Help me debug this”

Step 4: Test output

Paste a sample transcript and verify the output follows your template structure.

Step 5: Iterate

Common adjustments after first test:

  • Not triggering? Add more trigger phrases to the description
  • Triggering too often? Add “Do NOT use for…” to narrow scope
  • Wrong format? Adjust the template in the instructions
  • Missing context? Add more specific instructions

The YAML Frontmatter Checklist

Before considering your skill done:

  • name is kebab-case and matches folder name
  • description says WHAT it does
  • description says WHEN to use it (trigger phrases)
  • No < or > in frontmatter
  • --- delimiters present on both sides
  • SKILL.md is exactly that casing

Skills as Open Standard

Skills work across Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, and Antigravity IDE. The same SKILL.md format is portable - you write it once and it works everywhere.

For organization-wide deployment, admins can push skills workspace-wide with centralized management (shipped January 2026).

Next Steps